THREE THINGS: Start to Finish, Better Together and Tough Stretch

Chicago dropped their third of the last four outings on Saturday night in Florida as the Panthers overcame a 1-0 Blackhawks lead early in the second for a 4-2 final score, netting four straight to take control of the game until late.
Brandon Hagel and Adam Boqvist each scored their second goals of the season in the loss, having also found twine in the same game for their opening goals on the year on Feb. 23 in Columbus.

Here are three takeaways from the defeat:

START TO FINISH

The Blackhawks started the game strong on the road, allowing just six shots in the opening frame to the Panthers, who lead the league in shots per game. The Chicago defensive unit was efficient at breaking up high-danger looks and blocking shots.

Starting with a 4:33 stretch near the middle of the game, though, Florida took full advantage scoring three goals and taking control of the game essentially from that point on.
"I thought the first 25-30 minutes we played a pretty good road game," Colliton said. "The last 30 minutes or so, they raised their level. A couple of their big, important players were making a difference."
"I thought we were OK for 30 minutes," Hagel said. "We stuck around. It kind of got away from us. It kind of is what it is at this point. We've got to regroup, focus up because we've got them here in a couple days. Back to the drawing board basically and we'll go from there."

BETTER TOGETHER

Hagel's second goal of the year came on a beautiful give-and-go with Dominik Kubalik just 28 seconds into the second period as the Blackhawks jumped out to the opening lead. The two wingers have played with each other consistently in recent weeks and the tally completed a full-line effort on a play that started by winning a puck battle along the boards at the Chicago blue line.

"We read off each other pretty well," Hagel said of the chemistry. "I think after playing with each other for a bit, he knows what I'm kind of going to do on certain plays. It was a great pass by him, to be honest. I didn't even see it get through the guy. Just landed perfectly on my stick and I just followed through and it went in the net."
"They've been good," Colliton said of the wing pairing. "Really good at driving play, getting inside of D-zone, getting in the offensive zone, creating chances, drawing penalties."

TOUGH STRETCH

Chicago dropped their third regulation loss in the last four outings on Saturday night -- the worst stretch of results since the opening four games of the year.
"Teams are going to have that throughout the year, every team does from good teams to bad teams," Hagel said. "Everyone goes through these stretches. We've still got confidence in here. We know we're a good hockey team and just regroup and get back to the way we know how to play and I think good things are going to happen."
"We've just got to keep battling," Boqvist said. "We're a young team. We're going to have some downs and some highs, but overall we've just got to stick with it, compete every day. Tomorrow in practice we've just got to regroup and focus for the Monday game."