On Monday night, the Boston Bruins were on the verge of forcing a seventh game in the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Finals. In the final seconds, though, the Bruins fell, 3-2, to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 of their best-of-seven playoff series.
Bruins fans were hoping their team could secure the momentum to bring the Stanley Cup back to Boston for the second time in three years. Before the game, a black and gold tide washed down Causeway Street toward the Garden.
Fans wearing Chara and Rask jerseys moved slowly in the oppressive summer heat. William Dziura of Deerfield welcomed the first summertime N.H.L. game in Boston history, despite the heat-wave.
“We’re New Englanders,” said Dziura, black and gold face paint dripping from his forehead. “We take the snow, we take the heat and we take the championships.”
Inside the air-conditioned Garden, that enthusiasm did in fact pick up. As the puck zipped around the ice, all fans’ eyes were fixed on it.
Bruins center Chris Kelly gave the Bruins an early lead with his second goal of the playoffs. Then, three minutes into the second period, Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews tied the game with his third goal of the postseason.
Bruins captain Milan Lucic broke that tie in the third period. But in stunning fashion, the Blackhawks took the Cup with two goals in the final 76 seconds, rebounding from a 2-1 deficit.
After the win, Blackhawks Goalie Corey Crawford hoisted the Cup above his head while standing on Boston ice. “So good, so good,” Crawford said, borrowing a line from Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” a song that has become a Boston sports anthem. “I didn’t know how heavy it was going to be.”
Outside the locker room, Bruins coach Claude Julien said in those final seconds his team was worn down and tired and injured. And even though the Bruins came out on the wrong end of a tight game, he said it was a good night for the N.H.L., which started the season with a lockout.
“I think our fans really got back into it,” Julien said. “You always appreciate their support because if I’m the guy on the other side I know how I would have felt. In order for us to thank them or pay them back, you got to give them the kind of hockey that they saw from all the teams here in the playoffs.”
As for the hardware itself, Bruins officials said the Stanley Cup was under-wraps at a nearby hotel until those fateful final seconds. N.H.L. staff had to rush the trophy to the Garden as the Bruins’ aggressive play wasn’t enough to shift the series back to Chicago.
