Blackhawks win in triple-overtime, take 3-1 series lead

Brent Seabrook, Mr. Big Shot, has been here before. Six times, he won a regular-season game in overtime. Two other times, he won a playoff game in overtime. And in 2013, he ended a series in overtime, completing the Blackhawks’ remarkable comeback against the Detroit Red Wings.

But after exactly 101 exhausting minutes of back-and-forth play, Seabrook’s triple-overtime winner at 1:17 a.m. Wednesday felt tough to top.

“I think this one might be bigger, because it’s over,” Seabrook said, clutching and flexing his legs, trying to knock out the lactic acid. “The game’s finally over.”

Seabrook one-timed a Patrick Kane pass through a Bryan Bickell screen and past Pekka Rinne to give the Hawks a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. The Hawks now have a 3-1 lead in their first-round series and can move on to the second round with a win Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena.

It’s the third straight spring in which the Hawks played a triple-overtime game (they beat the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, and lost to the St. Louis Blues in the playoff opener last season), and their second multiple-overtime win of the series. Through four games, they’ve played the equivalent of five.

Joel Quenneville said he never was involved in a hockey game that ended so late (an 8:45 p.m. start didn’t help). Duncan Keith played 46 minutes, 19 seconds. Jonathan Toews took 38 faceoffs. And Scott Darling continued his astounding playoff run by making 50 saves, outdueling Rinne, who finally looked like the world-class goalie he is.

Darling barely looked tired at all afterward, but said his feet surely would be sore from wearing skates for five hours.

“I’m thrilled we won,” he said. “It was an unbelievable game. It was a real war. They played great. It was a great ice hockey game. A classic game. A little bit tired, but I’m excited to get to bed. I’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Well, today, technically.

“I’m sure everybody’s tired — I think the people in the stands were tired, too,” Marian Hossa said.

The epic length of the game overshadowed its pure excitement, a wild end-to-end contest full of great chances and great saves. The Hawks were overwhelmed in the second period. They were overwhelming in the third period. But it wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.

But the series just might be. The Predators showed their character in a gritty effort in Game 4, but this one will be tough to bounce back from.

“Scoring this goal, that’s huge, because 2-2 an 3-1 is a big difference,” Hossa said.

The Predators set the tone early — aggressive and fast. They had the first four shots of the game, testing Darling early, and James Neal knocked out a pane of glass with a hit on Keith midway through the first period. Then, at 11:38 of the first, Colin Wilson deflected a Ryan Ellis shot from the point for a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead.

But just as Nashville did twice in Game 3, the Hawks answered immediately, as Antoine Vermette redirected a hard Michal Rozsival centering pass out of mid-air and past Pekka Rinne. It was Vermette’s first goal with the Hawks, who sorely need their big trade-deadline acquisition to get going to be at their best.

But the Predators then got a big lift from their own struggling star, as Neal knocked the puck right off Keith’s stick in the crease and past Darling. After a sequence of failed clears, Keith appeared to lose track of Neal, and his half-hearted clearing attempt was batted in by Neal at 17:02 of the second period.

Second periods have been the Predators’ bugaboo for weeks, but by rattling the Hawks with their forecheck, they had nine of the last 10 shots of the period.

But the Hawks responded in the third, turning the tables on the Predators and going on the offensive. They outshot Nashville 12-5 in the period, and finally tied it up at 11:03 when Hossa left a drop pass for Saad — one of the few passes on which the Hawks connected — and cleared the way as Saad rifled a shot past Rinne.

The Hawks had one last chance to win it in regulation, but Rinne made a tremendous save on Hossa (this time off a feed from Saad) with 10 seconds left to extend the game.

Overtime was a whirlwind of chances, both teams skating end to end with Rinne (finally looking like the world-class goaltender he is) and Darling playing can-you-top this. Darling made a big pad save on Filip Forsberg, Rinne responded with one on Andrew Desjardins. Rinne stopped Keith from close range without a stick, Darling swallowed up two straight bang-bang shots off faceoff wins, as the game spilled over into yet another overtime.

Fatigue clearly set in by the second overtime, as the teams trudged through another 20 minutes, the Hawks squandering two power plays and the Predators wasting half of one. But Seabrook wasted little time in the third overtime, taking advantage of the fresh ice and getting all of the Kane pass at the blue line.

Just another game-winner for Mr. Big Shot.

“That’s amazing,” Hossa said. “He always scores a huge goal for us in overtime. Seems like every year.”

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com

Twitter: @marklazerus