The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 6-5 in overtime of Game 4, to even the Stanley Cup Finals at 2 games apiece. Brent Seabrook scored the winning goal 9:51 into the first overtime period. The Blackhawks had scored only 5 goals in the first 3 games of the Finals, and 4 of those goals occurred in their Game 1 overtime win.
Boston goalie Tuukka Rask has been outstanding in the last 3 rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but not tonight. He gave up 6 goals on 47 shots from the Blackhawks. Chicago even showed up on the scoresheet with their special teams. Michal Handzus started the scoring with a short-handed goal in the first period, and Patrick Sharp ended their long power play drought with an extra-man goal in the third period.
The Bruins kept coming back in this game. They never had the lead, and were 2 goals behind at two different times. But they tied the game at 1, 4, and 5, and eventually forced overtime. This was the third overtime game in the series, and it’s only Game 4. Only one Stanley Cup Finals ever had more overtime games. In 1951, every game of the Finals, which was 5 games then, went into overtime. So that record can be broken this year if they have 2 more overtime games, in the next 2 or 3 games.
As bad as Chicago looked offensively in Game 3, they looked that good in Game 4. Six different players scored, after it looked like they couldn’t figure out how to get any goals past Rask. Jonathan Toews even scored his 2nd goal of the playoffs. Two minutes later, Patrick Kane scored his 7th of the postseason. This was the first goal in the Finals for each of them. If this game jump starts both of them, that’s bad news for the Bruins.
The good news for Boston, is the way they were able to keep coming back, and that they scored 5 goals in this game. They kept beating Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford high on his glove side. Also, the Bruins were 2 for 5 on the power play, but they also gave up a short-handed goal.
The Stanley Cup Finals goes back to Chicago for Game 5 on Saturday. After winning Game 4, now the Blackhawks have home-ice advantage, for what that’s worth. The home team is 2-2 in this series. Game 6 will be in Boston, and if a Game 7 is necessary, the teams will go to Chicago again. Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks now leads all goal scorers in the playoffs with his 10th goal tonight. He’s just ahead of David Krecji and Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins, who each have 9 goals. Bergeron had 2 goals in game 4.
It will be interesting to see how Rask responds in goal in Game 5, although Crawford wasn’t much better. I was surprised that the Bruins gave up 47 shots in this game. They had looked so strong defensively in most of Game 2, and all of Game 3. They still outhit the Blackhawks 44-34, but that’s not as important as giving up 14 more shots on goal, and 6 goals, including the game-winner. The 2013 Stanley Cup Finals is looking like a 7 game series, just like the NBA Finals. That’s fine with me. I would like to see 3 more games between these teams for the championship.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
