Monday Morning Rewind: 2013 Stanley Cup Finals Game Six

Jun 24, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Chicago Blackhawks players celebrate with goalie

(50) after game six of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Blackhawks won 3-2 to win the series four games to two. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports

June 24, 2013

TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

#1 Chicago Blackhawks vs. #3 Boston Bruins

Recap:

The stage didn’t get any bigger than that.

And for Chicago Blackhawks fans, the night couldn’t get any better. The Blackhawks were off to Boston, trying to win the Stanley Cup in Game Six on the road, just as they did three seasons before. Patrick Kane‘s overtime goal couldn’t be topped in terms of excitement, could it?

All eyes of the hockey world were firmly set on Boston that evening, as the teams took to the ice for what could be the final time. Boston wins: the series heads back to Chicago for a deciding Game Seven. Chicago takes it: they win their second Stanley Cup in four seasons.

Boston rode the momentum of their crazy fans early, and Boston controlled the flow of the game throughout the first. Chris Kelly gave the Bruins the 1-0 lead just 7 minutes in, and for the rest of the period made the Blackhawks look very shaky, and irresponsible defensively. That would be all they could tally however, and the lead stood as the period drew to a close.

The second period was the Blackhawks’ style of play. They finally got their feet moving, and the speed was doing well against the toughness of the Bruins’ depth. A great individual effort by the Blackhawks’ captain, Jonathan Toews, evened the score less than five minutes in the frame. The Blackhawks got all four lines rolling during the frame, and players like Marian Hossa to Michael Frolik were generating offense. The Bruins held their ground as the second ended, a 1-1 tie.

Boston came out hot once again in the third period. Milan Lucic capped off a long period of sustained offense with a high wrist shot that found the back of the net, giving the Bruins the lead with just over 7 minutes to go. The Bruins were still in front with 90 seconds left, and the crowd was on their feet, ready to see their team extend the series. The Blackhawks had other ideas. It is still tough to put into words what they did in those last 76 seconds, so here it is:

“The Blackhawks have snatched victory from the hands of defeat! Chicago has won the Stanley Cup!”

Hindsight:

The Blackhawks had a lot to prove going in to the post-season. They had to back up their most successful regular season in team history, break the President’s Trophy curse, and avoid post-season disappointment for the third consecutive season. Corey Crawford had to prove that he was the goalie that could take Chicago all the way, and Patrick Kane had to show that his sudden maturity was for real. The Chicago Blackhawks ended an era of parity of sorts, where a different team won the Stanley Cup in the last eight seasons. Talk of a dynasty soon surfaced, with the ‘Hawks winning their second Cup in four years, but that will be put on hold until we see how the future holds out for the club. Nonetheless, it capped of a wire-to-wire domination of the NHL by the Blackhawks, and one of the most exciting seasons ever came to a close on this 24th day of June, with Chicago going out on top. We’d like to thank all of you who have stuck around the summer reading each Monday Morning Rewind. Your support is always greatly appreciated, and we hope to recap an equally successful season in the summer of 2014.

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