Hockey, Stanley Cup | featured news

Tim Thomas stopped 33 shots after allowing another early goal, and Brad Marchand scored the game-winner to lead Boston to a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night and put the Bruins one win away from the Stanley Cup finals....

The Philadelphia Flyers know they can do it. They just can't afford to think about it - not yet, at least. For the second consecutive year, the Flyers have spotted Boston a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals. Last year, Philadelphia won the next four games to eliminate the Bruins on its way to the Stanley Cup finals.

Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith each had two goals and the Chicago Blackhawks stayed alive in their Stanley Cup title defense, routing Vancouver 5-0 on Thursday night to cut the Canucks' lead to 3-2 in the first-round series.

It's takes 16 playoff wins — and eight weeks of self-induced pain — in order to lift the legendary silver chalice. The Super Bowl? One day, a few hours work, and it's all done. The World Series? A little longer to get to the promised land, but the games aren't that arduous, and you spend about half of each one sitting in the dugout. The NBA finals? OK, now we're getting closer, but still, there is no cigar to be handed out.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament and the entirety of March Madness are considered by many to be the pinnacle of the playoff experience in sports. And by "many" we mean "those who are too daft to understand that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are superior in nearly every way."

The Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime in Game 6 for their first championship since 1961.

Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals and had two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks got off to a quick start, got their offense untracked and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 on Sunday night for a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.

By John Consoli, The WrapCBS continued its regular season total viewer dominance Monday night, kicking off the first week of the summer season by averaging 7.7 million viewers -- but Fox did not mimic its regular season 18-49 demo ratings, finishing fourth for the night with a paltry 0.9.

Marian Hossa and Ben Eager scored 28 seconds apart late in the second period, Antti Niemi had 32 saves, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.

It wasn’t pretty, but Chicago won its first game in a Stanley Cup finals in a long, long time.