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Blackhawks' overtime win one of the weirdest finishes you'll see

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The Blackhawks have had so many memorable finishes in recent franchise history, particularly in the playoffs. An overtime goal to end a 49-year championship drought in 2010 or a double overtime goal to clinch a berth to the Stanley Cup in 2013, you name it.

But as far as regular-season finishes go, Thursday might go down as one of the weirdest.

Near the midway point of overtime in a 2-2 tie, Philipp Kurashev received a pass from Brandon Hagel at the offensive blue line, then bulldozed his way to the net and into Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembault. The puck appeared to cross the goal line right as the net came off its moorings, but the original call on the ice was no goal.

The Blackhawks and Canadiens were legitimately getting ready to line up for a faceoff in the offensive zone after the play, until the officials huddled up at the last second and decided to review it.

After an extremely lengthy video review, the official turned on his microphone and announced that the puck did, in fact, cross the line before the net came off its moorings.

"The first [review], I was pretty confident," interim head coach Derek King said. "If it didn’t go our way, I was going to ask for a penalty. Their guy pushed into their goalie and took everything off."

But before the official could finish the second part of his statement, the United Center crowd erupted in a cheer. There was more to say: Montreal was challenging for offside, which led to another lengthy review.

"He threw me off when they reviewed the offside," King said. "That’s when I was a little nervous. Maybe go either way, but [assistant coach Marc Crawford] was pretty positive that he has possession with the puck. I’m glad it went our way."

Crawford was right, and the review went Chicago's way after it was determined Kurashev had possession of the puck on his entry. And for a second time, Blackhawks fans celebrated the goal.

But this time it counted.

"After the first review they said it was a good goal then they said offside," Kurashev said following a 3-2 overtime win. "It was YES! and NO! again. I was just hoping they’re going to count it and thank God they did at the end. I’m really happy."

It's one of the weirder finishes you'll see, and King has been around long enough to know.

"That's up there," he said on where this ranks among the weirdest finishes of his hockey career. "There are some weird ones, but I’m glad it went our way. I’ve been on some weird ones when it goes the other way. This was good."

How fitting, on a night where Andrew Shaw was honored. Nobody scored weirder goals — and disallowed goals — than The Mutt, whether it was off a shin pad or off his helmet.

Most importantly, the Blackhawks won their third straight game after going winless (0-3-3) in their previous six games. That's another step in the right direction, albeit against a team that has the fewest points in the league this season.

"That was quite the lengthy review there," Calvin de Haan said. "You never think they’re going to go your way. It was nice to get the bounce — I feel like we were due for one of those. At the end of the day, I think they made the right call. We’ll take the two points and move on."

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