5 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-3 OT loss, including don’t-blink blown leads and Jonathan Toews’ faceoff vs. Marc-André Fleury

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The Chicago Blackhawks actually took a lead twice during Sunday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild, but lost them in the time it would’ve taken you to high-five a friend.

Hawks defenseman Jack McCabe scored the opening goal in the first period, but the Wild’s Matt Boldy answered 22 seconds later.

Andreas Athanasiou regained the lead in dramatic fashion with a partial breakaway in the third, but it took Boldy just 17 seconds to dampen the Hawks’ celebration again.

It’s quite the reversal from previous scrappy comebacks. And Hawks coach Luke Richardson can’t afford to let this become a trend — and the sour expression he wore on his face after the game suggests he won’t.

“Everybody says it, but we want to be the team that does it: The next shift is the most important because it deflates a team when you score and then you let a team score right back, and it can be the opposite,” he said. “The next shift is always important.”

“If we get scored on or the other team gets scored on, we have to be the ones that dictate what goes on in the game.”

The Hawks took a big blow before the game, losing top defenseman Seth Jones to a right thumb injury. He’s expected to miss three to four weeks.

Jack Johnson paired with Jake McCabe, and Caleb Jones and Filip Roos filled out the lineup. The Hawks didn’t have any more defensive miscues than they usually have.

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“I thought they did good,” Richardson said. “Roos hasn’t played in a while but I thought he looked good. Caleb, he’s been playing really well this year and tonight he was exceptional. I hope all these young guys who are doing well, we just need to make sure they’re not satisfied.”

Here are five takeaways from the game at the United Center.

Jonathan Toews poked in a rebound goal off Philipp Kurashev’s shot for his fifth goal of the season. The last time Toews had five goals within his first nine games was 2018-19, when he had five within the first three, including a hat trick against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 6, 2018.

Few need to be reminded of how sluggish his start was last season, when he didn’t score until his 26th game.

Toews is currently on a five-game point streak and has scored three goals in the last four games.

“He’s just working hard,” Richardson said. “He’s had a couple tough years in the past. But I think he’s really worked on getting his body back to where he needs it to be.”

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Toews had been well supported by Tyler Johnson and Taylor Raddysh, but when Johnson was placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury, Kurashev hopped on and the line didn’t miss a beat.

“With Radds and Johnny and I, we started figuring out how to manage the puck and not have to over-skate ourselves and utilize too much energy to create offense, and we found ways to start letting the puck do the work,” Toews said.

“We’re just really find ways to find each other and those two are working like dogs out there. I’s fun when I can rely on them and we all rely on each other to do little jobs like that and the offense just kind of comes as a result.”

It seems like all of Hawks’ fandom has gotten collective amnesia about past Max Domi moments, like when he rag-dolled Connor Murphy as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets in April 2021.

He may be a menace, but now he’s the Hawks’ menace.

That was on display after Patrick Kane was simultaneously tripped by the Wild’s Brandon Duhaime and hit from behind and knocked headfirst into the boards by Tyson Jost, who received a boarding penalty.

Domi jumped in and tore into Jost, with Domi drawing instigating, fighting and misconduct penalties.

“If something like that happens, you know, he’s going to be coming,” said Athanasiou, Domi’s linemate. “He’s real tough. He’s real strong. And in those situations, when you see red, he’s just going to be coming hard.

“It was good to see him stick up for our teammate like that.”

Richardson had “absolutely” no issues with Domi’s reaction.

“We’ll never say anything about anybody defending a teammate, sticking up for a teammate or taking an aggressive penalty in our game plan,” Richardson said. “If somebody takes an undisciplined penalty for no reason because they’re sucking out and can’t take it, that’s something we can’t afford to have.

“We’ll kill off the ones that are looking after our own or saving a goal or diving, trip or something on a breakaway. The ones that hurt you are the ones that are undisciplined and unnecessary.”

“Double A” charges into the zone but tends to meet resistance when it comes to finishing — or so that’s the book on Athanasiou. At times, he seems to second-guess himself or cost a rush opportunity by not making a quicker decision to shoot or pass.

But then there have been moments lately like Sunday’s highlight-reel goal.

In the third period, Athanasiou took a feed from Kane, toe-dragged in front of Matt Dumba and backhanded the puck over Marc-André Fleury.

“It was just a one-on-one and it worked out well,” Athanasiou said. “I kind of just blacked out in the situation and tried to make a play and I just kept working and the puck kept coming back to me. Definitely a feel-good when you get a scoring opportunity like that.”

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Richardson said: “That was a pretty special goal for sure. He’s very dangerous like that. Sometimes he has to realize that, when he doesn’t have the speed, stickhandling through the neutral zone, he gets himself in trouble sometimes. He’s a bright guy.”

A couple, actually.

Toews got the better of the first encounter, a second-period goal. But Fleury got the style points in the second, putting a little extra on a glove save against Toews.

“Yeah, I felt like he was trying to stick it back to me there. I don’t know if he knew it was me right away, but he definitely embellished that one a little bit,” Toews said with a smile.

Katchouk (left ankle) made his debut against the Buffalo Sabres Saturday after being activated off injured reserve, but really made his mark Sunday.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound forward leveled Frederick Gaudreau in the first period. Some of the Wild players mixed it up with him after.

Katchouk’s aggressiveness got him into trouble in the third when he mistimed his check on Jon Merrill and ended up getting a tripping penalty.

Still, he tied Jarred Tinordi for a team-high six hits, but in eight fewer minutes (9:14).