Chicago 6 Philadelphia 5 (United Center) Chicago leads SCF 1-0.
MONTREAL, QC — It wasn’t easy watching the first game of the Stanley Cup final. The wound of the Canadiens being eliminated had not yet healed and was re-opened by seeing Habs–Flyers hi-lights in the opening montage on Hockey Night in Canada. I suspect Game 2 will be easier to watch.
Game 1 notes:
“It wasn’t the prettiest win, but we’ll take it.” — Dustin Byfuglien
United Center soloist, Jim Cornelison, has pipes but weak intonation. Philadelphia’s Lauren Hart easily will win the battle of the anthem singers. She does a fine job on O’ Canada too although not this round.
CBC determined that the Flyers–Canadiens series didn’t rate their No. 1 broadcast team but thankfully HNIC’s Jim Hughson is in the booth for this series.
This series features one of the weakest quartets of goaltenders ever in a Stanley Cup final, namely: Antti Niemi, Cristobal Huet, Michael Leighton, and Brian Boucher.
Leighton was awful allowing four goals in the first 14 shots he faced and let in a fifth before being replaced late in the second period. Leighton looked to be no worse than in the series with the Canadiens. The Blackhawks simply exposed his weaknesses.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette primarly went with two forward lines and four defensemen. Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn each played more than 25 minutes. Pronger’s ice-time was over 32 minutes. It was be interesting to monitor the fatigue factor as the series progresses.
Jonathan Toews was blanked from the scoresheet, and had a minus-3 rating. However, Toews was 18-6 on faceoffs. Patrick Kane was also minus-3.
The trio of Ville Leino, Danny Briere, and Scott Hartnell was Philly’s best line with nine points.
Ryan Parent was on the ice for one shift, 41 seconds, and was a minus-1.
Dave Bolland continues to have an impressive playoffs with a goal, an assist, and a plus-3 rating.
Flyers scored once on four power-play opportunities after the Canadiens had done an excellent job shutting them down in the previous series. Philadelphia was not assessed a penalty in the entire game.
While the Canadiens had a difficult time getting shots to the goal in the Eastern Conference final, only seven of Chicago’s shots were blocked by the Flyers tonight.
It was a very physical game with Philadelphia outhitting Chicago 40-37. Dustin Byfuglien had 10 hits.
The Pronger vs Byfuglien matchup play was entertaining at points but a non-factor. Pronger had a plus-2 rating with Byfuglien at minus-3 .
I find it ironic that Don Cherry pronounces Tyler Seguin’s name better than Pierre Lebrun does.
Question of the night: Who starts for Philadelphia in Game 2, Leighton or Boucher?
Game 2 is Monday night at the United Center in Chicago.
Rocket’s three stars
1. Troy Brouwer
2. Chris Pronger
3. Dave Bolland
Special mention: Danny Briere
Player quotes from wire services were used in this report.
(photo credit: Getty)