FANTASY FURNACE

With just 1:17 left in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals, a game seven appeared to be on the horizon.

Not so fast, Boston fans.

Trailing 2-1 (and leading 3-2 in the best-of-seven series), Blackhawks’ forward Bryan Bickell drove the puck past the glove side Boston’s highly-appraised goaltender, Tuukka Rask. With just a buck fifteen remaining in the game, the score now read 2-2. Overtime now materialized as a certainty.

Not so fast, lovers of “free hockey.”

Just 17 seconds later, Dave Bolland fired a Michael Frolik redirect into the back of the net. Soon after, he threw off his gloves as if the Blackhawks had just won the Stanley Cup, but there were still 58.3 seconds left on the game clock in Boston’s TD Garden.

No “not so fast” this time, because Bolland’s celebration was justified. The Blackhawks had just clinched their second Stanley Cup title in the…