Hawks closer to clinching playoff spot
Midway through a long. long second period delay, Marvin Gaye's classic “What's Going On?” asked the musical question that many in the sellout crowd at the United Center had to be wondering themselves after an apparent goal by Marian Hossa went under review.
Questions like:
Did he kick it in with his skate? Did it go in off his stick?
Did it actually ever cross the goal line after Wallenda-ing it's way from one post to the other?
How long was referee Dan O'Halloran going to be on the phone with the folks in the war room in Toronto? How much was that phone bill going to be?
But the most important question was, what were they going to rule?
Even the Hawks had their own questions about that.
“Both Hoss and I didn't think it was a goal,” said Patrick Sharp, who returned to the ice Wednesday after missing seven games with a knee injury. “The ref was right there though, and he pointed and said all four guys on the ice had it as a goal.”
“The call on the ice was a good goal and we felt like they were just trying to find proof that it wasn't a goal — and they worked pretty hard at trying to do that,” said Jonathan Toews, who scored the game-winner in the Hawks' 4-3 overtime victory over St. Louis. “When you get a lot of goals that are checked out in Toronto …we feel like we haven't got too many breaks with those.”
With the OT victory, the Hawks have 95 points with two games left in the regular season. They leapfrogged Anaheim (93 points) into the seventh spot in the Western Conference standings. Dallas in ninth with 91 points and has three games remaining.
After an extended discussion, the guys in Toronto concurred with the ruling on the ice, and suddenly after falling behind 2-0 in the opening 21 minutes, things were about to change … for both teams.
“They're probably going to make it into the playoffs anyways, but do we really have to make it that obvious that the league wants them in?” Blues goalie Ty Conklin said.
“The explanation was although there was a kicking motion, it touched his stick, and the puck was in the net,” Blues coach Davis Payne fumed. “From the angles I saw, I never saw it go completely in the net and I never saw it hit his stick. I don't like the ruling on that goal.
“At that point we had a lot of the control of the play, seemed like we were controlling the game … and that really got them started.”
Did it ever. Tomas Kopecky and Nick Leddy followed with goals to give the Hawks their first lead of the night after 40 minutes. Even after the Blues tied it up midway through the third, Toews and Co. had an answer.
“Once one goal goes in you get that belief and that confidence, absolutely,” said Toews, whose team is now just 2 points from clinching a playoff spot in the West.
“You saw the motivation, you saw the determination we had on the ice.”
No question.