The Hawks dominated the first getting the lone goal from Patrick Sharp on a follow up thanks to a tremendous shift from Patrick Kane with Michal Handzus screening Tuukka Rask. So lopsided was the period that they out-shot the Bruins 19-4. Only stupendous goaltending from Rask kept Boston alive. He stood on his head. Chicago came at them in waves but were turned away for the final  62:26 by the omitted Finnish netminder who finished fifth for the Vezina. Rask made 33 saves. 

After the first, Boston turned it around. They out-shot Chicago 24-15 the rest of the way while outscoring them 2-0. The Hawks blew a couple of opportunities to increase their lead. They continued to struggle on the power play- firing blanks in three chances. That included a pair prior to Chris Kelly evening it. The Bruins’ aggressive penalty kill swarmed the Hawks, who looked disjointed. Not only did they get the job done but generated momentum thanks to shorthanded bids from pest Brad Marchand. On the same shift after refs ignored Brent Seabrook’s slash on a shot that rang off the post, his persistence drew a trip on Johnny Oduya. It’s that kind of effort that Claude Julien expects. The coach made a great adjustment, moving Tyler Seguin with Paille and Kelly. Not coincidentally, the trio were in on both goals. 

Paille beat Nick Leddy behind the net and forced Crawford to make a tough save on a wrap around. The puck caromed out to Kelly who deposited it for his first of the postseason. The goal allowed the Bruins to seize momentum. They were much sharper. As usual, their physicality helped stem the tide. They outhit the Hawks 50-34, including a game high 10 from bruising power forward Milan Lucic. He and rugged blueliner Adam McQuaid combined for 18 hits. Johnny Boychuk also delivered a couple of crunching checks. The Hawks coughed up the puck more, finishing with twice as many giveaways (16-8). 

The B’s got a boost from Nathan Horton, who was able to return following his undisclosed upper body (shoulder) injury. The extra day off helped. Despite Julien being able to use his best line, the trio of Horton, Lucic and David Krejci were held to two shots. They got inspired play out of their grinders with Paille and Kelly having instant chemistry with Seguin, who’s been flying. He only has one goal but is close to snapping out of it. It was his sweet dish across off a Brandon Bollig turnover that allowed Paille to snap his third past Crawford to square the series. Seguin also made a similar pass in Game One for Patrice Bergeron’s power play goal that at the time, gave Boston a 3-1 lead in the third before the Hawks rallied back to take Game One. There’s little doubt that the former No.1 pick who was part of the Phil Kessel blockbuster with Toronto has been arguably the best forward. 

Many have debated shifting him to the top line. One of those was NBC’s Mike Milbury. The outspoken one feels Seguin belongs with Bergeron and Marchand. Jaromir Jagr has been there since the first round. He hasn’t scored but continues to create chances. For the second straight game, he hit the post in sudden death. Perfectly set up by Marchand last night, No.68 let go of his trademark wrist shot only to see it clang off the crossbar. It takes a lot to frustrate Jagr. This time, he let out a primal scream that summed it up. 

The 41-year old future Hall Of Famer was again one of the Bruins’ best players, nearly setting up Marchand for the winner on a brilliant rush that reminded of a younger Jagr. It would’ve been nice if he had tried to finish it. If you take Jagr off the top line, sticking him with grinders probably doesn’t make any sense. Bergeron’s line has been good. Part of that’s due to No.68 who’s a relentless forechecker, whose muscle often draws two defenders. If I were Julien, I’d keep them together for Game Three and let Seguin stick with Kelly and Paille. They won the game.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Blackhawks bounce back. This series has been tremendous. The single overtime was one of the most exciting with each side trading chances. Both Rask and Crawford were sensational. This is easily the best Stanley Cup since Detroit played Pittsburgh back-to-back. The combination of skating, skill, physicality and netminding has been breathtaking. Will they need extras again tomorrow? Good thing we don’t have a rooting interest.