The defining moment of the decisive Game 6 victory might be Chicago captain Jonathan Toews getting rag-dolled into the Boston goal post by Zdeno Chara with just over two minutes to play. A game time decision after getting steamrolled by Johnny Boychuk in Game 5, Toews picked his tired, aching body off the ice and set up Bryan Bickell for the tying goal with less than 70 seconds to play.

After being a relative no-show for most of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Toews had every reason to play a supporting role as his Blackhawks tried to close out the Boston Bruins. Instead, the gritty captain strapped on his big boy pants and scored a goal before setting the table for Bickell’s equalizer.

This is what leaders do. This is what captains do.

The Chicago Blackhawks and Toews are the Stanley Cup champions for the second time in the last four years after a fantastic series with Boston. I certainly thought he Bruins to be the favorites heading into the final after their impressive dispatch of the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins. Chicago took out the defending champs from Los Angeles, but had looked vulnerable against Detroit.

Through the first four games of the Stanley Cup Final we had seen 23 goals, five overtimes and two wins apiece. The Blackhawks took Game 5 back in Chicago, setting up Game 6 and the improbable finish. The Bruins came out on fire shooting and hitting, dominating play for the first 20 minutes.

Toews tied the score four minutes into the second and the choppy TD Garden ice seemed to level out after being tilted clearly in the favor of the home team. The third period would belong to the Blackhawks despite surrendering a goal to Milan Lucic 12 minutes into the period. The Hawks outshot Boston 16-7 in the period, but would need the heroics of their captain to get back into the game.

The Bruins barely had time to get their bearings after the game tying goal before David Bolland tapped in a Michael Frolik rebound 17 seconds later. The TD Garden crowd looked and sounded collectively stunned over the next :59 seconds as their dreams for a Game 7 much less a Stanley Cup slipped through their fingers.

Boston was only 77 seconds away from forcing a final game back in Chicago and though they can be proud of their collective effort, this is a loss that had to really hurt. In the end, Chicago proved to be the hungrier of the two teams. Led back from the jaws of defeat by their captain yet again, the Blackhawks truly earned the Stanley Cup.