Whistle takes away Hawks goal in 1st

Oh, what might have been.

Leading 1-0 on Patrick Sharp’s goal midway through the first period and looking in full control against a Boston team clearly on its heels, the Blackhawks looked like they had just applied a mini-dagger to the Bruins.

Following a scramble in front of the Boston net and some poking and prodding all around Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews and a sellout crowd at the United Center thought they had witnessed the puck crossing the goal line and thus a 2-0 Hawks lead.

Only one problem: neither the referee nor the guys in the war room in Toronto agreed.

So it was no goal.

And that led to some confused, unhappy Hawks.

“I just tried to battle for the space and all of a sudden I saw the loose puck and I tried to put my stick at the puck,” Hossa said. “I just felt the puck was crossing the line but the ref said he blew the whistle.

“I didn’t hear the whistle, but there was so much noise in the building so I don’t know if the referee made the whistle early or not.

“But they decided and we have to move on.”

The Hawks captain wasn’t a fan of the quick whistle either.

“I thought the whistle was a little quick, but that’s the way it is,” Toews said. “It’s frustrating when the bounces don’t go your way, but it is what it is.

“When you score a goal and are playing the way we were playing in the first period, you need to find a way to sustain that and we didn’t quite do that tonight.

“We’ll just go back and do the same thing and try to find a way to score next time.”