Shootout loss leaves Hawks steamed

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - How much did the Blackhawks miss Jonathan Toews? Let us count the ways.

The Hawks went 5-11 in the 16 games Toews missed with a sprained left knee. They scored 2 or fewer goals in 11 of those games while the power play plummeted in the NHL rankings.

Toews returned Sunday night and figured in both Hawks goals in a controversial 3-2 shootout loss to the Canucks at GM Place.

Ryan Shannon scored the only goal in the shootout on a spin move that saw him bump Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

Referees Paul Devorski and Wes McCauley appeared confused but allowed the goal to stand, much to the dismay of Hawks general manager Dale Tallon, who exploded in anger in the press box and immediately got on his cell phone and called the NHL office in Toronto.

"To me, that's interference," said Hawks coach Denis Savard. "The goaltender shouldn't be able to get bumped."

Khabibulin cross-checked Shannon after the play in anger.

"I guess there's no rule against that," Khabibulin said sarcastically. "Don't ask me."

The Hawks got third-period goals from Patrick Sharp and Cam Barker to erase a 1-0 deficit, but Markus Naslund tied it with 1:18 left after the Canucks pulled goalie Roberto Luongo.

Daniel Sedin had a penalty shot to win it in overtime but lost control of the puck. The penalty shot was awarded after Brent Sopel crashed into the net and dislodged it -- another call by the referees that angered the Hawks.

The Hawks played most of the game without Martin Havlat, who became ill after playing six shifts in the first period and left the building to return to the hotel.

As much as the Hawks missed Toews on the ice, his absence in the dressing room as a leader in uniform was felt just as much as evidenced by what he said about his return prior to Sunday's game.

"Marty Lapointe, he's our leader, and he's been stepping up in the room and saying we've got to feed off this, let this bring us together," Toews said. "We've gone through enough (junk) where we've had losing streaks. We've got to say enough is enough and not be satisfied with losing.

"We can be a winning team if we want to. I think we're in a great mood right now and when you feel like that as a team, you have that sort of energy in the locker room, you're going to play well and make things happen."

Toews played a regular shift and got 22 minutes of ice time. He assisted on Sharp's goal but failed on his attempt in the shootout.

Savard thought Toews was very good but didn't care for how his other five top-six forwards played.

"Our fourth line was our best line by a country mile," Savard said of Adam Burish, Martin Lapointe and Craig Adams.