CHICAGO _ It was '80s night at the United Center, and for a little bit it seemed that might refer to the Predators' margin of victory.
The Blackhawks settled down after falling behind in the opening minutes Thursday and dominated the third period, but they couldn't recover in a 5-2 loss.
The Hawks dropped to 19-20-6 and blew a chance to leap over the Predators and escape last place in the Central Division. They also fell to 1-2 on their homestand with one game left Saturday against the Ducks.
Alex DeBrincat's power-play goal with 14 minutes, 28 seconds left in the third pulled the Hawks within 3-2, but they couldn't tie it despite outshooting the Predators 14-5 in the final period.
Nick Bonini and goalie Pekka Rinne added empty-net goals in the final minute.
Patrick Kane assisted on DeBrincat's goal to move within six of 1,000 career points.
Viktor Arvidsson scored 3:16 into the game, Colin Blackwell scored his first NHL goal and Matt Duchene added his 10th of the season to give the Predators a 3-0 lead after one period.
The Hawks got on the board midway through the second when Dominik Kubalik fired a wrist shot past Rinne for his 14th goal. It was the third straight game with a goal for Kubalik, who trails the Sabres' Victor Olofsson by two for the lead among rookies.
Another Hawks rookie, defenseman Adam Boqvist, had a rough night on the other end of the ice. Roman Josi walked right around Boqvist in the slot before his shot went off Arvidsson to put the Predators up 1-0.
Boqvist coughed up the puck to Yakov Trenin near the Hawks net, and Trenin fed it to Blackwell for the Predators' second goal.
Another mistake cost the Hawks late in the first. Jonathan Toews tried to exit the zone, but his transition pass bounced off John Quenneville's stick. Seconds later Duchene had the puck in front of the Hawks net, where he deked Corey Crawford to make it 3-0.
Crawford, who stopped 25 shots, started his third consecutive game and first since Robin Lehner was available after suffering a minor knee injury last week.
