The Boston Bruins are making long games a habit in this year's NHL playoffs.

Goaltender Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins Getty Images

After their series-tying 2-1 Game 2 victory Saturday over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals, the Bruins have played seven overtime games this postseason. That is tied for the fifth-most in a single playoff in league history. Their overtime play is a big reason they are near their second title in three years, as they've won five of those seven games.

This year's finals, though, are taking the term "extra hockey" to an extreme.

This is just the fourth time since the NHL assumed control of the Stanley Cup in 1927 that the finals began with back-to-back overtime games. Between Game 2 and Chicago's triple-overtime win in Game 1, the teams have played 185 minutes, 56 seconds of game action. Only Games 2 and 3 of the 1931 final between Chicago and the Montreal Canadiens (198:40) and Games 5 and 6 of the 2000 final between the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars (194:41) have topped that.

If the Blackhawks and Bruins head to overtime again in Monday's Game 3, they will become the first Finals opponents to play three straight overtime games since the Canadiens and Kings in 1993. But they still have a ways to go to match the 1951 finals between Montreal and Toronto. The Maple Leafs won that series in five games—all of which were decided in overtime.

—Mike Sielski