The Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins started off with a bang. The game started on Wednesday night and didn't end until early Thursday morning. Andrew Shaw finally ended the game about midway through the third overtime. It was the fifth longest game in Stanley Cup Final history.
The Bruins top line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci, and Nathan Horton got off to a great start. The line teamed up for the Bruins first two goals and the Blackhawks just didn't seem to have an answer on how to stop them.
Lucic and the Bruins got on the board first. The Bruins dumped the puck into the Blackhawks zone, and Horton took a hit from Niklas Hjalmarsson to make a play. Horton got the puck free, then Krejci picked up the puck along the boards, and put it right on the tape of Lucic's stick. Lucic fired a wrister past goaltender Corey Crawford for a 1-0 Bruins lead.
The Lucic line then went to work again early in the second. This time Lucic won a puck battle in the corner, and got the puck to Krejci, who slid it right back onto the stick of Lucic, who one-timed the puck past Crawford for a 2-0 Bruins lead.
The Blackhawks came back about three minutes later to cut the lead in half. Brandon Saad scored his first goal of the playoffs and Marian Hossa got the assist. Then Michael Frolik tripped up Zdeno Chara and was sent to the penalty box. The Bruins capitalized on the ensuing power play with Patrice Bergeron scoring the goal. Lucic got the puck to Tyler Seguin, who made a cross ice pass to Bergeron, who restored the Bruins two-goal lead.
The Blackhawks wouldn't give up and scored two more goals in the third period. Andrew Shaw got the puck at the blue line and skated it into the Bruins zone. He spotted Dave Bolland coming down the wing and fed him the pass, which Bolland put into the back of the net. Johnny Oduya scored to tie the game 3-3 with about eight minutes remaining in regulation.
Marcus Kruger dropped a pass back to Frolik, who was poke checked along the boards. Kruger picked up the loose puck and pushed it back to Oduya. The defenseman then skated to the middle of the ice and loaded up and took a slap shot. The Blackhawks had plenty of traffic in front of Rask distracting him from making the save.
The first overtime period saw quality scoring chances for each side and the goaltenders stealing the show. Horton left the game in the first overtime and didn't return for the rest of the game. He appeared to shove Hjalmarsson out of his way, and they was grimacing as he skated back to the Bruins bench. The Bruins never released his injury to the press.
If Horton misses any significant time that would be a big blow for the Bruins. The Blackhawks didn't seem to have an answer for his line and the Bruins are already down Gregory Campbell, who broke his fibula in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The second overtime was much like the first but with the Blackhawks getting the better of the chances but again both goalie seemed to be up to the task of stopping the puck.
The third overtime seemed to be a little sloppy with players getting fatigued as the overtime wore on. At 12:08 of the third overtime Shaw deflected the puck off of a Michael Rozsival shot from the point, and sent everyone at the United Center home happy.
The series continues in Chicago on Saturday night on NBC. The Bruins will be looking to even the series at one game a piece, while the Blackhawks will be looking to take 2-0 series lead.
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