The Blackhawks have been here before.

The likes of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Marion Hossa have been here before.

But still, the Hawks had to close out the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team whose speed and youth gave the Blackhawks all they could handle in what was a very tight Stanley Cup Finals series.

In the opening period of the game, Chicago was outstaked by the Bolts. Tampa got very close as Steven Stamkos, who struggled for the duration of the series, hit the crossbar on a shot that beat Crawford's glove side. The score remained 0-0 after 20 minutes of play.  

It remained a tied game through the early stages of the second, but the momentum was soon shifted towards the Blackhawks. They were creating chances and a goal seemed on the horizon. 

Then it came.

Duncan Keith skated into the zone and shot a wrister on Ben Bishop who made the stop - but a heavy rebound jumped right back in front of Keith, who immediately flung it past Bishop's left side and into the back of the net. This was the only action in the second period, but there were still 20 minutes of play remaining as the middle period came to a close. 

Knowing their season is on the line, the Lightning came out and had a great start to the period. They created chances and tested Corey Crawford and the Blackhawk defense early - but they were simply unable to get the puck into the net.

About mid-way through the third, Saad flew into the Hawks' end of the ice on a 3-2 break-away for Chicago. He passed the puck to Brad Richards, who got it to a perfectly-positioned Patrick Kane who didn't waste a moment slinging it into the wide-open right side of the net, easily beating Bishop for the second goal of the game. 

This goal effectively sealed the deal for the Blackhawks, and although they were unable to score during the final handful of minutes that the Tampa Bay goal was empty, the clock ran out and celebrations of their third Stanley Cup in the six most recent seasons immediately began. 

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About the author
Vijay Vemu
Vijay is a sports journalist who covers mainly the NBA and soccer. He is a credential reporter on the Chicago Fire and also covers NBA for VAVEL as well. He is also a editor for Mash Chicago, the publication of the Chicago Tribune. He is also a contributor at SB Nation's Blog A Bull and Big East Coast Bias as well as writing on European Soccer as well. He plans on attending the University of Illnois at Chicago (UIC) in the fall with a major in computer science. You can follow him on Twitter : @VJVemu