The Blackhawks bring home the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years!

Patrick Kane, the 21-year-old winger, scored 4 minutes 10 seconds into overtime Thursday, lifting the Chicago Blackhawks over the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, and giving Chicago its first Stanley Cup victory since 1961.

The last time the Blackhawks were champions, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita were young Chicago stars skating without helmets and using curved sticks, and John F. Kennedy was president.

Jonathan Toews, the Chicago captain, was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. He finished second in scoring, but had a relatively poor finals, with only three assists and a minus-5 differential.

The Blackhawks had come up empty in five finals since their 1961 victory until Kane scored his third goal of the series. It came suddenly on a shot from the bottom of the right circle that whizzed between the legs of Flyers goalie Michael Leighton’s stick and pads.

Many in the crowd at the Wachovia Center did not know that a goal had been scored until they saw Kane and his teammates throw their sticks in the air in celebration. Both teams had to wait several moments until the officials confirmed the goal after reviewing the replay.

The drought was the second longest in league history, after the Rangers’ 54-year sojourn in the wilderness, which ended in 1994.

The Blackhawks seemed to be hanging on for a narrow victory in the third period against a furious Flyers attack, but they did not succeed. Philadelphia’s Scott Hartnell scored with 3:59 left in regulation, his second goal of the night.

The Blackhawks were much the better team in the opening period, but settled for a 1-1 tie at intermission. They opened the scoring at 16:49 on a power-play goal by Dustin Byfuglien at 16:49, his third goal in two games. Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger was in the penalty box, serving his second penalty of the contest, for holding.

The shots stood 17-4, Chicago when Hawks defenseman Brent Sopel was sent off at 19:07 with his second minor of the game, for interference. The Flyers suddenly came alive, with a four-shot barrage, and ended with Hartnell scooping in Danny Briere’s rebound at 19:33.

The Hawks held the edge in play in the second period as well, outshooting the Flyers by 10-6 and slowly seizing control of the game.

The Flyers jumped ahead on a lucky play. Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith tripped when his skate locked with Hartnell’s, which left a clear path for Ville Leino, who fed the puck to Briere, the leading scorer in the finals. The Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi had little chance to prevent Briere’s third goal and 11th point of the series.

Patrick Sharp scored the equalizer by finishing a fine passing play with a shot from 21 feet that beat Leighton to the short side at 9:58.

Then Andrew Ladd tipped in Niklas Hjalmarsson’s shot at 17:43, and the Blackhawks were ahead, 3-2.

Briere, Hartnell and Leino were by far the Flyers’ best line throughout the series, and they proved it on this night by accounting for all three Flyers goals.

For most of the game Coach Peter Laviolette left intact the Flyers’ struggling first line, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, all of whom entered the game deep into minus for the series. Together they had 11 shots through the first 60 minutes of play, but once again most of them were fired right into Niemi.

Richards had a chance to win the game for Philadelphia in the final two minutes, but with Niemi off balance and sprawling, Richards shot right into his glove.