It seemed destined for overtime, just as three of the first five games had gone in the Stanley Cup Final.
Left wing Bryan Bickell had tied the game for the Blackhawks, 2-2, at the 18:44 mark of the third period and it seemed a foregone conclusion that extra time was going to be required to decide Game 6 Monday night.
But just 17.7 seconds after Bickell gave his teammates a fistful of hope, fourth-line center Dave Bolland gave his team the Stanley Cup on a rebound of a Johnny Oduya shot that snuck past Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask and stunned the sell-out crowd at TD Garden.
If the Bruins motto was, “There is no quit in this team,’’ it surely was personified by the Blackhawks perseverance at the end. They didn’t want a deciding Game 7 on Wednesday even it was back home at the United Center. Full story for BostonGlobe.com subscribers.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.
