The best team in the NHL for most of the season completed a three-game comeback to knock the seventh seed out of the playoffs. Surprising? Probably not. But the Chicago Blackhawks' 2-1 overtime win over Detroit in Game 7 was just as thrilling as you'd expect it to be.
2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs nightly GIF recap: Seabrook seals Game 7 win
Chicago survived a controversial call to win Game 7 in overtime.
USA TODAY Sports
Detroit's chances seemingly took a huge hit early on when Andrew Shaw slew-footed Valtteri Filppula for seemingly no reason.
That was the last anyone saw from Filppula. It wasn’t the last we saw of Shaw, who made a point to get under the Wings’ skin all game long.
For those of you that watched the Kings' game Tuesday, the first period of this particular Game 7 was just as uneventful. The two clubs played cautiously, and things didn't start opening up until the second period.
By “opening up”, I mean “3-on-1 goals.”
Jimmy Howard had no chance. Other than that (and the eventual game-winner), Howard was fantastic. So much so, that Cory Emmerton couldn't hide his frustration when Howard stoned him point-blank in the second period.
Detroit finally tied things up just 26 seconds into the final frame, when Corey Crawford got stuck in some glue on the left post and Henrik Zetterberg cashed in.
The third period was by far the nuttiest portion of the game, as Detroit and Chicago pummeled each other with hits and shots as the period wore on. Neither team looked better than the other, and fans began prepping themselves for overtime.
Then things got really weird.
United Center erupted in celebration, but the officials waved the goal off. Apparently Kyle Quincey and Brandon Saad got into a bit of roughhousing as the play was developing.
As you can tell, the official behind the play called coincidental roughing minors on Quincey and Saad before Niklas Hjalmarsson even had the puck on his stick.
So, to summarize: the Detroit Red Wings temporarily avoided elimination because their defenseman took a penalty. Wrap your mind around that.
Chicago fans were in an uproar, but quieted down just a few minutes into overtime when Brent Seabrook banked a shot off Niklas Kronwall's skate to win the series.
Jump with joy, Chicago. You just came back from a 3-1 deficit to advance to the Western Conference final.
Let it all out.
The Hawks will take on the Kings, which will probably result in even more boring Western Conference hockey.
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