Blackhacks lift Cup thanks to two late goals
BOSTON -- Stunning.
The Chicago Blackhawks, on the brink of having to go home for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, mounted an incredible comeback and captured the franchise' fifth Cup, the second in four years, with a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 6 on Monday night.
The Blackhawks won the series four games to two.
Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored less than 18 seconds apart, the first goal coming with goalie Corey Crawford pulled, to lift the Blackhawks to their third straight win in the series, keeping Boston from earning its second Cup in three years.
Bickell took a pass from Jonathan Towes and beat a defenseless Tuukka Rask with 1:16 left, tying the game after Milan Lucic scored a go-ahead goal with 7:49 left.
Bolland then cashed in a rebound of a Michael Frolik shot that hit the post, the winner coming with 58.3 seconds left. The rally was cheered by an impressive amount of Blackhawks fans in the TD Garden stands.
After the traditional handshake, the Boston crowd started a "Let's Go Bruins" chant, the team acknowledging the fans before leaving the ice.
Boston's Chris Kelly (No. 2) scored in the first period, and Toews (No. 3) answered in the second.
Corey Crawford was outstanding in the Chicago goal, making 23 saves. Rask made 28 saves.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who presided over his third lockout, a stoppage that almost killed the season, was roundly booed by the crowd.
Chicago's Patrick Kane won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. Both Toews and Boston's Patrice Bergeron were able to play after leaving Game 5. Bergeron had gone in an ambulance to a Chicago hospital for examination of an undisclosed injury.
In the first period, Kelly was stopped in tight by Crawford, but after a TV timeout, the Bruins scored off the ensuing faceoff.
The puck came to Tyler Seguin, who gloved it down to his stick and slid a backhand pass to Kelly at 7:19. Crawford had no chance.
Soon after, Rask made his best save of the period on a semi breakaway by Frolik.
The Bruins, who had a 32-8 edge in shot attempts in the first period (12-6 on goal), went on two power plays in the second half of the period, the second one carrying into the middle period.
Boston got two more power plays early in the second, but Chicago tied the game just as the first one ended. An incorrect hand-pass call against Seguin led to a faceoff outside the Chicago zone. The scramble off the draw saw Zdeno Chara pinch and get beaten for a 2-on-1 with Toews and Kane. Toews never passed the puck and scored at 4:24.
It was the ninth time in 10 Chicago goals that Chara was on the ice.
Boston then went to 0-for-4 on the power play, and the game turned slightly in the visitors' favor.
The Hawks' first power play saw Chara sweep a rebound out of the crease with the net empty, and the second period ended with the score 1-1.
NOTES: Boston RW Jaromir Jagr left with a first-period injury, returned for the second but left after a short shift. He was back in action in the third period. ... Chicago C Andrew Shaw took a Shawn Thornton shot to the face and lay face down in a pool of blood before leaving. The home fans booed because the play was whistled dead with Thornton having a scoring chance. Shaw returned for the second period, taking an early roughing penalty. ... Toews made it clear in the morning he would play, saying, "I guess the way I've felt out there I would say it was the best morning skate I had all series. I felt great. I'm excited. There's no question where I am physically." ... Bergeron didn't skate in the morning, but fans went wild when they got a glimpse of him on the big board as he waited in the hallway outside the dressing room. ... With outside temperatures already near 90, the morning skate took place with fog on the ice. ... There were reports of three bats loose at TD Garden.
