Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored goals 17 seconds apart in the final 1:16 to lift the Blackhawks past the Boston Bruins 3-2 and win the best-of-seven series 4-2 for their second Stanley Cup title in the last four years.
It felt like a Game 7 was within reach when Boston's Milan Lucic scored with 7:39 left in the third period. But in a series where crazy things seemed to happen every game, Chicago found a way to pull out the victory.
Patrick Kane became only the fourth American to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP, but it was Jonathan Toews who was the main reason why Chicago won Game 6. After missing the third period of Game 5, Toews turned in his second stellar playoff performance with a goal and the primary assist on Bickell's tying tally.
On the other side, Boston's Patrice Bergeron gamely tried to be a contributor for his team despite reportedly playing with a broken rib, torn cartilage and a separated shoulder. But at best, Bergeron was just skating around as he didn't take any shots on goal and dished out only a couple of hits in more than 17 minutes of ice time. He did take 11 face-offs, but he only won five of them.
Ultimately, what separated Chicago from Boston in this series was force of will. When the Blackhawks forced the tempo and created breakaways, the Bruins didn't have an answer. Boston did its best to bottle up Chicago's forwards with tight defense, but the Blackhawks skated hard and skated through the Bruins.
So, congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup. And congratulations to both teams for giving hockey fans -- and other sports fans -- six highly entertaining and wildly unpredictable games.
No comments:
Post a Comment