Like a No. 9 rising for a late header at the back post, Chicago Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw came through in the clutch on Tuesday night, heading – yes, heading – a rebound of a Patrick Kane shot into the net to give Chicago a 3-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks in double overtime of their NHL Stanley Cup Playoff series.
Or so he thought.
Shaw – who leads a contingent of Blackhawks in a soccer juggling session before every game – had his goal disallowed by the referees, who correctly ruled that he illegally “deliberately head-butted the puck into the net.”
He still got to unleash a pretty cool celebration however, repeatedly smacking himself in the head while racing toward mid-ice like a soccer scorer tearing towards the corner flag. No word on if Shaw – who scored the game's opening goal way back in the first period – would’ve received a misconduct had he ripped off his shirt.
While his header didn’t stand, things ended well for Shaw and the Blackhawks, who got a goal from Marcus Kruger – himself a participant in Shaw’s pregame two-touch contests – with 3:48 left in the third overtime to beat the Ducks and even the Western Conference Finals series at 1-1.
The Chicago Fire joined in on the fun by comparing Shaw's header to one of their own last Friday night:
