It's been a while since the Blackhawks last played a regular season game at the United Center that had playoff-type vibes. Wednesday was exactly that.
National television. Original Six matchup. Superstars on both sides. One team fighting for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The other battling for a playoff berth. The intensity was high.
And it got much higher in the third period.
The story of the game for the Blackhawks was supposed to be how they responded from a sluggish effort in Minnesota 24 hours earlier. Instead, the Blackhawks and the entire city of Chicago are having a difficult time getting over some questionable officiating late in the game that didn't go in their favor and robbed them of a potential extra point that could have serious implications in the standings at the end of the season.