GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Coyotes were 5.5 seconds away from building what no team in Coyotes history had built before: a 2-0 playoff series lead.
But Mikkel Boedker failed on a chance at an empty-net goal, Antoine Vermette failed to clear the defensive zone and Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp finally made an impact on this series, deflecting Brent Seabrook's shot from the point past goalie Mike Smith as Chicago forced overtime in the waning seconds for the second straight game.
This time, the Hawks didn't come up short. Bryan Bickell's second goal of the game off a crazy carom 10 minutes and 36 seconds into overtime gave Chicago a 4-3 win, evening the series at one game apiece heading back to Chicago.
"We're obviously disappointed and frustrated," captain Shane Doan said. "You never want to give it away like the way we did."
The temptation now is to ponder what might have been, especially if the Coyotes are forced to play without do-everything center Martin Hanzal, who left the ice early with an apparent leg injury and then left the building, presumably to be evaluated at a hospital.
"I haven't heard yet," coach Dave Tippett said when asked for a report on Hanzal.
Hanzal's loss would be a huge one given the myriad ways he touches the game.
"You take Hanzal out of the lineup, that's one of our top six players," said Tippett, who also lost forward Lauri Korpikoski to an undisclosed injury.
But the NHL playoffs have always been a war of attrition, a roller-coaster ride of emotions. So after a loss like this, you trot out the clichés to bring a dose of balance and perspective.
"As ugly and as painful as it looks, we all recognize that it's one game," Doan said. "We thought it was going to be a long series, and it's going to be a long series."
If it is, the first two games have been one heck of an appetizer. In the span of three days, we've had two game-tying goals in the final 15 seconds, two overtimes, two injuries to key Coyotes forwards (Radim Vrbata and Hanzal) and a dangerous play that the NHL will be reviewing shortly: Andrew Shaw's shoulder to Smith's head behind the net that dropped Smith to the ice for a prolonged period while earning Shaw a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct.
"I went back to play the puck and I didn't see him coming," Smith said. "I don't have eyes in the back of my head."
Shaw insisted he wasn't trying to hit Smith.
"His stick came up towards my face and so I tried to get away from it," Shaw said. "Unfortunately, I made a little contact."
Tippett saw it a bit differently.
"The league will look at that," Tippett said. "It doesn't matter if it's a goaltender or a player, that's blindside contact to the head."
The league doesn't have to make a ruling on Shaw until Monday, but Smith promised there were no residual effects from the hit.
"I feel fine," he said. "I'm 100 percent."
The Coyotes will need the same brand of bounceback after a gut-wrenching defeat, but adversity has dogged this team for the past three seasons, so this is nothing new.
"It's done -- you've got to look forward," Vermette said. "I wish you could go in there and win 16 in a row and win the Cup, but the odds are against you. It's not going to happen."
