"I think everyone was wondering where it was. I looked back and I knew I was done. It was tough to swallow. It's something you dream for your whole life, you get there, and it ends like that. It's tough."
The Flyers' miracle run to the Stanley Cup finals ended with Kane's thud in the back of the net, as the Flyers and the 20,327 fans at the Wachovia Center threw their hands up in disbelief. Some shrieked in horror.
All magic runs out eventually.
Kane's goal, just 4:06 into overtime, gave the Blackhawks a stunning, 4-3 win in Game 6, delivering Chicago its first Stanley Cup in 49 years.
The Flyers' date with destiny will have to wait at least another year, the city of Philadelphia's Stanley Cup drought has been pushed to 36 years. This was the sixth time the Flyers advanced to the Stanley Cup finals since last winning in 1975, with each run coming just short.
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Kane's snap shot was perhaps the most bizarre goal of the 94 that have clinched the Stanley Cup in National Hockey League history. It was jaw-dropping.
"Things happened quick," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It came in off the angle. I saw one of their players skate across the ice like he had won something. I got a little pit in my stomach.
"But I didn't know it went in. I didn't see the goal."
Many of the Flyers, teary-eyed just minutes after watching their 8-month quest end with the snap of the wrist, couldn't come to grips with the ending. Or the ending of their magical run.
"It was an unreal moment," Ville Leino said. "You really didn't even know what happened there. I didn't even know you win a Stanley Cup on a goal like that. I have never seen a Stanley Cup won on a goal like that."
