‘We gift-wrapped them an opportunity to get back in the game.’ 5 takeaways after the Chicago Blackhawks let a 2-goal lead slip in a 4-3 loss to the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes.

For a team that took seven games to get its first lead, squandering a 3-1 edge against the NHL’s No. 1 team by points percentage is brutal.

But that’s what the Chicago Blackhawks did to lose 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.

They lost the defensive discipline that got them their first win of the season Monday, 5-1 over the Ottawa Senators, and fell back into the risky play and careless passes that plagued them during their nine-game winless streak.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if they created some chances, held us down in the defensive zone, got some pucks to the net, got a couple of bounces, made it a game,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “But that’s not what happened.

“We gift-wrapped them an opportunity to get back in the game and (it’s) hard to watch it happen. ... We need to understand the difference between winning and losing and why you win and why you lose.”

The Hawks were up 3-2 when Jaccob Slavin picked off Jake McCabe’s pass in the neutral zone and launched a counterattack with Andrei Svechnikov and Jesper Fast that left the Hawks flatfooted (and McCabe literally spinning) as Fast tied the game at 3 just 17 seconds into the third period.

“A couple of turnovers here and there, unfortunately they usually end up in our net right now,” Alex DeBrincat said. “(We) have to be strong on the puck, make simple plays and just battle it out.

“When you’re up 3-2 going into the third, we just have to be better at the start of the third period.”

You get the sense fans are getting restless.

For the second game in a row, attendance at the United Center hovered around 16,000 (16,449 on Wednesday, to be exact).

“I don’t think we’re worried too much about that. We’re trying to win games,” DeBrincat said. “We obviously want them to show up but we haven’t done ourselves any favors in that aspect.

“We have to gain their trust back, win some games and make it exciting for them.”

Here are five takeaways.

1. Jeremy Colliton stewed over his team chasing the fourth goal.

The Hawks got off to a 3-1 lead, so trying to pad that advantage against one of the top teams in the league is a natural instinct.

The Hawks did end up facilitating that fourth goal — for the Canes.

Seth Jarvis’ breakaway goal punished the Hawks for being too aggressive in the offensive zone and brought the Canes within 3-2 before Fast capitalized on a takeaway to make it 3-3.

Martin Nečas snuck the go-ahead goal past Marc-André Fleury with Seth Jones defending.

“We keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Jones said.

“Going into the third period with a one-goal (lead) against Carolina, we have to be able to lock it down, make simple plays and not beat ourselves and that’s what you see happening through these first 10 games”

Colliton said the team would’ve like to add a fourth goal, of course, and the chances would’ve come if they had continued to play smart like they had been for much of the first and second periods.

“But you can’t be pushing so hard for the fourth one that you expose yourself going the other way. Just unforced errors that good teams, when you give them life, they’re going to make you pay for it.”

2. The power play couldn’t bail the Blackhawks out.

The Hawks entered the game with the eighth-ranked power play but the Hurricanes had the fourth-ranked penalty kill.

But not even 8 minutes of man-advantage in the third period — including a 4-minute double-minor in which Colliton pulled the goalie eventually to create a 6-on-4 — could crack the Canes’ PK.

“I don’t know if we were getting enough bodies at the net, I don’t know,” DeBrincat said. “We had chances, (Jonathan) Toews hit the post. One inch the other way it’s in the net.”

Said Jones: “They’re just very aggressive. They make you make good plays through them. ... We had scrums in front of the net, we had some good looks down low. Just didn’t go in.”

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said his unit came up big.

“That was obviously the game,” Brind’Amour said via NHL.com. “We were eight minutes (shorthanded) in the third period. That’s way too much to give that team. They had their looks. The goalie was good; Freddie made some saves. We had some huge blocks. That was obviously the crucial point of the game.”

Colliton said Carolina’s penalty kill “really scrambles things.”

“You’re not going to be able to do everything you want to do out there. ... You have to take what they give,” Colliton said. “The way the power plays were stacked up went against us. That’s not why we lost the game, so I think let’s not get distracted by that.”

3. Soon-to-be Hall of Famer Marian Hossa was ‘never rattled.’

Marian Hossa’s celebration at the United Center next week was postponed indefinitely, a side effect of the Kyle Beach fallout the franchise has found itself in. But the retired winger still is due to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Nov. 15 along with fellow former Hawk Doug Wilson.

Hossa helped win Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015 during his career’s second act. He produced 525 goals and 609 assists during his 19 seasons.

Among the stats Hossa shares with Toews, they assisted each other on six goals during the 2015 playoffs.

“(There’s) a lot you can say about him as a player and how talented he was, how natural he was, but even how hard he worked beyond that natural ability,” Toews said. “You talk about the generational talent that you only see every 10 years, I feel he’s right on the edge of that, if not (that).

“To have a chance to play with him on a line for so long, you definitely appreciate looking back on that, and seeing how much fun and how easy the game was, how much he supported you in so many different ways.”

Hossa was nearly 30 years old when he joined the Hawks for the 2009-10 season, nearly 10 years Toews and Patrick Kane’s senior.

Toews said they looked up to him.

“He never seemed to be rattled, never seemed to be frustrated,” he said. “Just always calm and had that calm form of leadership where he was just himself every single day.”

4. Hawks are coming and going off the COVID-19 protocol, but here’s a tip of the cap to Ryan Carpenter.

Henrik Borgström officially came out of the COVID-19 protocol Wednesday, a day after fellow forward Jujhar Khaira and defenseman Riley Stillman were removed from the list. Khaira and Stillman played Wednesday.

Kane returned from a 10-day stint in grand fashion Monday, scoring a hat trick against the Senators.

Meanwhile, defenseman Isaak Phillips and forward Tyler Johnson entered the protocol Wednesday, though Johnson has been a scratch since Oct. 30 with neck soreness.

Said Toews: “It was a tough couple of weeks to go through what we were going through as a team, finding a way to win. Missing guys, guys coming and going, (it) felt like there was no flow.”

But Carpenter has been a constant through lineup turmoil, filling in roles not typically asked of a fourth liner and penalty killer, such as joining the power play and manning a line with Toews and Brandon Hagel.

“It’s crazy how quickly stuff can change in hockey,” Carpenter said before Wednesday’s game. “I was getting scratched for a couple of games and then got back in the lineup, and — whatever, guys get COVID, our lineup’s a little thinner — and now I’m playing with Tazer and Hagel, and I was on the power play last game.”

Carpenter has played on Toews’ line the last five games, including Wednesday night.

Colliton said before the game, “I really like (Toews’) line here over the past stretch of games. ... They’re creating chances but they’re doing a great job of checking as well.”

Carpenter also was the primary assist on Kane’s power-play goal against the Sens on Monday, which gave the Hawks breathing room to bag their first win of the season.

“I’ve just been sticking true to my role: a guy that finishes hits and is hard to play against, all the things that Jeremy wants us to (do),” Carpenter said.

5. Jonathan Toews checks in about his health.

Toews has played all 11 games and has shown no demonstrative effects of a past bout with COVID-19 or what he was told is “chronic immune response syndrome.”

He played 20 minutes, 52 seconds Wednesday, including time on the power play and penalty kill. He took two shots and won 54.2% of his faceoffs.

Toews fielded a question about his status before the game, but focused on improving the Hawks’ record after starting out 1-7-2.

“It’s hard to play when collectively we’re fighting a little bit and trying to find confidence, trying to find that connection with the five guys that are out on the ice,” he said. “We’re working toward creating that.

“On an individual level, the energy and confidence with the puck, and the playmaking creativity, and playing smart on defensive side, being responsible and having that balance, I feel like it’s coming together and starting to fall into place.”

After morning skate, Colliton singled out Toews’ line with Hagel and Carpenter, and Toews individually, for standing out in recent games.

“He’s been great on the special teams, power play and penalty kill, but I think 5-on-5 that line has given us a lot lately and hopefully he can keep building on that.”

Here is more game coverage.

The Chicago Blackhawks built a 3-1 lead midway through the second period, but the Carolina Hurricanes scored twice within the first 3½ minutes of the third to escape with a 4-3 win Wednesday and with their spotless record intact at 9-0-0.

Alex DeBrincat scored two goals for the Hawks and Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist.

“Very disappointing way to lose,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “It’s a terrible feeling when you put (yourself) in a great position, you give them life, you give them momentum, you give them their goals.”

Kane flipped the puck over Andrei Svechnikov to DeBrincat, who punched in a breakaway goal against Frederik Andersen 1 minute, 35 seconds into the game.

It was the fourth time in five games the Hawks scored first.

Except for Derek Stepan’s first-period goal — practically gift-wrapped for him by teammate Tony DeAngelo’s misfire — the Hawks defense held the Hurricanes in check for a period and a half.

But it was only a matter of time before the league’s No. 1 team in goal differential (plus-21) got uncorked.

Stepan’s bank pass aided Seth Jarvis’ breakaway goal late in the second period to cut the Hawks lead to 3-2.

Jesper Fast scored 17 seconds into the third. Jaccob Slavin intercepted Jake McCabe’s pass in the netural zone and led a counterattack, connecting with Svechnikov and Fast on a 3-on-2. Svechnikov had two assists.

Martin Necas banked in the go-ahead goal off Marc-André Fleury’s side 3 minutes later. Fleury had 28 saves and Andersen 27.

Asked whether the squandered lead was a missed opportunity, DeBrincat said: “One hundred percent. We had good spots, we were up 3-1, we have to find a way to win that game.”

Colliton was asked if the team took the loss particularly hard.

“I don’t know how you can’t,” he said. “If you’re not extremely upset by what went on, I would question that. We had to battle hard to get some momentum and it’s such a wasted opportunity.”

The Hawks’ sixth-ranked power play came up empty on five opportunities, despite Colliton pulling Fleury for a 6-on-4 with 3 minutes left in the game.

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