Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

17 Stunning Seconds Give Blackhawks The NHL's Stanley Cup

A goal behind with about 80 seconds to go in regulation time, the Chicago Blackhawks scored twice in a 17-second span Monday night to beat the Boston Bruins and win the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup.

The 3-2 victory came in Game 6 of the best-of-seven series. For Chicago, it's the team's second NHL championship in the past four years.

"It was like a fairy tale," Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa said after the game in Boston, as the Chicago Tribune reports. "We were down with a couple of minutes left in the game and all of a sudden, bang, we won the Stanley Cup."

The feeling was much different on the Bruins' side of the ice, as you'd expect. Here's how our colleagues at Boston's WBUR begin their report on the game:

"The Boston Bruins and goalie Tuukka Rask were less than 80 seconds away from a seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final.

"Then it all fell apart.

" 'It's obviously shocking when you think you have everything under control,' Rask said quietly, standing at his locker with a blue baseball cap on backward and a towel draped over his shoulders."

NHL.com describes the finish this way:

"Chicago Blackhawks center Dave Bolland scored the goal of his childhood dreams Monday night. It delivered him — and the Blackhawks — the Stanley Cup.

"Bolland's goal with 58.3 seconds remaining in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final allowed the Blackhawks to complete a historic comeback and take a 3-2 decision against the stunned Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Chicago's Bryan Bickell had tied the game 17 seconds earlier with an extra-attacker goal.

" 'When don't you dream about it?' Bolland asked rhetorically."

On Morning Edition, NPR's David Schaper reported from Chicago about how he and other hockey nuts in the city are going crazy about the Blackhawks' win.

NHL.com's video highlights are here.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.