2013 Stanley Cup

Lore & Background

Due to a lockout that both shortened and delayed the start of the regular season, the 2013 Cup Finals began on June 12, and lasted until June 24–tying the lockout impacted 1995 and 2024 for the latest in June that the Stanley Cup was awarded. This was the first Stanley Cup Final series between two Original Six teams since 1979, and the seventh since its first expansion in 1967. It also marked the first time these two teams have met in the Stanley Cup Final. In Game 6, while trailing the Bruins 2–1 with 76 seconds left in the third period, Chicago's Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored two goals in 17 seconds to win the Cup for the Blackhawks. The win was the Blackhawks' second in four years, after also claiming the title in 2010. It was the first Finals series since 2004 to be tied after two games. It was also the first Stanley Cup Final since 1993 to feature three overtime games, including the fifth longest game in Finals history. This series is the last time to date that a Presidents' Trophy winner has won the Stanley Cup.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the United Center vibrates with a tension only playoff hockey can create. As the final buzzer sounds on Game Six, the roar is deafening, drowning out the ice scraping and stick taps. Jonathan Toews stands amidst a sea of black and red jerseys, his face smeared with sweat and tears. The confetti cannons blast, showering the rink in white streamers that mix with the blue light. In this suspended second, fifty-two years of waiting dissolve into pure jubilation.

Reader's Guide

This was the Chicago Blackhawks' twelfth appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. The Blackhawks sought their fifth Cup championship overall and their first since 2010. In both 2011 and 2012, the Blackhawks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Presidents' Trophy-winning Canucks and Phoenix Coyotes, respectively. The Blackhawks began the lockout-shortened regular season by setting the NHL record for most games to start a season without a regulation loss (24), recording their first regulation loss in their 25th game of the season: a 6–2 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche. The Blackhawks finished the regular season with an NHL-best 77 points, winning their second Presidents' Trophy in team history. In the first round of the playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild in five games. In the next round, Chicago came back from a 3–1 series deficit to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in overtime of Game 7. In the Western Conference Final, the Blackhawks defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in five games.

Did You Know?

• The 2013 Stanley Cup Final was the first meeting between teams from Boston and Chicago for a major professional sports championship since Super Bowl XX in 1986.
• The Blackhawks set the NHL record for most games to start a season without a regulation loss (24) during the lockout-shortened regular season.
• Game 6 featured two goals in 17 seconds by Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland to win the Cup.
• This was the first Stanley Cup Final since 1993 to feature three overtime games.