REWIND: Headbutts and Heroics in Game 2

Andrew Shaw is a competitor in every sense of the word. He's tenacious on the ice, both physically and offensively. He's willing to play any role he needs to make the team better. And he'll do anything it takes to come away victorious -- look no further than Game 2 of the 2015 Western Conference Final.

Having dropped the first game of the series -- a rarity in the six seasons of Cup-winning teams from 2010-15 -- by a 4-1 scoreline to the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago needed to steal one on the road before the scene shifted home.

Just 28 seconds into the game's opening power play, Shaw scored his second of the playoffs to spark the visitors. Marian Hossa doubled the lead a few minutes later, but by the end of the second, Anaheim had clawed their way back with goals from Andrew Cogliano and Corey Perry.

"It's probably one of my favorite series I've been a part of," Shaw said of the best-of-seven that would eventually go the distance. "They were a great team, they were physical, hard, fast, skilled -- they had everything."

What now stands as the longest game in Blackhawks history was almost just another double-OT affair, at least if Shaw had it his way.

With just over 11 minutes on the clock in the second extra session, Patrick Kane turned from the bottom of the circle in the offensive zone and fired a quick shot on goal. Frederik Andersen made the point-blank stop off his shoulder, but the rebound went skyward.

"Doing what I do, standing in front of the net creating some havoc and Kaner makes a play to the net," Shaw recalled this week. "I'm tied up with Anaheim's defenseman there and I see the puck going in the air and I'm following it with my eyes. I know if this puck gets to the ground, he's not going to let me get a stick on it, he's going to tie me up. So I figured I could jump into this one."

Jump he did. At the top of the crease, Shaw went up and over Francois Beauchemin and made textbook soccer header contact on the puck -- down and on frame -- past Andersen and into the open goal mouth.

No call on the ice was officially signaled as Shaw was mobbed by a sea of white jerseys that leapt off the Blackhawks bench. For 15, maybe 20 seconds, it was a standoff while the officials convened, unsure of what they really just saw. Chicago celebrating at one end, Anaheim standing in protest at the other.

"You never really know. You don't see stuff like that happen too much," said Shaw on whether he thought it would count. "So when it happened, I wasn't sure it was going to count, but I was going to celly like it did for sure."

In the end, pesky NHL Rule 78.5 (i) had the last say: "Apparent goals shall be disallowed when the puck has been directed, batted or thrown into the net by an attacking player other than with a stick." No goal Chicago.

It's a fond memory for Shaw to look back on now, due in large part to the fact that the end result came out the same thanks to a similar, though legal, cleanup effort from his linemate Marcus Kruger at the 16:12 mark of the third overtime.

"Those games that go on like that, very deflating to lose those games," Shaw said. "To win that one kind of won us the series too. We were playing an amazing team ... we come out with that win, I think that helped us win the series as well."