Where we were at yesterday: Marty Havlat called out John McDonough, saying Dale Tallon and McDonough were the ones negotiating his future with the team. He also called McDonough jealous of all Tallon’s success. Rawr!

This morning, McDonough went on The Score 670 with Matt Spiegel and Barry Rozner and responded to some of Havlat’s accusations (via):

Where that came from, I have no idea. I have never talked to Marty Havlat or his agent about a contract extension. I empower people to make those decisions. So again, I mentioned this at the press conference, for anyone to intimate or infer that I, a civilian, would be making decisions on Marian Hossa over Marty Havlat, it’s preposterous.

Fair enough. But it doesn’t address Havlat’s claim: he didn’t insinuate that McDonough and Havlat’s agent were doing the negotiating on a contract, just that it was between McDonough and Tallon on his future with the team. If Havlat is to be believed, it’s obvious where McDonough stood: he preferred Hossa, and wanted Havlat out the door. Yet, McDonough is stating he doesn’t make any player decisions at all. Hmm. There’s a lot of talk here, and it’s not quite lining up. At this point, I suppose people will believe whom they want to believe, and we’ll all move onward.

One guy that isn’t talking much? Dale Tallon. He’s simply stating he’s “very fortunate” to still be with the team and working to make them Stanley Cup champs.

I think they call that the high road, son.

Since the Hawks decided to cast aside beloved winger Marty Havlat in favor of rival Detroit’s Marian Hossa, Havlat has been quite angry. He lashed out about the organization on Twitter shortly after Hossa was signed. And he did it again yesterday, when it was announced the Hawks fired reassigned Dale Tallon. Twitter, it’s not just for letting the world know you’re heading to dinner later tonight with friends! Both were with merit. Havlat feels disrespected by the former, and he was mad close with Tallon.

But it has not stopped there. Havlat decided to speak to TSN’s Darren Dregger. Here it is:

“My negotiation with Chicago was not between Dale and my agent, it was between Dale and McDonough,” Havlat said. “Why? Because McDonough couldn’t stand that Dale was so successful and getting the credit for building the Hawks from a last place team to making the Conference Final in three short years. Remember, we were also the youngest team in the NHL last year.”

“I was too closely identified with Dale,” he continued. “McDonough knew long ago he was going to fire Dale. He wanted someone he could claim as his own He wanted to stand up at the convention and claim credit for signing this guy or that guy.”

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Whether he’ll do the whole gain-40-pounds-and-get-an-Oscar-nod bit is up for debate. What’s not is that Marty Havlat, former Blackhawks winger, has some sort of back-alley knowledge about the Hawks front office, and gosh darnit, he’s not afraid to threaten use it on Twitter (Tweets listed from oldest to most recent):

I guess everyone saw what happened to Dale….yes, the story is starting to come out but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. about 2 hours ago from web

Lot’s of people are telling me to stay quiet but shouldn’t the fans know the truth? It’s your loyalty, season ticket money and emotions here about 2 hours ago from web

Just so everyone begins to understand, Dale was like a 2nd father to me. about 2 hours ago from web

Want to be clear. I loved my time in Chicago but moved on. Very excited about Minny,going to give everything I have to the Wild. about 2 hours ago from web

@andrewSegal As I said before, I didn’t leave Chicago, it left me. about 1 hour ago from web

There are some fans asking Havlat to keep quiet for the sake of the franchise. Really, though, come on; unless Rocky Wirtz is shoveling asbestos particles into the Bud Light, I’m betting the organization will be fine. So let Havlat say what he wants! What happened, Marty? Spill it! Show us on the doll where Stan Bowman placed his foot, and what part of the doll he used to sign Marian Hossa’s contract. This will be hard. Take your time.

And he and his agent are voicing all their displeasure on Twitter, of course! You see, as Eamonn wrote yesterday, the Hawks were toeing the line between re-signing Martin Havlat or going balls out and picking up back-to-back All-Star Marian Hossa from Detroit.

The Hawks went in the latter direction, signed Hossa to a 12-year deal, and Havlat was left out in the cold. He signed with the Wild yesterday instead — a deal worth $30 million over six years. The Minnesota fans showed him love, so he dropped this on his Twitter.

Excited to be in Minny where I was welcomed and appreciated by management. The real story about what happened in Chicago to come out.

The real story? Do tell.

There’s something to be said for loyalty and honor.

Have we entered into a Lord of the Rings novel?

Havlat’s agent, Allan Walsh, seems to have told that real story on Twitter:

Havlat received multi year offers from several teams…except Chicago. After 3 months of negotiating a long term contract, Chicago would …

Later:

After 3 months of negotiating a long term contract, Chicago would not offer anything more than a 1 year deal. So much for taking care of the team MVP

So yeah, according to Havlat’s agent, the Hawks were negotiating a longer-term deal with his client all along, but when actual free agency hit, the Hawks retreated, and put a hard sale on for Hossa. I suppose you can’t blame Havlat or his agent for their reactions.

Sports are a business, sure, and athletes have to keep that in mind. But when you expect one thing from a club you’ve worked hard for, and all of a sudden you’re swept under the rug, it’s never a good feeling.

It didn’t matter the Hawks came out strong in the first period last night, playing with a sense of urgency we hadn’t seen in quite some time. Because they hadn’t scored yet, and the game was almost over. Credit Roberto Luongo for playing a terrific game between the pipes. But the Canucks broke down with a little less than three minutes to go, and Martin Havlat was able to slide a wrist shot past Luongo with 2:44 to go.

From there, Andrew Ladd tipped one home in OT, and what was very close to being a 3-1 series deficit for the Hawks just as quickly became a 2-2 series tie as they head back to Vancouver.

As Ross McKeon notes, the Canucks had their chances to put it away for good:

The Canucks had two chances to take complete control of their second-round series and blew it both times. Vancouver couldn’t shut the desperate Blackhawks down the final three minutes of regulation when a franchise-first 1-0 win in the playoffs would have meant a 3-1 series lead. Then with a similar chance in overtime, the Canucks got outshot 4-1 and skated off with a momentum-changing defeat. Vancouver managed only 15 shots in the game.

The Hawks had more shots on net last night, and though it took nearly the entire game, that stat come to fruition in the end. This series is now a series again.

I probably should have watched more of the Blackhawks game last evening — it was kind of a big deal, after all — but alas, I did not watch it in its entirety. (Sorry, I got distracted by NBC’s Thursday night schedule, OK?)

I missed Jay Cutler drop the puck, but I saw his teammate, Chris Williams, net those two goals inbetween periods. I missed Martin Havlat’s first goal, but saw his second and most important: the game-winner just 12 seconds into overtime.

Let’s go to our own Sarah Spain, who was in attendance last night, for some analysis:

Despite never establishing a real rhythm (and never getting any help from the refs), the Blackhawks never lost their cool. There weren’t stupid fights or pointless penalties and rarely did players give up on the team and go after a desperation shot. They didn’t play well, and they didn’t play pretty, but the only lead the Blackhawks had Thursday night was the only lead that counted. Just 12 seconds into the overtime period (and coincidentally, just seconds after I yelled “just score right now and get it over with!”) Havlat cemented his status as hero, flicking a wrister past Kiprusoff to give the Blackhawks their first playoff win in seven years.

That’ll do. Game 2 is Saturday night at the United Center.

The Blackhawks got whacked around last night at the United Center, falling 4-1 to the Minnesota Wild. The Hawks’ lone goal came from Martin Havlat in the second period, as he scored at the 10-minute mark. No biggie. The season goes on, right?

Well, for one dude chilling in the United Center last night, Havlat’s goal won him $1 million. Thanks to an Illinois Lottery promotion, if a Hawks player scored at the 10-minute mark in the second period, the fan would win a million bucks. I don’t know the exact odds of this happening, but I’m betting they are, how do you say this, “incredibly low.” Or maybe put another way, “not a snowballs chance in hell.”

So what does Joel Quenneville think about this fan winning some cheddar last night?

When told during the postgame news conference that a fan had won $1 million on Havlat’s goal, Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said, “He did? Good for him.”

The excitement, it’s overwhelming.