Blackhawks won't blame officials for loss to Canucks

The Blackhawks have moved on to Calgary, putting Friday's difficult 4-3 loss at Vancouver in the rearview mirror.

It would have been easy for the Hawks to blame the loss on several questionable calls by the referees, but they knew special teams made the real difference.

Were referees Eric Furlatt and Chris Rooney bad? Oh, they were absolutely terrible, but the Hawks went 0-for-5 on the power play, including a failed 5-on-3 for 47 seconds at a critical point in the game, and gave up 2 goals on the penalty-kill.

“It goes both ways,” Jonathan Toews told reporters when asked about the calls that went against the Hawks. “They made some calls in the moment that you disagree with, but we're not looking at that as the reason we lost the game.

“We had a 5-on-3 and our share of power plays and we didn't finish.”

Coach Joel Quenneville wasn't at all happy with Furlatt and Rooney, but he passed on several chances to call them out.

It was Furlatt who wiped out Dave Bolland's first-period goal when he ruled Troy Brouwer interfered with goalie Roberto Luongo. There was minimal contact, at most, and certainly nothing that prevented Luongo from stopping Bolland's shot.

“He said I interfered with his space,” Brouwer said.

“I'm surprised he called it because it was subtle contact, but it was interference,” Luongo told the Vancouver Province.

On the only goal of the first period by Vancouver's Christian Ehrhoff, slow- motion replays showed the puck inched across the blue line before the defenseman stepped into a slap shot, which made it an offside play. That's the linesman's error, but in real time it was so difficult to see.

The Hawks also weren't happy with penalties to Jake Dowell and Brent Seabrook that resulted in Vancouver power-play goals. But like Toews said, those go both ways.

Duncan Keith was asked directly if the bad calls decided the game.

“I don't think so,” Keith told reporters. “Calls go both ways. We had a 5-on-3 and our fair share of power plays and we didn't capitalize.”

The Hawks played well for the most part, with a lot of energy and pace to their game. Can they do that when the opponent isn't Vancouver or Detroit? That's been the problem all year.

“If we get that level of play every single night we're going to get some points,” Toews said.

“We did some good things,” Quenneville said. “We'll be positive and go on. We can't get frustrated. We've got four games in tough buildings the rest of the trip and we've got to find ways to get wins. Right now we need wins and we need points.”

Penguins' shocker:

Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup chances might have taken a hit Saturday when the team announced all-star center Evgeni Malkin suffered a torn MCL and ACL in his knee.

Malkin was getting a second opinion, but season-ending surgery was likely.

“We're discussing options with our doctor,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said on the team's Web site. “I'm not sure if there is a rehab possibility.”

The Penguins remain without Sidney Crosby, who suffered a concussion in the Winter Classic.