Bruins Edge Hawks; Bucks Beat Celts in OT

The Boston Bruins clinched their best-of-seven semifinal series last night with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks in a game at the Stadium in Chicago. The Bruins won the series, four games to two.

Greg Sheppard's goal with 1:49 left in the game busted up a tie to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead and proved to be the eventual game-winner. Sheppard, nailing his ninth goal of the playoffs, connected after taking a pass from Dallas Smith along the left-wing boards.

The Black Hawks then pulled Esposito for a sixth skater, but it was to no avail as Phil Esposito, Tony's brother, wrapped up the Bruins' victory with an open-net goal.

Don Marcotte added two goals for the victorious Bruins.

The Bruins now go up against the winner of the Philadelphia Flyer-New York Ranger series in the finals.

In the game at Milwaukee, the Boston Celtics, trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, staged a furious second-half comeback, only to fall just short, losing to the Milwaukee Bucks, 105-96, in overtime before a capacity crowd at the Civic Center.

The Celtics had a miserable shooting first half, scoring only ten points in the second quarter.

However, Tom Heinsohn's charges came out roaring in the second half. Displaying the kind of tenacious defense that was instrumental in their victory over the Bucks Sunday in the first game of the series, the Celtics whittled away at the Bucks' lead until the Celtics had the ball with 26 seconds to go and the score tied at 90-90.