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Stanley Cup Final Three Stars: Rask, Paille lead Bruins to Game 2 victory

No. 1 Star: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

If you watched the first half of this game, you know the Bruins had no business being in it, let alone winning it. But Rask was outstanding in a first period where the Blackhawks outshot the Bruins 19-4, holding Chicago to just one goal, and when Boston finally got on the board, suddenly they were in a tie game. Rask made 33 saves in the Bruins' 2-1 win and is far and away the biggest reason this series is tied at one game apiece heading back to Boston.

No. 2 Star: Daniel Paille

It was a big night for Paille, who was in on both Boston goals, assisting on Chris Kelly's game-tying marker and ending the affair in overtime by beating Corey Crawford with a sweet shot. Here's that goal again, from the perspective of the net cam:

No. 3 Star: Patrick Sharp, Chicago Blackhawks

It was a great night for Sharp, who had a game-high seven shots on goal and a team-high one shot in goal.

Honourable Mention: 7 shots and a game-high even-strength Corsi rating of plus-11 for Marian Hossa... Rich Peverley went 9-for-11 on faceoffs... I enjoyed the sneaky play by Niklas Hjalmarsson at the beginning of this clip, when he avoids a pokecheck by picking up the blade of David Krejci's stick and throwing it up against the glass:

Did You Know? Through two games, the Blackhawks and Bruins have now played 185:56. It's like you got a bonus game in there! Slowly but surely, they're making up for the lockout.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 2. Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins; 3. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks 4. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; 5. Andrew Shaw, Chicago Blackhawks; 6. Nathan Horton, Boston Bruins; 7. Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks; 8. Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins; 9. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks; 10. Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks.

Dishonourable mention: Marian Hossa scored a goal in this game, only to have it waived off due to a blown whistle. That one probably should have counted... While he had 10 hits, Milan Lucic didn't register a single shot on goal. The only other Bruins to do that were Kaspars Daugavins, Shawn Thornton, and Adam McQuaid.