Penguins spoil Hossa's night, Blackhawks lose 5-3

They had to win this one, right? Every team has their specific games, be it against a rival or just on a certain date, that they circle and say, 'this is a must-win.'

Sunday night felt like one of those games. On the night of Marian Hossa's jersey retirement, it was the second and probably will be one of the few games in the United Center this year that attracts a full crowd.

It was an incredible ceremony, honoring one of the team's most incredible players.

But when the carpet was rolled up, and the giant electric 81 was deconstructed, and Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews changed out of their street clothes, it was time to play hockey.

With the crowd into the game, with Hossa in the building, and with the Blackhawks riding a three-game losing streak, this had to be one of those imperative wins, right?

Apparently not. The Blackhawks lost again, this time 5-3 to the Penguins. It's their fourth straight loss.

Richardson said before the game that he wanted to use this game as a kind of second home-opener - a "reset," he called it. The Blackhawks gave that reset their best try with goals by Jujhar Khaira (2), Kane (3), and Philipp Kurashev, but once again, they found themselves in a hole from which they could not climb out.

It was Kane's first goal since Oct. 27 against Edmonton and No. 3 on the season, stopping a 10-game drought.

Brock McGinn scored first for the Penguins 1:04 into the game, effectively quieting the crowd. About two minutes into the second period, Evgeni Malkin, playing in his 1,000th career game, scored.

The Blackhawks have now trailed 2-0 in their last five games. They came back in one of those games, but that wasn't the case Sunday night, as Rickard Rakell scored two minutes after Malkin to make it 3-0.

The Blackhawks actually came back to tie it at 3-3 with Kurashev's goal, but the uber-taleneted Sidney Crosby scored one minute later to make it 4-3.

Crosby then tapped the puck over to Jeff Carter for an empty-netter in the final seconds.

"Frustrating's a good word," Richardson said, "but I think it's more exhausting. It takes a lot out of you in this league to play from behind, especially against teams like this.