CHICAGO – Andrew Shaw scored on a deflection in triple overtime to lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins in a riveting Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals on Wednesday.

Michael Rozsival shot the puck from the right point into traffic. It deflected off Dave Bolland and Shaw before slipping past Tuukka Rask.

That came after Jaromir Jagr nearly won it for Boston in the closing seconds of the second OT when the puck deflected off him and hit the post, preserving the tie.

Boston’s Kaspars Daugavins had a huge opportunity midway through the third overtime but his backhand shot in the crease went wide after Johnny Oduya got a stick on him.

It was the fifth-longest Stanley Cup finals game in history, 52 minutes and 8 seconds of OT.

With Original Six franchises playing for a championship for the first time in 34 years, the series is off to a rousing start.

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The Blackhawks got third-period goals from Bolland and Oduya to erase a 3-1 deficit. Corey Crawford was simply spectacular in the extra period, and the Blackhawks wound up going to double OT for the second straight game after taking out the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference finals.

Crawford made a sprawled-out pad save on Shawn Thornton about four minutes into OT, and he stood his ground in a flurry with just under eight minutes remaining, stopping Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin on the rebound to draw oohs and ahhs from the crowd.

In the second overtime, Patrick Kane had a chance to win it. But he fired wide left off the end of his blade from the edge of the crease seven minutes into the period.

Chicago’s Michael Frolik just missed high and wide with 6:30 remaining, and Shaw’s stuff-in attempt with 3:51 left got stuffed by Rask.

The Bruins appeared to be in good shape building a 3-1 lead in regulation, with Milan Lucic scoring twice and Patrice Bergeron adding a power-play goal just over six minutes into the third. But the Blackhawks came storming back after that.

Shaw picked off a clearing attempt by Torey Krug and fed Bolland on a two-on-one rush to pull Chicago within one with 12 minutes left in regulation. Lucic then got stopped on a two-on-one by Crawford midway through the third, and Oduya tied it for Chicago when his shot from the point deflected off Andrew Ference and bounced past Rask.

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Just like that, the Blackhawks were back in it. Crawford fought off a big flurry by Boston in the closing minutes, and the game went to overtime with Chicago outshooting Boston 39-25 after getting off to a slow start.

The Bruins grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 13:11 mark of the opening period after David Krejci knocked Niklas Hjalmarsson off the puck along the boards behind the net. He fed a pass to Nathan Horton, who feathered the puck across to Lucic for an easy wrist shot from the slot in front of Crawford.

Lucic struck again just 51 seconds into the second period with another wrist shot after Hjalmarsson gambled along the boards and fell, allowing Boston to break in.

Chicago started to come on strong after that.

The Blackhawks got on the board just over two minutes later when rookie Brandon Saad scored his first goal of the playoffs. He carried the puck down the ice but was bumped off it in the left corner of the Boston zone. Marian Hossa recovered it and fed Saad in the slot, making it 2-1 and bringing the sellout crowd to their feet.

The Blackhawks’ momentum came screeching to a halt on a power play — make that a two-man advantage — midway through the second. A big issue during the regular season, it continues to haunt the Blackhawks in the playoffs.

They came in 7 for 51 on the power play — 12th among the 16 playoff teams — and that number took another hit when they couldn’t convert a five-on three advantage, Horton got called for interference at 7:37 and the Bruins were whistled for having too many men on the ice at 8:20, but Chicago came away empty.

Before Saad’s tally, Rask had not given up a goal in 149:36.

 


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