Heading into the Stanley Cup Finals I really felt the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks would play a tight-checking brand of hockey that would see both teams score few goals.
Low and behold, the Blackhawks and Flyers scored 10 goals in the first two periods en route to a 6-5 game one victory for the Blackhawks.
A case of nerves and some bad goaltending from both the Flyers Michael Leighton—who was pulled for Brian Boucher with about four minutes to go in the third period—and the Blackhawks Antti Niemi (who let in his fair share of softies Saturday night) were the main causes for the influx of offense.
As bad as the goaltending was, both teams had to be disappointed in their star forwards as well. Flyers forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were kept off the scoreboard and were a combined minus four on the night while Blackhawk forwards Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Dustin Byfuglien were also kept off the scoreboard and were a combined minus-nine.
Simply put, as I predicted prior to the series, it appears as if this series will be decided by the role players, and not the stars as many expected.
Interestingly, the Chi ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mark Ritter
Chicago Blackhawks Win Wild One, Lead Stanley Cup Final 1-0
May 30th, 2010 by Mark Ritter Leave a reply »
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