Flyers' goaltender Michael Leighton had a .948 playoff save percentage and a 1.45 postseason goals against average coming into the Stanley Cup Finals. He was even better in the Eastern Conference Finals, shutting out Montreal three times.
Blackhawks' goaltender Antti Niemi had been equally impressive, posting a .921 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average in twice as many playoff games.
He had, in the last two rounds, successfully shut down two of the top-five scoring offenses in the NHL.
Both the Flyers and Blackhawks have All Star, Olympian defensemen, headlined by Philadelphia's Chris Pronger and Chicago's Norris Trophy Finalist Duncan Keith.
Everyone looked at these two teams and projected the Stanley Cup Finals to be a physical, grinding, defensive series.
And then Saturday night happened.
In what could best be described as hockey resembling a seventh-grader trying to get a bra off for the first time, two of the youngest teams in the NHL piled up stats all over the box score. Big numbers, too.
How about 64 total shots on goal, or 77 hits (10 from Dustin Byfuglien alone)? How ...
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Article written by TAB BAMFORD
2010 Stanley Cup Finals: Somehow, Blackhawks Steal Game One
May 30th, 2010 by TAB BAMFORD Leave a reply »
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