National Post Sports

It couldn’t be a coin flip forever, could it? No Stanley Cup final had gone to overtime in each of the first three games since 1951, and that series never did anything else. The first two games here became as close as games get, more or less, but didn’t have to be. Boston blew a 3-1 third-period lead in Game 1; Chicago squandered a one-sided first period in Game 2; both games came down to a single play at the conclusion of a long and breathtaking series of them, like checkers piled up until the tower fell.

This time, the gap went unbridged. The Boston Bruins pushed their checkers one way and glued Chicago’s to the table, and the result was a 2-0 win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final, for a 2-1 series lead.

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Nobody knew what to expect, not really, whether they said they did or not. The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks had been sealed in separate bubbles during this lockout-shortened season, East and West, and by the time they met in the Stanley Cup finals all they had was practice with shadow teams, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. Time to find out what they had been missing. The series was a mystery; the game became one too.

And Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final went from a rolling joy to a tense stalemate to a march into the night, past the point where the city lights marked the edge of town. It took three overtimes, and countless near-finishes, until finally with 7:52 left in the third OT, a point shot from Michael Rozsival drifted off Dave Bolland’s stick first, then caught a tiny piece of Andrew Shaw — his knee, it looked like — to end it all. Chicago won 4-3 to open the series. It was the fifth-longest game in Stanley Cup final history. All it took was a double deflection that changed direction twice, on Chicago’s 63rd shot of the game. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Pool/The Associated Press)

Gregory Campbell broke his leg during a penalty kill, but stayed on the ice: While Patrice Bergeron won the game in double overtime on Wednesday night, the Bruins were focused on a different playoff hero after their pivotal victory over the Penguins.

Campbell blocked a shot by Evgeni Malkin with his midsection on a power play late in the second period. He remained on the ice for a few seconds before struggling to his feet, then limped around for more than 30 seconds. Now it turns out he broke his right fibula on the play, the Bruins confirmed on Thursday morning, but stayed on the ice so Boston could clear the zone.

This will get bloody, oh yes. The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins don’t have a natural playoff rivalry — they haven’t met in the post-season in a couple decades — but some rivalries bloom easily, just add frozen water, and this appears to be one of them. Boston’s best chance was to treat Pittsburgh the way they once treated Vancouver, or the way Philadelphia treated Pittsburgh last year. It’s a strength.

But that wasn’t the point. It was the sideshow. The point was that the Bruins beat Pittsburgh 3-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals by creating cracks in their defence, and snuffing out their stars. There was some luck in there, too, but Boston was good, too. This is going to be a series. (Photo by Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press)

Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa scored in the second period, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Saturday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Corey Crawford made 21 saves, and the Blackhawks generated just enough offence to improve to 7-1 at home in the playoffs.

Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday.

The rivalry didn’t want to let go.

The long goodbye after 87 years of close proximity needed to be longer. A Game 7 to punctuate the end of their relationship just wasn’t enough for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks … so they had to settle the last Western playoff series they will ever contest with overtime.

Someone’s heart was bound to be broken. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press)

Resilient Senators refuse to quit in Game 3 win over Penguins
The Ottawa Senators had seen their season pronounced dead before, given last rites and a sympathetic benediction, so maybe this was old hat. Maybe being 35 seconds or so away from being down 3-0 in their second-round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins and short-handed — against Pittsburgh, there is a tendency to feel short-handed at the best of times — wasn’t the impossibility that it seemed. They’ve been dead before. It wasn’t so bad.

But the Senators didn’t die the first time. This time Karlsson was called for slashing with 1:27 left, and who scores short-handed with 1:27 left? But Pittsburgh was content to kill clock, dump the puck in, not attack, and Daniel Alfredsson started out of his own zone, under no pressure, with about 35 seconds left. The 40-year-old captain dropped a pass to Sergei Gonchar and kept skating down the right side, and Gonchar gained the zone and found Michalek on the left-side boards, inside the blue line, and the whole Penguins defence took a stride towards him, for whatever reason.

And Alfredsson was still skating away and was steaming to the net alone, and Michalek found him, and Alfredsson deflected the pass up and in with hands that have done it ten thousand times before. The clock said there were 26.8 seconds left. Scotiabank Place was so loud.

And in the second overtime Ottawa got the puck deep, and defenceman Andre Benoit got a shot from a sharp angle that hit Vokoun in the chest and bounced and fell, and Greening slapped at it and popped it over Vokoun’s shoulder at 7:39 of double overtime for a 2-1 win in an improbable Game 3. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

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Brad Marchand scored with 4:20 left in the first overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in the first playoff game in 40 years between the Original Six teams.

Marchand, Boston’s top goal scorer in the regular season, got his first of the post-season on a pass from Patrice Bergeron. Marchand had carried the puck up the right side, passed it to Bergeron and kept going toward the net. Bergeron passed across the slot and Marchand tipped it past goalie Henrik Lundqvist from the left side of the crease.

The Bruins carried the play throughout overtime. They applied constant pressure, but couldn’t score during a power play when Derek Dorsett was penalized for interference at 2:20 of overtime.