Blackhawks

Blackhawks Outlast Bruins in Marathon Game 1

CHICAGO — As the sound of thunder echoed outside United Center the Blackhawks and the Bruins, with a combined 175 years of history, faced off for the first time in the Stanley Cup finals.

Game 1 proved to be a match for the ages. Beginning on Wednesday night, the game ended at 1 a.m. Eastern on Thursday when a shot by the Blackhawks’ Michal Rozsival hit Andrew Shaw’s knee and sailed past Boston goalie Tuukka Rask at 12 minutes 8 seconds of the third overtime period, giving Chicago a 4-3 victory. It was the longest game of the 2013 season, and the fifth-longest game in Stanley Cup finals history. The game’s total time of 112:08 fell just short of the 113:50 of Game 3 of the 1931 finals, when the Blackhawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1.

“I just got lucky, and it went in,” Shaw said after the marathon contest ended, and the Blackhawks completed a comeback from a 3-1 third-period deficit. The Blackhawks and the Bruins will now recuperate before meeting again Saturday.In the second extra period each weary team took 10 shots. With 53 seconds left in the session, the Blackhawks took their second too-many-men-on-the-ice overtime penalty. The 6-foot-9 defenseman Zdeno Chara took a blast from inside the blue line with 10 seconds remaining and the puck slammed inside the goal-post behind Corey Crawford and skittered across the crease. Crawford lost his stick in the ensuing melee but made a save before the horn sounded.

It was the first time a Game 1 in the Cup finals lasted more than one overtime since the Bruins-Edmonton Oilers met in 1990. The first overtime was surprisingly wide open, with the Bruins taking the play to Chicago. They outshot the Blackhawks by 12-8 and forced Crawford to make several difficult saves. Crawford thwarted Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton with a sprawling stop on a two-on-one break, and then stoned Tyler Seguin after fumbling a shot from Rich Peverley.

 Midway through the session the Blackhawks were penalized for too many men on the ice. The Bruins pressed the attack and at one point Crawford lost his stick in a goal-mouth scramble.

 The Bruins sustained a blow during the first overtime when winger Nathan Horton left the game with what seemed to be an upper body injury, which many have speculated he has ben playing with in the playoffs.

 Well into the third period, it looked as if the Bruins would run away with the game. Milan Lucic staked Boston to a 2-0 lead with goals in the first and second periods. The rookie Brandon Saad halved the Blackhawks’ deficit soon after Lucic’s second goal. But Patrice Bergeron made the score 3-1 with a power-play goal at 6:09 of the third period.

 Yet the Blackhawks kept pressing and rallied. They pulled within 3-2 when Dave Bolland scored at the eight-minute mark, and Johhny Oduya tied the score at 12:14 when his long slap shot deflected off the skate of Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference and into the Boston net.

 With the third goal, the Blackhawks had beaten Tuukka Rask one more time than the Pittsburgh Penguins had over the four games of the Eastern Conference finals.

 The Blackhawks’ rally was a triumph of perseverance. Over the 60 minutes of regulation they made 78 shot attempts to Boston’s 40. Rask stopped 36 shot attempts, while Bruins defensemen and forwards blocked another 26. As the two Original Six teams met memories of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Bobby Orr and Phil and Tony Esposito filled the air.

 At first it seemed that the Bruins’ shot-blocking might carry the night. Boston, leading by 2-1, took three straight penalties in the second period, which included a two-man advantage for 1:17.

 But the Bruins’ three-man penalty-killing unit of Patrice Bergeron, Chara and Dennis Seidenberg allowed only one shot, while blocking four other attempts.