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Rozner: Blackhawks' best effort not enough in Game 2

The Blackhawks played their best game of the playoffs Thursday.

Turns out, against one of the best teams in the league, it just wasn't good enough.

Vegas scored 7:13 into overtime and the Hawks fell 4-3 in the Edmonton bubble, now facing a 2-0 series deficit that looks insurmountable. On the ice versus a group expected to compete for the big prize, the Hawks would now have to win four of the next five.

That is a steep mountain to climb.

"The key is how long can we stick with it when you face adversity?" asked Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton. "We're facing some adversity here, and do we have the character to overcome it?

"It's an opportunity for our guys. You play all year to be in these games so now we're here and we're facing adversity. So what? Just keep playing and believe in what we're doing and believe in the guys in the room and we're gonna give them a run."

Colliton's message is strong - and he has stayed with that since he got here.

But considering Vegas goalie Robin Lehner did not play well and the Knights were sloppy and lacking energy, you wonder now how many more games this series can go.

"Obviously it would have been nice to see something go in there in overtime," said Patrick Kane, who had his most visible game since the restart and collected 3 assists. "That's the way it goes, I guess."

On Reilly Smith's winning tally, the Hawks' defense got caught on the ice for an extended stretch. With the fourth period's long change, Connor Murphy and Lucas Carlsson both wound up exhausted and on the puck in the corner, leaving Smith wide open for an easy game-winner.

"We weren't able to get the puck in and get it deep and get our defense off," Colliton said. "So you end up with tired guys trying to defend and you get a breakdown."

The Hawks came out with an urgency appropriate for Game 2 and carried the play the first 10 minutes, their defense jumping into nearly every rush and several times involved in the play below the circles.

They tried mixing up the lines, they tried stretch passes and they used at least four men in on the offense most of the first period. They also scratched 19-year-old defenseman Adam Boqvist in favor of 23-year-old rookie Carlsson, who played just 10:33.

"We're trying to get better and use the group we have. We have a lot of confidence in Carlsson," Colliton said. "We're hoping (Boqvist) with a day of rest can come back, potentially, with another level for us."

As it always does in a situation like this, the game found Carlsson quickly, midway through the first when Smith and Jonathan Marchessault played catch behind the net, drawing Murphy to one side, and leaving Carlsson to choose between staying in front or attacking the puck.

But his job there is to stay home. Instead, Carlsson went to pressure behind the net, missed the pass, the forwards didn't collapse in time and Paul Stastny was alone in front to tap it past Corey Crawford for a 1-0 Vegas lead.

Five minutes later after Dylan Strome passed up a wide-open shot - the third time in the first period the Hawks were guilty of such - Vegas went down and made it 2-0 when Tomas Nosek on the off wing leaned on his stick and fired a wrist shot right through Crawford, another bad goal for the Hawks' netminder.

The Hawks got on the board early in the second after an awful Vegas line change and Kirby Dach took advantage, shoveling in a rebound for his first career playoff goal, which cut the Knights' lead to 2-1.

After Vegas took a bad penalty, Dominik Kubalik shot through a screen, Lehner never saw it and with 7:53 left in the second the Hawks had a power-play goal and a 2-2 tie.

That lasted only a few minutes as Mark Stone collected a rebound and his 2-foot putt made it 3-2 late in the second, the Hawks again unable to handle the punishing Vegas cycle.

Back together on a line for the final minute of the second period - courtesy of Colliton's line shuffling - Kane, Strome and Alex DeBrincat worked some magic, as Strome got the blue line, dropped to DeBrincat, who saw Kane skating alone down the right side. Kane's sweet feed found Strome going hard to the net for a stress-free goal and the Hawks had tied it again with only 14 seconds left in the period.

But the Hawks were badly outplayed in the final 20 minutes against the NHL's best third-period team, and were fortunate to get to overtime.

"Would have been nice to have a better third period, especially after we came back to tie it up," Kane said. "Had a lot of momentum. Would have nice to keep that momentum going early in the third."

The Hawks' problem isn't effort. It has been there. But Vegas is fast, big, deep and they support the puck so well that the Hawks simply can't sustain pressure 5-on-5.

The Hawks have no choice but to continue to use their defense as part of the offense knowing that also creates chances the other way for Vegas. It's a dilemma because the Knights' transition game is superb, their forwards always in a position to help the defense.

On the positive side, Crawford played very well after that bad goal, Strome and DeBrincat arrived for the first time in the postseason, Kane was creating all night and the line juggling definitely had an effect.

But even with all the good, the Hawks have a 2-0 deficit to show for it.

"It's a chance to show our character," Colliton said. "(Vegas) is an excellent team. They're a No. 1 seed for a reason. It's a big challenge for our guys.

"We've responded. Our guys have played hard. Done a lot of good things. Stayed right with them both games. We just have to keep improving. We have a lot of young guys. You gotta think that we're gonna get better as the series goes on.

"Back-to-back (games) coming up (over the weekend). Take the day to regroup and then come with our best effort of the series. Find a way to win a hockey game."

On paper, this didn't look like much of a series before it began and the scoreboard says it hasn't been as Vegas continues to play to form.

But the Hawks played well Thursday and Game 3 offers a chance to make it a series - however unlikely that seems.

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