Zdeno Chara could hardly believe what had just unfolded.
Duncan Keith was in the same boat, at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.
Chara and his Boston Bruins held a 2-1 lead late in Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup final against Keith and Chicago. A victory on home ice would ensure a winner-take-all finale back in the Windy City.
That script then flipped in dramatic fashion. The visitors scored twice in a jaw-dropping 17-second span to stun the Bruins 3-2 and claim Chicago's second Cup in four years.
"Shocking for us," Chara recalled more than a decade later. "That's sports, that's life."
Keith, meanwhile, had just moments earlier been dreading a pressure-packed Game 7.
"It's never over until it's over," he said. "Special to do it against such a good team."
Chara and Keith, two standout defencemen with decorated NHL and international careers, will share a special moment together Monday when they are enshrined as part of the Hockey Hall of Fame's 2025 class.
"It causes you to reflect," Keith said Saturday after inductees were given their hall rings and jackets. "It's a long journey with a lot of people that have helped me."
The pair will be inducted alongside fellow former players Joe Thornton, Alexander Mogilny, Jennifer Botterill and Brianna Decker. Jack Parker and Danièle Sauvageau will enter as builders.
"Loved every minute," Thornton said of his 24-season NHL career. "Started at 18 [years old] and I ended up at 42. I was very, very fortunate."
Chara, 48, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1996 and traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2001, but his career really took off after signing with Boston.
The six-foot-nine blueliner from Trencin, Slovakia, spent 14 seasons with the franchise, all as
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