The 2013 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2012–13 season, and the conclusion of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference playoff champion Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Eastern Conference playoff champion Boston Bruins in six games to win their fifth Stanley Cup in team history. The Blackhawks also became just the eighth team to win both the Cup and the Presidents' Trophy (as the team with the best regular season record) in the same season. To date, they are the last team to win these two trophies in the same season. Chicago's Patrick Kane was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
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 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 , 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 . It was the first Finals series since 2004 to be tied after two games. It was also the first Stanley Cup Final since 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.
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, which featured the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.
Boston Bruins
This was the Boston Bruins's nineteenth appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, a couple years removed from , when they also faced the Presidents' Trophy winners, the Vancouver Canucks whom they defeated to win their sixth Cup championship.
The Bruins entered the season without the services of goalie Tim Thomas, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner during Boston's 2011 championship. It was announced on June 3, 2012, that he planned on taking a year off from hockey. Thomas was eventually traded to the New York Islanders on February 7, 2013. Tuukka Rask succeeded Thomas as the Bruins' starting goalie. Another of the Bruins' major trades was sending Benoit Pouliot to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then on April 2, 2013, with about a month left in the lockout-shortened regular season, Boston acquired veteran Jaromir Jagr from the Dallas Stars.
Boston finished the lockout-shortened regular season with 62 points, finishing in second place in the Northeast Division, and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Throughout the regular season, the Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens were neck-and-neck in the division, but the Bruins lost their last game to the Ottawa Senators, a contest that was postponed until the end of the regular season due to the Boston Marathon bombing. In the first round of the playoffs, Boston rallied from a 4–1 third period deficit in Game 7 to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime. The Bruins then eliminated the New York Rangers in five games, and then swept the top seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final.
Chicago Blackhawks
This was the Chicago Blackhawks' twelfth appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. The Blackhawks sought their fifth Cup championship overall and their first since . 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.
Game summaries Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the entire four rounds of the playoffs
Game one
The Blackhawks rallied from a 3–1 third period deficit in game one to defeat the Bruins in triple-overtime, 4–3. This was the 24th longest NHL overtime game, and the fifth longest in the history of the Stanley Cup Final. Milan Lucic scored at 13:11 of the first period and 51 seconds into the second period to give the Bruins a 2–0 lead. At 3:08 of the second period, Chicago rookie Brandon Saad scored his first career playoff goal, ending Boston goalie Tuukka Rask's shutout streak of 149:36, and cutting Boston's lead to 2–1. Chicago then had a 5-on-3 for 1:17 midway through the second period, but could not get a shot on goal. The Bruins then increased their lead to 3–1 when Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal at 06:09 of the third period. But Dave Bolland and Johnny Oduya scored in 4:14 apart to tie the game. In the overtime periods, the Blackhawks were penalized twice for too many men on the ice, but Boston was unable to score on those two ensuing power-plays. The game finally ended at 12:08 of the third overtime period when Michal Rozsival's shot from the point deflected off of Bolland, then Andrew Shaw, and past Rask into the Boston net. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st BOS Milan Lucic (4) Nathan Horton (11) and David Krejci (13) 13:11 1–0 BOS 2nd BOS Milan Lucic (5) David Krejci (14) 00:51 2–0 BOS CHI Brandon Saad (1) Marian Hossa (8) 03:08 2–1 BOS 3rd BOS Patrice Bergeron (6) – pp Tyler Seguin (4) and Milan Lucic (11) 06:09 3–1 BOS CHI Dave Bolland (1) Andrew Shaw (4) 08:00 3–2 BOS CHI Johnny Oduya (3) Marcus Kruger (2) and Michael Frolik (4) 12:14 3–3 OT None 2OT None 3OT CHI Andrew Shaw (5) Dave Bolland (2) and Michal Rozsival (2) 12:08 4–3 CHI Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st None 2nd BOS Nathan Horton Interference 07:37 2:00 BOS Bench (served by Shawn Thornton) Too many men on the ice 08:20 2:00 BOS Zdeno Chara High-sticking 12:53 2:00 3rd CHI Michael Frolik Tripping 05:51 2:00 OT CHI Bench (served by Patrick Sharp) Too many men on the ice 12:08 2:00 2OT CHI Bench (served by Andrew Shaw) Too many men on the ice 19:07 2:00 3OT None Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT 2OT 3OT Total Boston 11 6 8 12 10 7 54 Chicago 8 16 15 8 10 6 63
Game two
The Bruins tied the series with a 2–1 overtime victory in game two. This was the third consecutive overtime game for the Blackhawks (dating back to the conference finals), and the second consecutive Cup Finals in which the first two games went into overtime. In the first period, Chicago had 19 shots on goal compared to Boston's 4, but only scored on Patrick Sharp's goal at 11:22. Seventy seconds later, a goal by the Blackhawks' Marian Hossa was disallowed after officials blew the play dead prior to the puck crossing the Bruins' goal line. Boston's Chris Kelly then scored his first goal of the playoffs at 14:58 of the second period to tie the game. After a scoreless third period, Daniel Paille won the game for the Bruins at 13:48 of overtime; the Blackhawks' Brent Seabrook sent the puck around the end boards in the Chicago zone, but Brandon Bollig could not push it out to centre ice, allowing Adam McQuaid to steal the loose puck and feed it to Tyler Seguin, who then passed it to Paille.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st CHI Patrick Sharp (9) Patrick Kane (9) and Michal Handzus (8) 11:22 1–0 CHI 2nd BOS Chris Kelly (1) Daniel Paille (4) 14:58 1–1 3rd None OT BOS Daniel Paille (3) Tyler Seguin (5) and Adam McQuaid (2) 13:48 2–1 BOS Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st BOS Andrew Ference Tripping 06:51 2:00 2nd CHI Dave Bolland Tripping 01:19 2:00 BOS Johnny Boychuk Holding 08:15 2:00 BOS Dennis Seidenberg Tripping 17:11 2:00 CHI Johnny Oduya Tripping 19:14 2:00 3rd None OT None Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT Total Boston 4 8 8 8 28 Chicago 19 4 5 6 34
Game three
Boston goalie Tuukka Rask stopped all 28 Chicago shots in the Bruins' 2–0 victory in game three. Daniel Paille scored Boston's first goal at 02:13 of the second period. Patrice Bergeron then scored a power play goal at 14:05 of the second period, just seconds after the Bruins' 5-on-3 advantage expired. The Blackhawks' Marian Hossa was scratched from the game; Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville later said after the game that Hossa did not play due to an upper-body injury. Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st None 2nd BOS Daniel Paille (4) Chris Kelly (1) and Tyler Seguin (6) 02:13 1–0 BOS BOS Patrice Bergeron (7) – pp Jaromir Jagr (8) and Zdeno Chara (10) 14:05 2–0 BOS 3rd None Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st BOS Kaspars Daugavins Roughing 09:57 2:00 BOS Shawn Thornton Roughing 14:15 2:00 2nd CHI Dave Bolland Cross-checking 12:00 2:00 CHI Niklas Hjalmarsson Tripping 13:50 2:00 CHI Dave Bolland Tripping 19:00 2:00 3rd BOS Adam McQuaid Tripping 07:56 2:00 CHI Dave Bolland Tripping 13:55 2:00 BOS David Krejci Hooking 15:55 2:00 CHI Bryan Bickell Roughing 19:48 2:00 BOS Zdeno Chara Roughing – double minor 19:48 4:00 BOS Brad Marchand Fighting – major 19:48 5:00 CHI Andrew Shaw Fighting – major 19:48 5:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total Chicago 10 8 10 28 Boston 11 15 9 35
Game four
After only 12 total goals were scored in the first three games, game four featured a series high 11 total goals. In the first period, Chicago's Michal Handzus scored a short-handed goal at 06:48 before Boston's Rich Peverley tied the game on a power play goal at 14:43. Five total goals were then scored in the second period. Jonathan Toews deflected Michal Rozsival's shot into the Boston net at 6:48 to give the Blackhawks a 2–1 lead. Chicago then scored again at 8:41: Bryan Bickell's shot was stopped by Tuukka Rask, but Patrick Kane grabbed the rebound from the other side and shot it into the net before the Boston goalie could recover. Milan Lucic cut the lead, 3–2, at 14:43 after shooting a rebound past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford, but Chicago scored right back at 15:32 with Marcus Kruger's goal on a 2-on-1 breakaway. At 17:22, the Bruins scored their second power play goal after Zdeno Chara's shot deflected over the net, hit the glass, then eventually bounced into the crease where Patrice Bergeron tapped it into the net before Crawford could find the puck. In the third period, Bergeron tied the game, 4–4, at 2:05. The Blackhawks then scored their first power play goal of the series with Patrick Sharp's score at 11:19, but Boston answered 55 seconds later with Johnny Boychuk's equalizer. At 09:51 of overtime, Brent Seabrook scored from the point through traffic to give the Blackhawks a 6–5 victory in game four to even the series at 2. All five Bruins goals were shot to the glove side of Crawford, but the Blackhawks never once trailed in this game.