Jun 15, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Daniel Paille (20) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the overtime period in game two of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at the United Center. The Bruins won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals showed just how much of an even match the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks can be. Unlike Game 1′s high scoring from both the Bruins and the Hawks, the Hawks capitalized on a very tired Bruins squad early on the in the game, crashing the net and giving Patrick Sharp a clear shot at the net while Tuukka Rask was down. For a majority of the first and second periods in Game 2, the Boston Bruins played sluggish hockey, obviously showing wear from Game 1′s collapse and three overtimes.

In the post-game press conference following Game 2, Claude Julien talked about his tired squad

“If you look at our game, the first period we weren’t there and we were on our heels and they [Blackhawks] had total control.” “We got better as the game went on and in overtime I thought there’s no doubt that was our best period.” “Like I told our guys, we have to show up on time for these kind of games.”

When asked about switching up his lines and putting the Paille – Kelly – Seguin line on the ice for the third period, Claude responded: “It’s a hunch from a coach. I know Dan is a great skater, can make a lot of things happen. Seguin after the first period was one of the guys that picked up his game. Kelly was one of the guys that was good right from the start. I put those three guys together and they answered.”

Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly, and Tyler Seguin have all been slow to start in these playoffs, but in Game 2 the trio came together to give the Bruins some explosive offense and generated the team’s best scoring chances of the night. The team started a very slow paces being heavily out shot through the first and second periods, but by the time the end of the second rolled around the Bruins were able to make a great defensive shift in their game leaving the heroics to the Paille – Kelly – Seguin line.

Someone who should not be over looked in all of this is Tuukka Rask. Game 2 was another game where he stood on his head and kept his team a live ,something he did in Game’s 3 and 4 of the Penguins series and gave his team the chance to win Game 2. Rask stopped 33 of 34 shots faced and won the second star honor for his .971 SV% and 1.00 GAA. Crawford wasn’t a slouch either, despite not having to stop a lot of shots he let in 2 goals on 28 shots posting only a .929 SV% to Rask’s .971. Both goalies kept their team in it and hats off to the two net minders for their terrific play in the game.

Game 3 however will be a different story, with the hometown crowd behind the Bruins giving them all the energy they need, the Bruins have the chance now to break out of their shell and return to their high scoring game they played in Game 2 of the Penguins series and even what we saw in Game 1 of the Finals. The biggest mistake the Bruins made in Game 1 was sitting back on their lead and letting the Blackhawks walk all over them. The team cannot afford to make mistakes like that and with the new third line showing promise and Rask getting back on his hot game, the Bruins should have no problem against the Hawks on Monday.

Another thing to look out for during Game 3 is the rejuvenated Jaromir Jagr and Milan Lucic. Lucic has become a very vocal leader and his heavy hitting in Game 2 certainly changed the momentum shift to Boston. Jagr has had his shots on goal and has been coming closer and closer to scoring, his best chance came in Game 2 however it rang the crossbar, much to the dismay of Jagr. But his play has certainly stepped up and playing with Bergeron and Marchand has given him a little light, look out for him in Game 3 to make a huge impact.

Game 3 is set for Monday, June 16th at 8:00 PM (EST)

Jun 8, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook (7) takes a shot against the Los Angeles Kings during the first overtime in game five of the Western Conference finals of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

After 5 periods of hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks have eliminated the reining Stanley Cup Champions; The Los Angeles Kings in 5 games. The Presidents Trophy and Campbell Conference Trophy winners will face the Boston Bruins in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday June 12 at 8:00 PM (EST).

This is the first time in the long and rich history of these two teams that they have ever had to face one another in the Stanley Cup Final. These two teams however have faced each other before, the last meeting was the 1974-75 NHL playoffs when the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins faced each other in the long forgotten Preliminary Round which the Hawks took 2-1. This also marks the third occasion so far this post-season that the Boston Bruins have had to face an original six team and a team they haven’t played since the mid 1970s.

As stated, the last time the Bruins played the Hawks was 1975, and these two teams are obviously much different then the two that played in 1975. But the one thing that will stay the same through this playoff series as it has since the start of the playoffs; Goalie vs Goalie , Top Line vs Top Line. Currently the Boston Bruins have two players in the Top 5 playoff scoring leaders. Numbers 1 and 2 are spots owned currently by David Krejci and Nathan Horton with 21 and 17 points respectively. The Chicago Blackhawks have 3 players with 14 points all tied for 6th in the league. The Boston Bruins offence out played the offence of the Pittsburgh Penguins during Games 1 & 2 scoring 9 goals in the two games combined, yes everything sort of slowed down for Games 3 and 4 and it became a goalie vs goalie battle, but since the 5-2 win over the Rangers in Game 2 of the Semi-Finals the Bruins have found a very dangerous offensive spark that helped in the slaying of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Can the KHL (Krejci – Horton – Lucic) line and the Bergeron line handle the likes of Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, and Marian Hossa? Yes, and they are gonna do exactly what they did to the top line of the Penguins, grind them down. The Bruins might have not been the front runner on hits in the series putting up only 97  hits to the Penguins 150 but those 97 hits were big and they hit to hurt. The Boston Bruins forced a lot of turn overs and played a much harder shut down game than the Penguins defense could. The Bruins could definitely do the same thing to the Hawks because their two-way play is the best in the league and can easily be a deciding factor in this series.

The other story line was goalie vs goalie, Tuukka Rask pulled his best 2003 J.S Giguere impression only allowing 2 goals for a final GAA of 0.44 and a .985 SV%. Tuukka Rask played absolutely out of this world amazing, and got a lot of help from his defense this time around (SEE: Net front scramble at the end of Game 4). Corey Crawford hasn’t been no slouch either, posting a respectable 1.82 GAA and a .927 SV%. His defense has also done a very good job around him, of course when people aren’t up in his face. The two goalies are incredible, but the one thing that differs Crawford from Tomas Vokoun is that Crawford is a starting goalie, so elite play should be expected right out of the gate. Neither of these two goalies are gonna make this easy and every night they will give their team a chance to win.

One storyline that everyone will focus on come Game 1 is Jaromir Jagr‘s return to the Stanley Cup Final against the last team he won it against. He’s had to face 2 of his former teams so far this post-season and now faces the very same team he helped sweep back in 1992, nearly 21 years ago. Jaromir hasn’t been tearing up the goal column in these playoffs, but his inspiring work ethic and presence alone has given him 7 points in 16 games and has had his name next to some pretty important goals (Game tying goal against Toronto in Game 7 and the 2OT Goal against Pittsburgh in Game 3). But this is a great time to bring up a huge glaring point that seems to be missed by everyone, Jaromir Jagr is not the same player that skated on Mellon Arena ice when he “deked the whole world” 21 years ago. He really shouldn’t be expected to tear up the league goal scoring column in the post season and he should not be expected to do what he did to Brent Sutter all those years ago every night. Yes he has moments where he hangs on to the puck too long and yes he has moments where it seems like he tries a little to hard to set something up, but it’s that work ethic that has been an inspiration to the whole team. Since coming to the team the KHL line has been pulling out some of Jagr’s tricks as of late, especially Krejci and Lucic. Their overall hockey sense has improved and they’ve been a dominating force all playoffs, same goes for the Bergeron line. Both Marchand and Bergeron have been developing a stronger attitude and have been all around fantastic players.

Can the Bruins defeat the Blackhawks, on paper yes.. but the ice is a different story. Ready the Madhouse, because here come the Bruins.

Jun 1, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46) scores his second goal of the game against Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun (92) during the third period in game one of the Eastern Conference finals of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Boston Bruins won 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

When the Boston Bruins started Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 1st most people expected the Penguins to begin their route of the Boston Bruins. However from moment the puck dropped at the start of Game 1, the storyline changed. The Boston Bruins shutout the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1, being the first team to do so since February 2012. The Bruins followed up that extraordinary Game 1 performance in Game 2, striking early on Vokoun and pepper him with shot after shot. Vokoun would let in 3 goals before the end of the first period and we would be pulled and replaced with Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury would surrender 3 goals late in the game as the Boston Bruins routed the Penguins 6-1 on their home ice.

Now the series shifts back home to Boston, with the Bruins riding an incredible momentum wave; the question becomes whether or not the Bruins can handle themselves with their huge momentum spike. The Bruins handled one momentum spike following Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and it carried over into the Rangers series and despite losing 1 game to the Rangers, the Bruins were able to not let the one loss get in their way and closed out that series in 5 games. The Bruins can handle the momentum spike and so far they’ve shown that they can handle the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Bruins defense has done a fantastic job shutting down Crosby and Malkin and taking away the slot and vulnerable areas of Tuukka Rask. The defense also has been exposing the holes in the Penguins defense as well as the Penguins poor neutral zone break outs, constant turn overs have given the Bruins a large sum of scoring chances and the Bruins have capitalized on several Pittsburgh turn overs (all of which have come along the defensive blue line and neutral zone) , the Bruins have the power to smother the Penguins offense and continue to create scoring chances and they can do it with or without the home ice fans behind them.

Another major factor that the Pittsburgh Penguins have to deal with is their goaltending situation. Both Tomas Vokoun and Marc-Andre Fleury have crumbled at the hands of the Boston Bruins. Vokoun let in 6 goals in 2 games, and Fleury 3 goals in 1 game and while it’s obvious both goalies are having significant struggles, it also needs to remembered that when it comes to solid goaltending, it’s 1 part goalie and 1 part team defense. The Boston Bruins can play strong defense, and have been for the last 7 games, they’ve helped Rask significantly in minimizing the time opposing teams have for their scoring chances and have also done great work controlling the rebounds that Rask can’t. The Pittsburgh Penguins on the other hand, have done minimal help at best for Tomas Vokoun and Fleury. The only reason that the Bruins didn’t get more than 3 goals past Fleury for the 2 periods he was in net was because a lot of the times he had a clear enough view of the puck that he could stop it because his defense wasn’t covering him. The Penguins are relying too much on their offense, and they are starting to crack. The Bruins can play two way hockey better than any other team in the NHL and it’s showing now against the star powered Penguins.

Fleury is the most likely candidate to start Game 3 in Boston, but the goalie doesn’t matter. What matters is if the Boston Bruins can continue to abuse the lackadaisical defense off the Pittsburgh Penguins. Putting all their stock in Letang and Murray isn’t working anymore, and the Bruins have found  their way on getting the puck to the goal with no major issues.

Is it possible that the Penguins could make a come back, yes. Is it possible that  the Bruins will repeat their stunning game winning formula of Game 2 and squash any comeback hopes? Absolutely.

Game 3 is Wednesday June 5th on NBC Sports, 8 PM (EST)