Goal scorer's goal, no two ways about it
Call it a goal scorer's goal.
That's what I wrote in my notepad. That's how Patrick Sharp's teammates referred to it. That's what it was.
Sharp recorded a big bad beauty Sunday during the Blackhawks' 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The winning goal was one for the textbooks, a great pass from Duncan Keith and great shot by Martin Havlat. Sharp's, however, was one that could have been blurted out at the Improv.
It reminded me of a goal Germany scored at Soldier Field in a 1994 World Cup game against - oh, I don't know, probably some South American team.
Anyway, the German was backed up against the right baseline - if that's what it's called in soccer - and bent a shot to sneak it into the net for the winning goal.
Man, I said, maybe there's more skill and athleticism to this game than I thought.
Then the scorer said he wasn't really shooting for the net but the ball just happened to go in.
Sharp's goal was reminiscent because of the improbability, but there was a difference - he was trying to put the puck in the net.
Not just anybody scores that goal. It takes a goal scorer, somebody with a knack for the net, somebody with a cerebral mechanism processing time, distance and the dramatic.
Here's the setup: Second period, United Center clock charging down, Columbus winning 1-0. The lead looked insurmountable the way rookie Jackets goalie Steve Mason was, as puckheads say, standing on his head.
"It was a night when offense was going to be tough to come by," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville would say later.
But Columbus captain Rick Nash drew a penalty for tripping, and the Hawks had their opportunity.
That impatient clock was the enemy, however. It dipped and dived and dipped and dived and finally was under the one-second mark.
Did you hear me, folks: Under the freakin' one-second mark!
The puck deflected off the boards behind the net and to the left. No chance. No way. Time to head for the concession stand.
The goal scorer was hungry for only a goal, however. A second, a half-second, is a lifetime to a goal scorer with the puck on his stick.
Sharp said he "knew there was not much time on the clock."
Hawks fans in the stands weren't the only ones screaming to shoot. Hawks players were screaming from the bench to shoot. And most critically, the goal scorer in Sharp's head was telling him to shoot.
So what he did, of course, was shoot his shot. What looked like a sharp angle turned out to be a Sharp angle.
"I was trying to throw it on the net," he said matter-of-factly of his 17th goal of the season. "I knew the goaltender was down."
Faster than you could say tie game, Sharp banked the puck off Mason's backside and into the net with .4 seconds remaining in the period.
"He had tremendous presence of mind," Quenneville said of Sharp.
Sharp called it "a lucky goal" - something I seem to recall that German soccer player saying - but in reality it was more good than lucky.
"That goal was very smart by him," Havlat said. "That was a goal scorer's goal."
Yes, that's exactly what it was.