With nearly 85 years of combined frustration in play, the idea that either team was going to win this game in regulation was almost comical.
Even in victory, it took a little more time for the league's War Room to review and then officially rule that the Cup-clinching goal by Patrick Kane had indeed slipped under Flyers goalie Michael Leighton's pad and fully crossed the goal line before bouncing back out.
The surreal image of the Blackhawks joyfully celebrating while a sellout crowd at Wachovia Center hadn't really figured out what had happened seemed appropriate.
"I was hoping to God it was an actual goal," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "I didn't want to celebrate for nothing.
"Oh my God, it's like that commercial. I'm speechless."
No such worry, and when a franchise has already waited nearly a half-century for this moment, what's an extra 4 minutes?
In the end, the only thing that matters is that Kane's goal won the game, 4-3, the series, four games to two, and ended the longest active championship drought in the NHL.
But now that the drought has ended, the real question is: Are we witnessing the birth of a dynasty?
When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called out Toews to "come hoist the Stanley Cup," for the Hawks, the 22-year-old became one of the youngest players to receive such an honor.
"We still have to check the birth certificate to make sure he's only 21 or 22, whatever he is," Blackhawks wing Patrick Sharp said of Toews.
In Chicago, they probably aren't thinking too much about tomorrow right now.
It's understandable that the moment is all that matters right now.
When a franchise ends a nearly half-century trek through the wilderness, the celebration should be over the top.
Imagine what Chicago will be like when/if the Cubs ever end more than 100 years of World Series futility.
