Late, late effort puts Blackhawks in control of series

CHICAGO -- People do foolish things in the wee hours of the morning.

That is why no one should have been surprised that despite a 40-pound weight differential, a freshly-returned-from-a-fractured-clavicle Patrick Kane was caught trying to hoist Brent Seabrook in the air just after 1 a.m.

"It looked like it," said Seabrook, who is listed at 221 pounds. "But I don't think he can. I think we were all pretty tired and I didn't want to smash the back of his head or anything like that."

Seabrook had just scored the game-winner on a one-timer from the blue line off a sharp, centering pass from Kane. It came a minute into the third overtime, ending a 4-hour hockey game for a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators. When the red light went off, the Blackhawks had a 3-1 lead going into Thursday's Game 5 in Nashville.

There was no practice on Wednesday, and Thursday is another late start, which gives the Hawks a little extra time to rest.

Bryan Bickell helped shield Rinne on the game-winning goal. It was a team effort at a very, very necessary time.

"Great shot. Great traffic. Great pass. It was a great play all around," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Relief washed over the United Center, which remained packed with fans until the very end.

"What day is it?" Blackhawks goaltender Scott Darling said. "On a weeknight? Good for them sticking around and keeping us going in the OTs."

The players hugged Seabrook a little harder, and the goal horn blared a little louder when it ended.

"Obviously you're excited, but at the same time, it's kind of relieving, too, that it ended that early," Brandon Saad said.

I know a few reporters, elevator operators and arena personnel who felt like hugging Seabrook. Game 4 began at 8:45 p.m. and ended at 1:16 a.m.

"I don't think I've ever played a game this late," Quenneville said. "Ever."

It was officially the longest game in Predators history. Yes, they have records going back to 1998.

For the Blackhawks, it was their third triple-overtime playoff game in the past three seasons. In 2013, they beat the Bruins at home in the first game of the Stanley Cup finals. Last season, they lost one to St. Louis in the first round.

"That is a weird stat," Seabrook said.

Of those games, Saad could only remember the Bruins game, because "it went off [Andrew Shaw's] shin pad" for the game-winner. You tend to forget the triple-overtime losses a little quicker.

While Darling, the kid from Lemont, Illinois, was named the first star of the game, Seabrook gave a shout-out to the training staff for keeping the players on their skates. He started naming off the entire staff by their nicknames before giving up.

"I can't list them all right now," he said. "They're all doing a great job of keeping oranges cut. They're doing everything they can to keep us hydrated, keep us taken care of. They're probably falling asleep as well."

Defenseman Duncan Keith played a game-high 46:19 and led the team with seven shots.

Players joked that they were happy to see the reporters stick around. As the press box elevator hit the basement, the operator wished us a good night before Eddie Olczyk corrected her, "You mean good morning."

When Marian Hossa fed Saad for a beautiful tying goal with nearly nine minutes left in the third period, my immediate thought was, "We'll be here all night." The hockey gods smited me good, didn't they?

The second overtime started at 12:23 a.m. The Blackhawks got two power plays in that period, but didn't come close to capitalizing on them.

Darling, a former Louisiana Ice Gator and a walking made-for-TV-movie, was very good again in relief of the benched Corey Crawford, stopping 50 of 52 shots.

"He's been great," Seabrook said. "He gave us a chance to win -- that's all you can ask for. Their second goal was a tough bounce. He's been playing really well."

While Darling wasn't tested much in the overtime periods, it wasn't easy to stay focused.

"Your eyes and brain get a little fried being zoned in for so long," he said. "Physically, you're sweating out pounds of sweat. Your feet are in the skates for five or six hours. It doesn't feel too good."

Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne was a magician in the overtime periods, including one sequence with 5:34 left in the first overtime, when he seemingly made a puck disappear.

After three minutes of searching for a missing puck he absorbed, including, ironically enough, an attempt to help from infamous referee Steve Miller, Rinne found it in one of his leg pads and tossed it back on the ice.

There was more hockey to play.