Stanley Cup Game 2 Recap (Series: 1-1)
More overtime drama in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, however this time it was Boston who prevailed and tied the series up at 1-1.
Any man on the ice can be a hero on the night and just like in Game 1, it was a depth line that ended up doing most of the damage for the victorious side. Daniel Paille only has 7 playoff goals in his NHL career but his wicked wrist shot that sealed the contest was typical of an elite sniper. With his team struggling for offence into the second period Claude Julien teamed Paille up with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin and they were responsible to tying the game as well as the telling contribution later on.
I felt both goaltenders played well in the first matchup despite the scoreline, and there could be no doubt that Tuukka Rask and Corey Crawford excelled themselves this time. Pretty glove saves will always make the highlight reels, but their general poise and composure considering the magnitude of these games has been just as impressive.
Throughout the entire post-season there had only been one instance of either of these clubs blowing a first period lead, now we’ve seen it happen in both games of the Finals.
The Hawks completely dominated the opening frame though only had Patrick Sharp’s tally which was more of a hopeful shot than anything to show for it. They buried Rask under 19 shots in those twenty minutes; over half their eventual total of 34, and were left largely frustrated. Boston got to grips with them from there on out and their defensive stalwarts like Johnny Boychuk, Dennis Seidenberg plus of course Zdeno Chara were typically strong.
Compared to Wednesday night only a breezy 14 minutes of OT were required, the major moment being Jaromir Jagr striking iron to his own consternation. Chicago’s failure to clear the puck cost them, Brandon Bollig the chief offender as he lost control close to the blue line and allowed Adam McQuaid to step in. Seguin picked up and fired the puck across straight onto Paille’s tape for him to find the top right corner over the glove of Crawford.
Losing a home game has focused the pressure heavily on the Blackhawks as the series heads to Boston and TD Garden. Of course they did dig themselves out from a 3-1 deficit against Detroit in the Conference Semis but that would surely be too tall an order to repeat.
