NO WEB

BOSTON -- An NHL-record unbeaten streak to start the lockout-shortened season. Three straight victories to clinch the title. From beginning to end, the Chicago Blackhawks skated away from the rest of the league.

The Blackhawks captured their second NHL championship in four seasons last night as Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored 17 seconds apart in the final 1:16 to give Chicago a 3-2 victory over the Bruins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Milan Lucic's goal had given Boston a 2-1 lead with 7:49 remaining in the third, but Bickell scored after Chicago sent goalie Corey Crawford to the bench for an extra skater. "I still can't believe that finish," Crawford said. "Oh my God, we never quit."

"It's obviously shocking when you think you have everything under control," said Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, whose team was less than 80 seconds from forcing a deciding Game 7.

Bickell scored when he got behind Lucic and tapped in a pass across the slot from Chicago captain Jonathan Toews.

"It was a quick play out of the corner," said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who was on the ice for 10 of the Blackhawks' final 12 goals in the series, including Bickell's equalizer. "I saw a guy coming to the net."

Then Bolland scored the game-winner, converting a shot deflected by Michael Frolik that went off the left post. "It was a shot from the point. Deflection, rebound, goal. A lot of plays happen like that," Rask said.

"We knew they were going to pinch [in toward the net], and you lose a puck battle here or there, and they made great plays," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "The tying goal is a great play. They've got their best players out there on the ice and then they made a great pass."

He said of Bolland's winning goal, "Our guys were close to him, but, you know, he just outmuscled them on that."

Rask and Crawford entered the game with 1.83 goals-against averages in the playoffs. "I thought he was great all series," Crawford said of Rask. "A lot of the games took a life of their own. Sometimes we had shootouts, sometimes we had tight games, but he was there throughout. You see what it took to beat him tonight, a late flurry like that, or we wouldn't be standing here."

"I'm really proud," Rask said. "I think a lot of people didn't expect us to go this far. We shocked the hockey world against Pittsburgh."

After the handshake line, Toews received the Stanley Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, just as he did in 2010 when Chicago clinched on the road in Game 6 at Philadelphia. "You never know what can happen," Toews said, "so you don't stop playing until the end.''

He added, "When you get the momentum rolling late in a game like that, it changes teams. You could see our jump, us start to believe, and we just fed off that. All that said, it's still pretty unbelievable what happened."

Toews returned from injury to score a goal and Crawford made 23 saves for Chicago in the first final round between Original Six teams since 1979.

"In 2010, we didn't really know what we were doing," Toews said. "We just, we played great hockey and we were kind of oblivious to how good we were playing. This time around, we know definitely how much work it takes and how much sacrifice it takes to get back here, and this is an unbelievable group. We've been through a lot together this year and this is a sweet way to finish it off."

Patrick Kane, whose overtime goal in Game 6 beat Philadelphia to win the 2010 title, was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoffs MVP. "It was the best year of my life, just playing with these guys," Kane said.

The Blackhawks set an NHL record by getting at least one point in each of their first 24 games, going 21-0-3.

Toews was still on the ice at the end. He had the last shot of the game, scrambling from his hands and knees to slide the puck toward an empty net after Rask was pulled. The shot missed but ate up the final few seconds. Toews jumped back to his feet, turned around and headed full speed toward the other end, where a swarm of teammates already were celebrating.

"It's been nerve-wracking at times for us, a lot of ups and downs, but that's playoff hockey for you," Toews said. "We always believed in the group we had. We knew we had something special here. It was just a matter of going out and showing it."