2013 Stanley Cup Final

Blackhawks defeat Bruins in six games for fifth Cup.

The 2013 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the NHL's 2012–13 season, pitting the Western Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks against the Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins. The Blackhawks won in six games to capture their fifth Stanley Cup, becoming the eighth team to win both the Cup and the Presidents' Trophy in the same season. Chicago's Patrick Kane received the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Quick Facts

Dates: June 12–24, 2013
Series winner: Dave Bolland (19:01, third)
Networks: Canada: (English): CBC (French): RDS; United States: (English): NBC (1, 4–6), NBCSN (2–3)

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

In Canada, the series was televised in English on CBC and in French on RDS.
The NBC broadcast network televised game one and the final four games, while NBCSN broadcast games two and three.
This was the first Stanley Cup Final series between two Original Six teams since 1979.

Paths to the Finals

This was the first meeting between teams from Boston and Chicago for a major professional sports championship since Super Bowl XX in 1986. The Bruins made their nineteenth Stanley Cup Final appearance, a couple years removed from their sixth Cup championship, when they defeated the Presidents' Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks. Boston entered the season without goalie Tim Thomas, the Conn Smythe winner in 2011, who took a year off and was traded to the New York Islanders on February 7, 2013.

Tuukka Rask succeeded Thomas as starter. The Bruins also traded Benoit Pouliot to Tampa Bay and acquired Jaromir Jagr from Dallas on April 2, 2013. Boston finished the lockout-shortened regular season with 62 points, second in the Northeast Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference. They rallied from a 4–1 third-period deficit in Game 7 to defeat Toronto in overtime, then eliminated the New York Rangers in five games and swept the top-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Blackhawks sought their fifth Cup overall and first since 2010. They had been eliminated in the first round in 2011 and 2012 by the Presidents' Trophy-winning Canucks and Coyotes, respectively.

Game summaries

In Game 1, the Blackhawks rallied from a 3–1 third-period deficit to defeat the Bruins 4–3 in triple overtime. Milan Lucic scored twice for Boston, but Chicago's Dave Bolland and Johnny Oduya tied the game. Michal Rozsival's shot deflected off Bolland and Andrew Shaw for the winner at 12:08 of the third overtime. Game 2 was a 2–1 overtime win for Boston. Patrick Sharp scored for Chicago, but a Marian Hossa goal was disallowed. Chris Kelly tied it, and Daniel Paille won it at 13:48 of overtime after a turnover by Brandon Bollig. In Game 6, trailing 2–1 with 76 seconds left in the third period, Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored 17 seconds apart to give Chicago a 3–2 win and the Cup. The series featured three overtime games, including the fifth longest in Finals history. It was the first Finals since 2004 to be tied after two games.

Stanley Cup engraving

The 2013 Stanley Cup was presented to Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman after Chicago's 3–2 win in Game 6. For the shortened 2012–13 season, the NHL pro-rated the regular-season games requirement for automatic engraving to 23 games or one game played in the Finals. Daniel Carcillo (23 regular-season games) and Sheldon Brookbank (26 regular-season games) qualified by meeting the 23-game threshold. Jamal Mayers, who played 19 regular-season games and none in the playoffs, had his name engraved after a successful petition by the Blackhawks.

Ben Smith, who played one regular-season game and one game in the Finals, qualified by appearing in the Finals. Jamie Kompon became the first assistant coach to win back-to-back championships with different teams (2012 with Los Angeles, 2013 with Chicago). Scotty Bowman moved into second place with his 13th Stanley Cup, becoming the first person to win multiple Cups with four teams.