Penguins winning streak ends at eight in loss to Blackhawks

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins' eight-game winning streak ended in a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

"We made some errors on the penalty kill that cost us tonight," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "Errors that we haven't made here over this last long stretch that I know we're better at. We didn't do as good a job tonight."
Dylan Strome scored seven seconds after a Penguins penalty expired, giving the Blackhawks a 4-3 lead with a wrist shot from in front of the crease at 1:48 of the third period. It was his seventh goal in 20 games since being acquired by Chicago in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 25.
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Patrick Kane had three assists, and Cam Ward made 31 saves for the Blackhawks (16-21-7), who won for the first time in three games and were 1-for-3 on the power play. Duncan Keith scored two seconds after a penalty expired in the second period, and Alex DeBrincat scored a power-play goal in the first.
"They've won eight in a row coming into the game. So they've obviously been feeling pretty good about themselves," Kane said. "I think it's a team we can kind of compare ourselves to, as far as what's happened in the past and our history, and stuff like that. So I think a lot of us get excited to play these guys. It's nice to beat one of the best teams in the League."

Chris Kunitz and Jonathan Toews also scored for Chicago, which has won 10 straight against Pittsburgh since losing 4-1 on March 30, 2014.
Patric Hornqvist, Jake Guentzel and Derick Brassard scored for the Penguins (23-13-6), who outscored their opponents 32-9 during the winning streak. Casey DeSmith made 26 saves.
Hornqvist put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 2:43 into the game when he scored with a snap shot from the right face-off circle off a pass Evgeni Malkin.
"You have to give them credit," Hornqvist said. "They played hard. We couldn't find a way to put the puck in the net tonight. We played a hard game and we did some good things. Then we didn't do some good things."
Guentzel made it 2-0 at 4:33 of the first period. He tipped a Kris Letang shot before scoring five-hole on his own rebound.
DeBrincat cut the Penguins lead to 2-1 when he scored on a one-timer set up by Kane at 16:23 of the first with Malkin in the penalty box for hooking Drake Caggiula.
Kunitz tied it 2-2 at 6:46 of the second period with a snap shot around defenseman Marcus Pettersson from above the left hash marks for his first goal of the season.
Brassard gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 9:49 with a one-timer through the five-hole before Keith tied it 3-3 with a slap shot at 16:59. It was Keith's first goal in 46 games dating to April 4, 2018.
"I think that was a real positive," Keith said of Chicago winning after falling behind 2-0 and 3-2. "Finding ourselves a way to get back into it, crawling back into it and taking the lead in the end. Keeping it. We worked hard and got what we deserved."
Toews scored an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining for the 5-3 final score. He had an assist on Strome's goal to extend his point streak to six games (one goal, seven assists).

They said it

"I think one thing we've established is we're not going to quit. We're going to play to the end. It was certainly not the start we wanted. We kind of gifted them a couple, but credit to those guys in there. They just kept playing and found a way to score on the power play. That was big. I was just really happy with how hard we competed. It was nice to see the guys get rewarded." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"They had some success on the power play, for sure. ... We gave them a few chances, and they took advantage of it." -- Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith

Need to know

Kane became the 20th player in NHL history and the first born in the United States to begin his career with 12 straight seasons with at least 30 assists. ... The Blackhawks played the first game of a back-to-back. Goalie Collin Delia is expected to start against the Calgary Flames on Monday, Colliton said. ... Kunitz scored against Pittsburgh for the first time since he had two goals and an assist for the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 10, 2006. He played for the Penguins from 2009-2017 and had no goals in three games against them last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. ... Caggiula made his Blackhawks debut after being acquired in a trade from the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 31. His debut was delayed until he received visa clearance. ... Letang tied Rick Kehoe for sixth in games played in Penguins history (722), and his assist on Guentzel's goal extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, seven assists). ... Penguins center Sidney Crosby's point streak ended at six games. He had three goals and 10 assists in that span.

What's next

Blackhawks: Host the Flames on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, SNW, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-F, NHL.TV)