"We saw it on the ice, [that's] what we thought, but then the video we saw, the puck's coming in over the line and their guy's carrying it and Toews was short of the line coming out," said Avs head coach Jared Bednar. "We had that view right away. So that's what I saw."
Video replays appeared to confirm that Toews was on the wrong of the blue line on the play, and the Avalanche challenged for offsides. After a lengthy review, the on-ice officials confirmed the goal on the ice and the United Center erupted once again.
It was a tough break for Colorado, but what Bednar really disliked about the call was how his team responded after it.
"I guess I don't necessarily fully understand it, but it's a tag-up rule," Bednar said. "They were saying [the puck] wasn't on his stick. That is what it is. For me, it's 3-2, nine and a half minutes to go, that gives them a little life. It's what we do after that bothers me. That call for me is the least of what bugs me of the way that game finished."
Toews' tip-in goal was the start of a scoring spree that featured three tallies in 34 seconds, and the Blackhawks quickly went from down by two to up by one. Chicago added two more in the final period, including an empty-netter with two seconds remaining to take a 6-3 victory.
"Every play matters," Bednar said. "So we have a turnover at the offensive blue line, it ends up in the back of our net. We don't reload quick enough on the forecheck, it ends up in the back of our net. We get caught on three or four odd-man rushes in the end of the game, and they all end up in the back of our net. There's no real secret to it."
The Blackhawks' comeback is proof of the club's resilience and a prime reason why they're looking for their fourth Stanley Cup in eight seasons. Chicago is now riding a five-game winning streak and holds a comfortable lead atop the Central Division and Western Conference.
"They're dangerous and you can't give them anything," said Avalanche forward J.T. Compher. "You got to stay on top of their guys. Can't give them too much time and space, and when you do they can score in bunches like you saw tonight."
The Avs had entered the third period with a 3-1 lead after scoring three straight and were playing some decent hockey. Colorado was getting good looks in the offensive end and did a solid job of not allowing too many Chicago passes to get through the slot on the defensive side of things.
"I thought we scored some timely goals. We spent a little bit of time in our zone on a couple of occasions, but I thought we kept them to the perimeter and kept our scoring chances down," Bednar said of his team's play prior to the 10:17 mark of the third. "You can see they're dangerous off the rush and were trying to sneak guys in behind us. So our guys were aware of that. They handled that pretty well, and then at the other end we did a decent job of creating some scoring chances, even late in the second period."
But then the Blackhawks scored, and things started spiraling down quickly.
"They got a lot of experience and [are] a good team, and we talked about in between periods [how] we're not going to sit back, they're going to come at us," said defenseman Mark Barberio. "For us, I thought we played the game not to lose instead of trying to play to win, and that's what happens against a team like that."
Was the video review a game changer? Maybe, but the Hawks came out of the second intermission strong and were maintaining zone time in the Avs' end prior to Toews' goal.
"They started rolling. They started getting momentum, and I think maybe we were sitting back even more," Barberio said. "We were just kind of watching them play instead of being a part of the game, and again they've got championship players on that team and they've won some cups for a reason."
