Chicago

For the first time in 34 years two of professional hockey's original six teams meet to fight for the Stanley Cup. The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks kicked off the grand finale of the NHL season Wednesday night in Chicago with both teams coming into this series with a ton of confidence and momentum. Both won their final games by a single goal: the Bruins in regulation to complete a sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Blackhawks in overtime to squelch any chance of a comeback for the LA Kings. The Blackhawks took game one with a late comeback effort in the third period and a miraculous goal in the third overtime off two deflections of a Michal Rozsival slapshot. Both teams have incredible goaltenders, so the rest of this series is likely to be decided by multiple one-goal deficits. Bruins Goalie Tuukka Rask posted two shutouts in the Pittsburgh series against a team who scored the most...

CHICAGO (AP) — Of course, it was Andrew Shaw. The pesky little forward always gets up when he’s knocked down. The three-overtime opener of the Stanley Cup finals came to a thrilling end at the stroke of midnight Wednesday because the tenacious Shaw is a whole lot more than his reputation for irritating opposing players. Shaw skated in front of the goal at the right time, deflecting Dave Bolland’s tip into the net for the winning score in the Chicago Blackhawks ‘ 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins in the fifth-longest game in the history of the Stanley Cup. “We knew it wasn’t going to be pretty at that point,” Shaw said. “You could tell both teams were physically exhausted. We’ve preached it: Go to the net, you’ll find a way to get a greasy goal. We did a heck of a job of it there in the third...

The Boston Bruins will be advancing into the finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs after a 1-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins last Friday evening. Defensemen, Adam McQuaid, scored the only goal of the game bringing the Bruins to victory early in the third period of game 4. Boston Bruins fans everywhere celebrated the victory. This was Tuuka Rask’s second shutout of the series, only allowing the Penguins two goals in all four games that were played, coming nowhere near the Bruin’s twelve goals scored in the last four games. This was an exciting moment for Adam McQuaid, as a defensemen who rarely gets the chance to score, let alone the series-winning goal. It was his first goal in thirteen games. The moment the buzzer sounded fans went crazy after seeing the “laser beam” slap shot that went right over Penguins’ goalie, Vokoun’s, glove into the top left corner of the goal. The Bruins will be taking on the...

It is time for a Stanley Cup prediction and here is mine.  The Boston Bruins win this series in seven games.  I really think it could be less, however the Bruins seem to like to take it to the wire (see their Cup victory over the Canucks), so seven it will be.  Of course, they are playing a high energy, high speed team that feel like they have been together since Juniors.  Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews probably finish each others sentences, however I do not think it will be enough.  Why? 1. While the Bruins were waiting for the Kings-Hawks series to end, I bet a lot of them were, well, praying.  Praying they would not have to face Jonathan Quick.  The high powered Blackhawks scored 14 goals in five games off Quick, or 2.8 per game.  The Hawks were more like 4 goals a game in the regular season, so they struggled against a defensive team....