No. 1 Star: Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
The diminutive forward was the motor in Tampa's 5-4 victory over the Boston Bruins to force a Game 7 Friday night. St. Louis scored twice and set up another in the win and is now tied with David Krejci for the lead in goals with 10. After Krejci scored to cut the Lightning lead to one, St. Louis answered 29 seconds later with what would hold up as the game-winning goal:
No. 2 Star: David Krejci, Boston Bruins
The last Bruins playoff hat trick came from Cam Neely 20 years ago. Krejci matched the feat with a goal in the first period and two big ones in the third as Boston was trying to rally back from a deficit. With 10 playoffs goals so far, Krejci is close to matching his regular season total of 13.
No. 3 Star: Teddy Purcell, Tampa Bay Lightning
Purcell has scored in four Tampa games this postseason and all four have resulted in victories. His pair tonight helped the Lightning build a 3-2 lead heading into the final period and gave Purcell five goals against the Bruins in the series.
Honorable mention: Steven Stamkos now has seven points in the series after a goal and a pair of assists in Game 6. His power play tally early in the third period put the Lightning up 4-2 ... Steve Downie had two helpers, put five shots on net and sealed the victory with a kiss ... Tampa scored goals 36 seconds and 34 seconds into the first and third periods, respectively It was the fourth time that either team had scored within the first two minutes of a period ... Dwayne Roloson improved to 7-0 in elimination games in his career ... Tampa took advantage of their power play opportunities cashing in on three of the four.
Did you know? Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final will be next Wednesday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
Dishonorable mention: Not a typical Patrice Bergeron night as he finished a minus-1 and lost 10 of 19 faceoffs ... Tim Thomas allowed four or more goals for the fifth time in the playoffs ... Lightning fans celebrated the win by littering the ice with noisemakers given out before the game, with one hitting Krejci as he was leaving the ice:
Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks; 2. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins; 3. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 4. Marty St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning; 5. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; 6. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks; 7. Sean Bergenheim, Tampa Bay Lightning; 8. Dwayne Roloson, Tampa Bay Lightning; 9. Kevin Bieksa, Vancouver Canucks; 10. Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins.