Basking in the glow of his game-winning goal Wednesday night after a 2-1 victory over the Lightning, Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad savored sharing his boyhood inspiration for such big moments.
"Growing up in Pittsburgh it was (Mario) Lemieux and (Jaromir) Jagr (of the Penguins),'' Saad said. "Even when (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin were drafted and played, I was still a teenager and young, so I looked up to them as well.''
And the hockey world said whoa. How young is Saad?
When Crosby won the Hart Trophy in 2007 with the Penguins, Saad was just another 14-year-old admirer in the Steel City.