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Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup

>>Blackhawks Win Thid Stanley Cup In Six Years

For the third time in six seasons, the Chicago Blackhawks are Stanley Cup champions.

Duncan Keith, the team's iron man and anchor on the blue line, scored late in the second period and Corey Crawford was marvelous in net as the Blackhawks posted a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Finals on Monday night.

Crawford turned in a 25-save shutout and Patrick Kane also lit the lamp for the Blackhawks, who won the Stanley Cup on home ice for the first time since 1938.

 width=Ben Bishop, who battled an injury throughout the series, made 30 saves for the Lightning.

After several quality chances, Chicago's most reliable defenseman finally broke the scoreless deadlock.

Keith moved in from the neutral and took Kane's saucer pass at the blue line. The star defenseman fired a shot from the top of the slot, but Bishop made the save. Keith danced around Lightning forward Cedric Paquette and wristed the rebound over the Lightning netminder's glove.

Brent Seabrook nearly gave Chicago a two-goal lead after Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat went off for elbowing with 47 seconds left in the period, but his shot rang off the post.

Kane sealed the win with 5:14 left in regulation. Brandon Saad dropped the puck back to Brad Richards at the left circle. Kane accepted a no-look pass from Richards and fired the puck into the net.

The Lightning had an opportunity to mount a rally when Chicago's Andrew Desjardins was called for tripping with 3:39 to play.

Bishop was pulled with three minutes remaining to make it a 6-on-4 advantage, but the Lightning couldn't solve Crawford, who became the second goaltender in the last 40 years to post a shutout in a Stanley Cup Finals clincher on home ice.

When the horn at the United Center sounded, Crawford threw off his mask and was surrounded by his teammates, who celebrated the sixth championship in franchise history.

Chicago captain Jonathan Toews handed the Stanley Cup off to defenseman Kimmo Timonen first. The 40-year-old defenseman, who was acquired from Philadelphia at the trade deadline, won his first title to cap a solid career. Timonen is retiring after playing 16 NHL seasons.

>>Duncan Keith Named Cup MVP

Duncan Keith's performance in the 2015 playoffs was one for the ages.

Keith, Chicago's anchor on the blue line, garnered a unanimous vote for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason's top performer and was key in helping the Blackhawks hoist the Stanley Cup for the third time in six seasons.

His Game 6 was a microcosm of his performance in these playoffs. He scored the game-winning goal in Monday's Cup clinching victory and was on the ice for more than half the game.

The two-time Norris Trophy winner is the ninth defenseman to win the Conn Smythe and first since Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer in 2007.

He finished the postseason with a league-leading 18 assists and 21 points, matching the most in franchise history by a defenseman since Hall of Famer Chris Chelios did so in 1992.

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