The fifth longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history ended with a deflected goal by the Chicago Blackhawks‘ Andrew Shaw, to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3. It was the Blackhawks’ 63rd shot of the night, which ended the game 12:08 into the 3rd overtime period. So this game was just 7:52 short of 2 consecutive regulation games. Good thing these teams don’t play again until Saturday.
The Blackhawks never led in the game, until the overtime game winner. The shot was actually made by Michal Rozsival, it deflected off Dave Boland, and finally off Shaw, to get past the Bruins’ goalie Tuukka Rask. The first 21 minutes of the game belonged to the Bruins’ Milan Lucic, who had 2 goals. One in the first period, then another 51 seconds into the second period. Chicago rookie Brandon Saad cut the lead in half a few minutes later. Boston took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after 2 periods.
6 minutes into the 3rd period, Patrice Bergeron gave the Boston a 3-1 lead, his 6th goal of the playoffs. But less than 2 minutes later, Boland scored, to cut the lead to 3-2. Then 12:14 into the period, Blackhawks’ Johnny Oduya tied the score at 3, with a long slapshot through traffic. It ended up being the final goal in regulation. The marathon continued through 2 scoreless periods. The game ended just 3:05 short of the longest Stanley Cup Finals game ever, which was in 1990. It’s strange that 3 other games ended longer than this game, but less than 3 minutes and 5 seconds longer.
The win was key for Chicago. It was a home game for them, and they couldn’t afford to let the Bruins’ continue their postseason momentum, which bounced the high-scoring Pittsburgh Penguins in 4 straight games, in the Eastern Conference Finals. In other bad news for Boston, forward Nathan Horton left the game in the first overtime. He leads everyone in plus/minus with a +22. If he misses any games, that could disrupt the Bruins’ top line, with David Krejci and Lucic. Krejci leads the playoffs in goals, assists, and points.
This Stanley Cup Finals looks like it’s going to be a long series. Boston did a good job containing the Blackhawks’ stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, but the other guys beat them. The Bruins need to tighten up their defense. In addition to the 63 shots that Rask faced, the Blackhawks missed the net on another 23 shots, and Boston blocked 40 more, for a grand total of 126 shots attempted by Chicago. By comparison, the Bruins had 54 official shots, 8 that missed the net, and 23 blocked shots, to total 85. So Chicago attempted 41 more shots in the game.
If you would like to have future commentaries sent to you, click on the link below, to take you to my website, then just enter your email address:
Sports With Frank Thomas
