The captain of the Chicago Blackhawks knew what was at stake Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Bruins. Jonathan Toews also knew that coming in, he had no points in the series so far.

When he scored 6:33 into the second period, the Blackhawks had a 2-1 lead and he was finally off the schneid. This was significant because just hours earlier he said he – as captain – needed to be more accountable. He was able to laugh about the irony and the foreshadowing of his comments when teammate Brent Seabrook ended the game at 9:51 of overtime, giving Chicago a 6-5 win and evening the series, 2-2.

“Absolutely, I think it makes a world of difference for you when you finally see one go in,” Toews said. “I’ve got to say this, the last couple days Seabrook has been coming up to me, asking me what I’m thinking about. You know, I have to give him the right answer. I’m thinking about scoring a goal (smiling).

“He’s been trying to help me out, make me think a little bit better, have those positive thoughts. You work hard, eventually you’re going to find a way. Tonight was one of those games, we treated it as a Game 7. We weren’t going to be denied.”

Toews said he felt the same about his offense.

“It’s time to put all those other games behind us, the games where we struggled to score, forget about it, just find a way to do what you do. It was fun to see the puck go in as often as it did tonight.”

Toews was so relieved he forgot what game of the series came next.

“We know we can be better defensively. But we’ll use that confidence and try our best to pounce on them in Game 6 here — Game 5, sorry. Getting ahead of myself (laughter).

As for Seabrook, this was the second huge overtime game-winning goal, as he ended the Western semis series against Detroit with a Game 7 OT goal.

“I mean, we just want to win games. At this point of the season, it’s down to best-of-three. We want to win games, find a way to win ‘em any way we can. Obviously, we like when we’re playing with speed, trying to play a puck-possession game, get down low, create chances. That’s when we’re playing at our best.

“Both these guys have been saying we got to be better defensively, as well. We’ve got to be prepared to win a game 1-0 or 2-1. That’s what it’s got to come down to. Boston is a great team. They play a solid style of play. We’re going to have to shore up our D zone and be better at that.”

The Blackhawks tied the Stanley Cup finals at two games apiece Wednesday night thanks to an overtime game-winner from Brent Seabrook that capped a 6-5 Chicago win. It marked the third game this series that has gone to overtime, the second of which the Blackhawks have won.

Chicago got on the board with a shorthanded goal from Michael Handzus, but the teams went into the first intermission tied at one thanks to a power play goal from Rich Peverley.

It was the second period where things really opened up, with the teams combining for five goals. The Blackhawks took a two-goal lead on scores from Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and though Milan Lucic brought the B’s back within one, Marcus Kruger scored less than a minute later. Patrice Bergeron made it 4-3 late in the period on his third power-play goal of the series, which was followed by a frantic final minute of the period in which the Bruins unsuccessfully pushed to tie the game.

The B’s carried that momentum into the third period, with Bergeron quickly knotting the score. Chicago finally broke Boston’s streak of penalties killed at 30 when Patrick Sharp sent a rebound past Tuukka Rask, but the Bruins tied it once again thanks to Johnny Boychuk‘s sixth goal of the playoffs. That set up the overtime session.

Game 5 will be played Saturday in Chicago before the series returns to Boston for Game 6, when the Stanley Cup will be in the building for the series’ first elimination game.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR FOR THE BRUINS

- For the first time, a Toews line was able to beat Zdeno Chara. Both Toews and Bryan Bickell were in front of the net on Michal Rozsival‘s shot from the point, which Toews tipped past Rask while Chara was on the ice with Boychuk.

Chara was also left out to dry on Kruger’s goal, as Dennis Seidenberg stepped and couldn’t get back when the puck went the other way, leading to a 2-on-1 against Chara on which Kruger buried the rebound of his own shot. Despite getting the primary assist on two of the Bruins’ goals (including Bergeron’s power play goal), Chara was a minus-2 on the night, as he was on the ice for the power play on which Handzus scored.

- Lucic had a terrible turnover that ultimately led to Sharp’s power play goal. The Bruins were on the power play for less than 20 seconds before Jagr was called for high-sticking Duncan Keith, and it was during 4-on-4 play that Lucic gave the puck away to Kane in the Bruins’ zone. David Krejci had no choice but to hook Kane to prevent a Grade A scoring chance. The B’s made it through an abbreviated 5-on-3, but Kane buried a rebound in front to give the Blackhawks the lead on Chicago’s first power play goal of the series.

- That Handzus goal wasn’t Chara’s fault, though. The blame there would go to Tyler Seguin, who was exceptionally weak on the puck in letting Saad strip the puck from him high in the zone and go the other way to set up the game’s first goal. Seguin has obviously been making positive strides of late (including drawing that very penalty), but this isn’t the time of the season for uninspired play.

- Bickell finally made himself noticeable for his play. His traffic in front contributed to the Toews goal, and he also put the shot on net that led to Kane backhanding the rebound past Rask.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Think the book is out on Corey Crawford? At least four of the Bruins’ goals Wednesday were glove side, and 10 of the 12 goals they’ve scored on him this series have been glove side.

- Playing in his 200th career postseason game, Jaromir Jagr had his second multi-point night of the playoffs, so who needs goals? The cycle-happy Jagr showed earlier on in the shift in which Bergeron scored the game-tying goal that he can be all too predictable at times, but his feed from down low to Bergeron in the circle was his latest perfect pass.

- It’s nice to see Peverley contribute outside of just winning faceoffs and killing penalties. Those are both important, but the reemergence of his offense was needed by the B’s. Peverley’s goal doubled his point total to two for this postseason in 19 games, while he was also able to draw a tripping penalty on Keith on the penalty kill following a nice play up the boards by Chris Kelly.

- Give Andrew Ference a lot of credit on Peverley’s goal. He did a tremendous job keeping the puck in the zone, and after it bounced off Brandon Saad high in the zone, Peverley stepped up and fired it past Crawford.

Marian Hossa is in for the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals after missing Game 3. Chicago’s lines, which feature a number of changes, are as follows:

Bickell – Toews – Kane
Sharp – Handzus – Hossa
Saad – Shaw – Stalberg
Kruger – Bolland – Frolik

For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.

Marian Hossa was absent for the Blackhawks’ morning skate Wednesday, a day after coach Joel Quenneville had said the right wing was “likely to play” in Game 4.

Quenneville reiterated that after the morning skate, saying “he’s expected to play tonight.” Asked about Hossa missing the skate, Quenneville replied, “he’s fine.”

The Bruins’ lines and defensive pairings were the same as they were in Game 3. The lineup was as follows: