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  • Blackhawks regain momentum in OT win over Bruins

    Playoff Central

    Blackhawks regain momentum in OT win over Bruins

    Tim Rosenthal June 20, 2013
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    It’s now down to a best of three.

    In an epic back and forth contest, the Chicago Blackhawks took the momentum right back to their side with a 6-5 victory on Brent Seabrook’s game-winner at 9:51 of overtime.

    The Bruins responded well throughout the night and gave the Blackhawks a run for their money. Whenever the Blackhawks took the lead, the B’s countered with a goal of their own.

    Just look at the crazy second period. When patrick Kane put his team up by two at 8:41, Milan Lucic answered 6:02 later. Then when Marcus Kruger tied put his team ahead by two again, Patrice Bergeron answered with goals at 17:22 of the second and 2:05 of the third.

    But it was not to be as the Hawks countered with their relentless attack. And it was a strategy that the Bruins wanted to avoid to say the least.

    “This felt like a run and gun type of game,” said defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who scored the game-tying goal at 12:14 of the third period. “We had a chance to win it in overtime and it was just one shot.

    “We did battle well. We did battle back, and it was a two-goal deficit and we found a way to come back. But we shouldn’t have been in that situation anyways.”

    To say that the Bruins didn’t want to get in a track meet would be an understatement. A combination of defensive miscues and the Blackhawks speed cost the Black and Gold in Game 4.

    How off was the Bruins defense on this night? Bergeron, Dennis Seidenberg and captain Zdeno Chara posted a minus-7 combined. That’s not a good stat for the three best defenders on the Black and Gold roster.

    Despite the goals, the B’s were pretty frustrated about the sloppy play.

    “It’s pretty frustrating,” Seidenberg said about the loss. “It was a pretty sloppy game all around. There were too many breakdowns on our side, but if there’s one positive we can take out of this game, it’s that we kept scoring. That was a good point.”

    After their Game 3 win, the Bruins now find themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum. The momentum is now on the Blackhawks side and they’ll look to bounce back, much like they did after their triple overtime loss in Game 1, in a hostile United Center environment Saturday night in Game 5.

    Either way, the Black and Gold aren’t fretting anything after Wednesday’s track meet.

    “I think if you look at the last game, it didn’t stop them from bouncing back,” said head coach Claude Julien. “At this stage of the year, you have to kind of push games aside, win or lose, and have to focus on the next one. We know we have to be better and we know we can be better. It’s just a matter of getting yourself ready for the game.”

    In a series that’s already had a share of anxious moments, it’s only appropriate that the two teams are in this position.

    After Saturday, one team will control its own destiny for Lord Stanley, while the other will head into Game 6 with its season on the line.

    “It’s a 0-0 series now. They have home ice advantage, so yeah it changes it, but it doesn’t change the fact that we just have to focus on the next game,” forward Shawn Thornton said about whether or not the Blackhawks win changed the series. “Whether we won or we lost tonight, we just have to focus on the next game.”

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    Tim Rosenthal

    Tim Rosenthal serves as the Managing Editor of Bruins Daily. He started contributing videos to the site in 2010 before fully coming on board during the Bruins' Stanley Cup run in 2011. His bylines over the last decade have been featured on Boston.com, FoxSports.com, College Hockey News, Patch and Inside Hockey. You can follow Tim on Twitter @_TimRosenthal.

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