5 greatest Blackhawks-Bruins moments of all time

BY PUCKS AND REC STAFF

Six seasons ago, Blackhawks-Bruins left Blackhawks-Rangers as the last Original Six matchup yet to occur in a Stanley Cup Final.

While each franchise has had its fortunes fluctuate since punctuating their modern resurgence together, they have hardly lost their renewed marketability. How else could they have become the first nonconference Original Six matchup in the NHL Winter Classic?

That is what they will do at Notre Dame Stadium this New Year’s Day. With that, Chicago will put in its unmatched fourth appearance at the league’s 11-year-old marquee outdoor event. The Bruins will take sole possession of second place with their third appearance.

In their entire chronicle, these franchises may have some catching up to do with their Original Six peers. With that said, the memories they have built in the salary-cap era have some quality company from prior glory days.

Assorted numbers define each of these noteworthy Blackhawks-Bruins cards from the 1940s, 1970s and 2010s. All playoff results are according to nhl.com.

5. 33 seconds

The 1974 Stanley Cup semifinals constituted the second of four Blackhawks-Bruins playoff sets in the 1970s. Based on how late in the tournament it occurred and how closely it ended, this one was easily the most compelling.

The teams split the first two games at the Garden before the Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead back home. But then the Bruins seized back home-ice advantage, and would hold a 3-2 edge when the series shifted to Chicago a second time.

With Cliff Koroll’s first-period goal, the Hawks were 40 minutes away from at least pushing the regular-season champion Bruins to a Game 7. Despite Don Marcotte’s two unanswered tallies in the middle frame, Len Frig converted a power play to draw a 2-2 knot early in the third.

Whatever momentum Chicago derived from that, however, would not last. Within the final two minutes of regulation, Gregg Shepard and Phil Esposito — famously traded by the Blackhawks in 1967 — scored 33 seconds apart. Their outburst spelled the difference in a 4-2 victory, giving Boston the series by an identical outcome.

 

 

4. Three overtimes

Before their first clash in the Cup final, the Blackhawks and Bruins had met in six previous postseasons. Five of the 22 games in those series went to overtime, all ending within the first bonus period.

To start its 2013 renewal, the matchup set a new high in its chronicle. After facing 2-0 and 3-1 deficits, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Blackhawks rallied to force sudden death. But none of Boston’s 12 shots or Chicago’s eight in the first overtime sufficed. Neither did the 10 stabs apiece in the night’s fifth period.

Finally, after the game became the fifth-longest in any Stanley Cup Final, Andrew Shaw completed the comeback. He converted Dave Bolland and Michal Rozsival’s setup at 12:08 for the 4-3 victory.

By the end of the series, three of the six contests would spill into overtime (and another was less than a minute away from doing the same). But neither of the two subsequent sudden-death games matched the marathon of Game 1 on June 12, 2013.

3. One shutout and two squeakers

Two products of the same northern Minnesota town of Eveleth, Frank Brimsek and Sam LoPresti, got the nod for this 1942 best-of-three quarterfinal series.

Following America’s entry into World War II, both men would put their careers on hold to serve. For LoPresti, who was only in his second NHL season, it would mean relinquishing his big-league career for good.

The more seasoned Brimsek, who later finished his 10-season career in Chicago, would get the better of LoPresti. But the upset-minded Blackhawks gave the reigning champion Bruins a good sweat, thanks in no small part to their netminding.

LoPresti kept Game 1’s deficit 1-0 until Max Bentley put their team on board with 70 seconds left in regulation. Despite blinking in overtime, he bounced back when the series shifted to the Boston Garden. With the season on the line, he pulled off a 4-0 shutout.

But in the deciding tilt, another squeaker went the Bruins way, 3-2.

2. 80 saves

It is not often the regular season yields any card’s most memorable installment, but the all-Eveleth goaltending matchup is a stark exception.

By their March 4, 1941 showdown, the Bruins were on their way to clinching first place. But LoPresti proved that a goalie can steal a game for any team, at least when given sufficient offensive support.

The visiting Hawks were safeguarding a 1-0 lead when, after blocking 42 straight Boston shots, LoPresti finally blinked. He would face an additional 40 bids after letting in that equalizer, halting 38.

Together, that amounted to a still-standing record 80 saves within 60 regulation minutes. Unfortunately for LoPresti, Chicago could only put one more biscuit behind Brimsek, and settled for a 3-2 loss.

The Hawks would finish fifth and lose the postseason semifinals to Detroit, which Boston subsequently vanquished for the Cup.

 

1. 17 seconds

Besides the three overtime games in the 2013 final, two others were decided by two goals. The Blackhawks took a commanding 3-2 series lead by cementing Game 5’s 3-1 final on an empty net.

Based on that, Chicago’s bid to close out the series and Boston’s to force a rubber match did not disappoint. Depth forward Chris Kelly invigorated the TD Garden crowd with the first period’s lone goal. But Chicago captain Jonathan Toews countered with an unassisted shorthanded conversion early in the second.

The 1-1 deadlock held up through intermission, after which Milan Lucic buried his fourth tally of the series. The Bruins, who under sixth-year coach Claude Julien had never lost a series in fewer than seven games, were 7:49 away from preserving that trend.

But under fifth-year bench boss Joel Quenneville, the Blackhawks had been finishing their opponents on their first try more often than not. With 1:16 to spare, they regained their chance via Bryan Bickell.

Another 17 seconds elapsed before Bolland collected his second game-winning point of the series. He banked home a rebound that held up as the Cup clincher.