CHICAGO — The Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup finals, thanks to another big goal by Big Buff.
Dustin Byfuglien scored his third go-ahead goal of the Western Conference finals, converting on a third-period power play Sunday as Chicago rallied to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2, completing a four-game sweep that sends the Blackhawks to the finals for the first time since 1992.
Chicago will play either Montreal or Philadelphia and be in search of its first NHL title since 1961.
The 257-pound Byfuglien was parked in front of the net with seven seconds left on the power play. He took a nice pass from Patrick Kane and knocked the puck past Evgeni Nabokov to give the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead at 14:05 of the final period.
Kris Versteeg added an empty-net goal with 42 seconds left, and the red-clad fans at the United Center erupted, littering the ice with souvenir towels.
Logan Couture scored in the first period for the regular-season Western Conference champion Sharks, and Patrick Marleau had a short-handed goal in the second as San Jose built a 2-0 lead.
But Brent Seabrook was credited with a goal after a video replay reversed an initial on-ice ruling of no goal. Dave Bolland then tied the game at 2-2 at 18:38 of the second.
The Sharks had a chance to regain the lead a minute into the final period, but a shot from the high slot by Devin Setoguchi deflected off the stick of teammate Joe Thornton and hit the crossbar.
Chicago had a pair of power plays to work with in the final period and Byfuglien converted.
"It was just four games but it felt a lot longer than that," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said of the fierce and fast-paced series.
On his tying goal, Bolland scrapped for the puck behind the net, gained control and, after hesitating, he fired a wraparound shot that appeared to deflect off the stick of San Jose's Kent Huskins before it went past Nabokov.
It was the fifth goal of the playoffs and second in two games for Bolland, whose defense was a key throughout the series for Chicago.
Marleau scored the short-handed goal from the right circle at 7:35 of the second, shortly after the Sharks started a break when Marc-Edouard Vlasic blocked a shot by Kane. That put San Jose up 2-0 and put the Sharks in position to take control. But they couldn't maintain it.
After Toews was called for cross-checking during a scramble at the net, leaving each team a man down, Seabrook took the puck toward the goal. And as Marian Hossa battled to get control at the side, the puck slipped between Nabokov's legs. Seabrook's goal sliced San Jose's lead to 2-1 and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
It also gave the Blackhawks the momentum they had been looking for since the first period.
Couture converted a high rebound past goalie Antti Niemi after a shot by Setoguchi from the left boards was deflected, putting the Sharks up 1-0 at 11:08 of the first.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, had trouble getting anything going offensively and managed just one shot in the first 14 minutes.
But Chicago then peppered Nabokov with seven shots over the final three minutes. He responded with nice stops on Troy Brouwer, Kane and Versteeg.
Niemi made 16 saves for Chicago. Nabokov finished with 23.
Notes
Couture's opening goal was the first for the Sharks by someone other than Marleau since Jason Demers scored in Game 1. Marleau's goal was his fifth of the series and eighth of the postseason. The Sharks had seven goals total in the series. … Chicago D Duncan Keith was hit in the face during the rush that led to Marleau's goal, but he returned to the game minutes later.