– The Associated Press

CHICAGO – Patrick Kane scored his third goal of the game 11:40 into the second overtime period and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the defending champion Los Angeles Kings 4-3 to advance to the Stanley Cup finals Saturday night.

Down 3-2 in the closing seconds of the third period, the Kings knotted the score when Mike Richards deflected a shot past goaltender Corey Crawford to send the game into overtime.

Crawford stopped 33 shots and Duncan Keith scored in his return from a suspension as the top-seeded Blackhawks won the Western Conference series in five games and will host the Eastern champion Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the finals Wednesday night.

This is the first finals matchup of the NHL’s traditional six teams since 1979, and it will pit two of the last three champions against each other.

Chicago won the Cup in 2010, ending a 49-year drought. Boston captured the title the following year.

Anze Kopitar also scored in the third period for Los Angeles, which trailed 2-0 after the first period. Jonathan Quick finished with 31 saves.

After Crawford made a couple of big saves in the first overtime, Jonathan Toews carried the puck up the left side during a two-on-one rush in the second extra session. He then made a cross-ice pass to Kane, who one-timed a shot past Quick and into the right side.

The rollicking sellout crowd of 22,237 erupted in joy as Kane skated back toward the middle of the ice and slid on his knees as hats rained down. A distraught Quick laid down as his teammates emptied from the bench for the post-series handshakes.

NOTES

OILERS: Ralph Krueger was fired as coach of Edmonton after leading the team to a 12th-place finish in the Western Conference in his lone season.

The Oilers have missed the playoffs seven straight years. They were 19-22-7 in the lockout-shortened season.