First of all I want to wish all of you a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend. Because of the holiday today's column will be brief. Last night in Chicago, game one of the Stanley Cup Finals got underway between Philadelphia & Chicago. If you like fire wagon hockey last night's game was for you.
Philadelphia drew first blood when Ville Leino fired a wrist shot past Antti Niemi to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Chicago answered back sixty-eight seconds later when Troy Brouwer found the back of the net to tie it at one. Chicago would take their first lead of the game when Dave Bolland would score a short-handed goal to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.
Philly would come back strong to end the period when Scott Hartnell scored a power play goal with under four minutes to play to tie the game at two. Then with twenty-seven seconds to play in the period Danny Briere gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead when his wrist shot managed to get by several Blackhawks defensemen & Niemi.
The Flyers had the lead after one period but it wouldn't take Chicago long to tie it up. Seventy-one seconds into the 2nd period Patrick Sharp fired a wrist shot that beat Michael Leighton glove side to tie the game at three a piece. Philly would regain the lead when Blair Betts scored his first of the post-season banking one off the post and in the net.
Two minutes later Kris Versteeg would tie it up for Chicago when he scored on a rebound in front of Leighton. Six minutes later Brouwer scored his second of the game taking a nice pass from Marian Hossa behind the net to beat Leighton once again. That would be all for Leighton as he was pulled and replaced by Brian Boucher.
Philly would manage to tie the game before the end of the period when Arron Asham's shot managed to just go into the net before Niemi could get his leg over. After two periods we were tied 5-5.
In the 3rd period only one goal was scored that came off the stick of a former Red Wing. No, it wasn't Marian Hossa but Toams Kopecky. Kopecky was in the lineup for an injured Andrew Ladd and he made the most of it as he pulled Boucher out of position before scoring what proved to be the game winning goal.
Couple of observations from last night:
1. What worked for Philly in the previous rounds will not work here. They were able to contain Jersey. They were able to shut down a Boston team that had trouble scoring. They were able to keep Montreal's forwards away from picking up rebounds. Chicago can score & they can get to the net to pick up rebounds. Philly's defense has to play better.
2. I said the team with the best goalie usually wins the cup. After game one I still don't know who has the better goaltender. Neither Leighton or Niemi looked sharp last night in net. Niemi did have a bad game against Vancouver and managed to bounce back and play strong the rest of the series. we will have to see if history repeats itself.
3. Leighton was pulled after the 5th goal last night and now the speculation is does Peter Laviolette start Brian Boucher in game two. Personally for me I don't think it matters since neither one is an elite goaltender. If I were the coach I would put Leighton back out there for game two. If you go to Boucher and he fails then you are in a bigger hole than you need to be. Either way no matter who is in net the Flyers defense has to play better.
4. If the Flyers want to skate up & down the ice with Chicago I'm sure the Blackhawks will have no problem with that. Yes, Philly has a talented group of forwards that can score but what got Philly to this point was limiting the other teams scoring chances. Chicago is already deeper at forward and can get scoring from all four lines. I don't think Philly can on a consistent basis.
Game two will be on Monday night on NBC. Thanks for reading & enjoy the hockey.
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