PHILADELPHIA — There appeared to be a sliver of white ice between the puck — flung at the net by Richard Panik — and the goal line Saturday afternoon, but Flyers rookie Ivan Provorov’s glove made it impossible to know for sure. “Inconclusive” was the word the NHL used. In other words, had Panik been awarded a goal on the ice, that goal would have stood. But since the referee waved it off on the ice, that call stood.
That decision, late in the second period, thwarted the Blackhawks’ comeback attempt before it ever began in a 3-1 loss to the Flyers.
“Of course, we wanted the goal,” defenseman NIklas Hjalmarsson said. “But you just have to trust that they’re doing everything they can [to look at it].”
After being outshot 16-6 in the first period but emerging with a 1-0 lead thanks to Artemi Panarin’s ninth goal of the season — set up by some nifty stick work by Artem Anisimov — the Hawks were in a familiar spot entering the second period. But the Flyers blitzed Scott Darling for three goals on four shots — including two by Provorov in a 31-second span — to take the victory. The Hawks fell to 3-1-1 since Jonathan Toews suffered a back injury in San Jose, and have scored two or fewer goals in five of their last seven games.
The Hawks also haven’t won a regular season game in Philadelphia in 20 years, though the 2010 Stanley Cup Final is an awfully big asterisk.
Hjalmarsson said that Corey Crawford’s emergency appendectomy was no excuse for the loss. In fact, he said the Hawks got a big lift from the arrival of Eric Semborski as the emergency backup.
“I don’t think that had anything to do with the results of the game,” Hjalmarsson said. “If anything, it was fun to see how happy Eric was when he came here, and you kind of relived your own first game in the NHL. You saw the smile on his face and how happy he was and it got all the other guys in the locker room more energy. But that didn’t really translate into the game.”
Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com
Twitter: @marklazerus
