BLACKHAWKS

Familiar problem: Hawks surrender 3 goals in 1st 4:11

Preds score three goals in the first 4:11 of Hawks’ 5-2 loss.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The first-place Predators were without four of their best players, including P.K. Subban, Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg.

The sixth-place Blackhawks got back Henri Jokiharju after a two-game absence and have been a pretty healthy bunch.

It seemed like a fair fight. Instead, it was another first-period knockout.

The injury-riddled Predators ran roughshod over the Hawks, scoring three times in the first 4 minutes, 11 seconds on their way to a 5-2 win at Bridgestone Arena. Kevin Fiala, Eeli Tolvanen and Ryan Johansen scored the Predators’ first three goals, all on barely contested shots in front of the net.

The Hawks’ first-period problems showed no signs of abating. They allowed four more goals and have been outscored 17-4 in their last six opening frames.

“I don’t know how to explain that one tonight,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “I don’t know if it’s lack of effort again or if it’s just mistakes that we can’t be making, but we seem to correct the course the rest of the game.”

The Hawks were without Duncan Keith for the majority of the game; he was ejected with 12:42 left in the first period. After Keith was checked hard into the boards near mid-ice by Miikka Salomaki, he tried to instigate a fight but was separated from Salomaki.

Alex DeBrincat came over to support Keith and took on 6-foot-1, 207-pound defenseman Matt Irwin, who has 7 inches and more than 40 pounds on DeBrincat. While that bout was going on, Keith sought out Salomaki again, and they rolled around for a few seconds before being pulled apart.

For a team seeking a way to find its way, perhaps a change began with Keith’s emotional response and DeBrincat having his teammate’s back.

“At some point some sort of response was needed,” Keith said. “So nice to see DeBrincat get in there. I don’t expect that but I’ll remember that.”

Keith picked up five penalties during the near-melee, including minors for roughing and instigating, a fighting major, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct. It was the second time this season Keith was ejected in the opening minutes, leaving the team down a man for most of the game.

“We want to be smart about how we retaliate,” Toews said. “But I’d rather our guys show some emotion and stick up for one another rather than not. Obviously, Cat’s not the biggest guy, but it’s really nice to see him drop his gloves like that.”

The Hawks lost for the fifth time in six games to drop to 9-13-5, including 3-7-2 since Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton took over after Joel Quenneville was fired.

“We’re not going to give up,” coach Jeremy Colliton said.

“It’s our job to be relentless. We will respond. That’s what I believe, and we'll go from there.”