Lead slips away, but Hawks should still feel good

A good point in a tough building.

That's probably how the Blackhawks should look at Friday's 5-4 overtime loss to Tampa Bay instead of dwelling on the 2-goal lead that got away. Taking 3 out of 4 points on their swing through Florida was not the worst thing, especially considering the Hawks played without their best defenseman in Duncan Keith.

The Hawks led 4-2 in the second period when the Lightning's Steve Stamkos scored late to complete his fourth career hat trick.

“We have no business letting some of these teams back in the game,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “We go up 2 goals in the second period; if you keep that pressure on them, keep that lead going into the third it could be a different game.

“We had them on their heels, but we got into some bad habits and let them back into it. It was a good little road trip, but there are a lot of little things we could do better. But we're getting closer to being the team we want to be.”

Stamkos' second goal was a killer, coming with the Hawks owning all the momentum. Stamkos knocked down defenseman Nick Leddy to create his own scoring chance.

The tying goal by Stamkos came on a power play with 32.2 seconds left in the middle period. Brent Seabrook left Stamkos along in the left circle to one-time a Martin St. Louis pass past goalie Ray Emery.

“Those kind of goals, we can't give up those open-side net goals,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “That predictability has to be iron tight.”

It was a tough night for Leddy, who was minus-4 and on the ice with partner Sami Lepisto for Vincent Lecavalier's winning goal with 54 seconds left in overtime.

Dave Bolland broke his stick on the play, but it still came down to Lightning defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron outhustling both Leddy and Lepisto.

“We had a broken stick there,” Quenneville said. “We could have done something different, but they made a nice play.”

Bolland was minus-3 while linemates Bryan Bickell and Michael Frolik were minus-2.

There were 8 goals scored in the second period, including 3 by the Hawks in 65 seconds by Marian Hossa, Daniel Carcillo and Patrick Sharp to take a 4-2 lead. Patrick Kane had 3 assists in the second period and now has 7 points in the last three games. The goals by Carcillo and Sharp came 12 seconds apart.

Sharp had 2 goals in the second period, his first snapping an 0-for-20 drought on the power play.

“It's frsutrating to have a 4-2 lead and give that up,” Emery said. “We did get 1 point, so we'll take that.”

That 1 point put the Hawks into first place in the Western Conference by themselves.

It was the second game in a row the Hawks played without Keith because of a left hand injury. Quenneville said before the game that Keith was making good progress and might be able to return Sunday against Vancouver.

tsassone@dailyherald.com