When Milan Lucic scored at 12:11 of the third period to put the Boston Bruins up 2-1 in last night’s Stanley Cup Finals Game 6, the hardwatching staff was pretty sure the Chicago Blackhawks would come back to tie the game in regulation.
And so they did, at 18:44.
At which point the hardwatching staff – and apparently the Bruins – settled into overtime mode.
Until this happened 17 seconds later:
Hey – we love the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But, man, that just sucked.
In his 1952 book Chicago: The Second City, the great A.J. Liebling recalled his boyhood love of Rudyard Kipling, who wrote of Chicago in 1889, “Having seen it, I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages . . . ”
Well yes, the Chicagoans certainly savaged the Bruins last night. And yes, we urgently desire never to see Chicago again.
At least not in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Chicago was the better team throughout these playoffs, with some exceptions (like the first period of Game 6). Not by much, but better. Rask was merely human last night (and thoughout the last 3 games, after a truly otherworldly playoff run). Crawford was amazing – without his heroics last night we’d be going to Game 7. Well done, Black Hawks.
Agree all the way around, Stephen.
Better team won. Don’t agree that Crawford was better than Rask. Puck was bouncing like a tennis ball all night.