Bruins/Blackhawks tied after one period of Game 4

Boston, MA – Goals from Michal Handzus and Rich Peverley highlighted the first period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals as the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks are tied, 1-1, after 20 minutes of play.

Boston got the first power play of the game when Johnny Oduya was called for interference 5:18 in, but it was Chicago that took advantage.

Tyler Seguin tried to control the puck at the left point, but had his pocket picked by Brandon Saad and the play went the other way. Saad outskated Zdeno Chara and was able to send a little pass over to the left wing where Handzus snapped it in off the left post for a shorthanded goal and his third tally of the playoffs at 6:48.

Boston had its first good scoring chance when Daniel Paille and Peverley skated in on a 2-on-1, but was unable to get the shot off. However, Duncan Keith was called for hooking on the play and the Bruins' power play went to work with 7:15 left in the frame.

A right circle faceoff in their own zone was won by Chicago and Niklas Hjalmarsson sent it the other way for Saad, who tried to clear the puck but Andrew Ference kept it in at the left point.

Ference then tried to get the puck down low, but it deflected off a Chicago player. Luckily for Boston, though, it went to Peverley and he wristed it home from the top of the right circle for his second of the playoffs to tie the game with 5:17 left in the frame.

The goal energized Boston as it continued to attack in the Boston end, getting several chances that Corey Crawford turned away to keep the game tied after 20 minutes of play.

Nathan Horton took a slashing call at 18:16 to give Chicago its second power play, but Keith tripped up Peverley behind the Chicago net with 1:02 left and the teams ended the frame with 4-on-4 play.

Tuukka Rask made 11 saves in the first period, while Crawford stopped eight shots.

Boston holds a 2-1 lead in the series after splitting a pair of overtime games in Chicago, and taking a 2-0 win in Game 3 on Monday.