Stanley Cup finals? Game 1 at the United Center Saturday night was more like a track meet. Or a dreaded preseason game. The Blackhawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and move one step closer to ending a 49-year Stanley Cup drought that’s by far the longest among Original Six NHL franchises. But they were hardly congratulating themselves.
“We have to play 100 percent better than we did tonight,” said John Madden, the team’s 37-year-old elder statesman who won two Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils. “When it’s run and gun like that it’s anybody’s game. We want to have a little more control than that, especially in our own end. I’m sure it was exciting for the fans, but it wasn’t the kind of game we wanted to play.”
Game 2 is Monday night in the same building.
Considering the stakes, the opener was back and forth and rather loosely played all evening. The Flyers led 3-2 after a wide-open first period, and it was a 5-5 standoff after two. Tomas Kopecky’s goal was the only score of a more plausible third period, and it proved to be the difference.
“If you’re not going to play your game you might as well pack it up and go home,” said Hawks winger Kris Versteeg, who tied the game at 4 with a second-period goal and assisted on Kopecky’s game-winner. “We’ve got to be a lot better and a lot smarter. We can’t be giving pucks away.”
The Hawks can be as self-critical as they like, but there’s not much doubt the better team won, even if it wasn’t as artistically pleasing as they might have liked. Here are a few reasons:
–Each team’s “big line” had a quiet night. Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews-Dustin Byfuglien failed to get on the score sheet for the Hawks, and the Flyers’ Mike Richards-Jeff Carter-Simon Gagne line was blanked as well. Combined, the two lines were a -16. But the Hawks got three goals and six points from their second line of Patrick Sharp, Troy Brouwer and Marian Hossa, plus three goals and five points from the checking line of Versteeg, Kopecky and Dave Bolland. The Flyers can’t match that depth.
–Kopecky, replacing injured Andrew Ladd on the checking line after missing three weeks with his own injury, had a goal and an assist and was an active presence all night. The only reason he wasn’t the best player on the ice was Hossa–he was.
Hossa set up both Brouwer goals with nifty passes and created several other chances with uncanny puck control. “The guy is just a horse out there–you can’t get him off the puck,” Madden said.
Said coach Joel Quenneville: “Hossa is an amazing player. He’s so effective in so many ways. He finds a way to get to the puck and create offense. He made a great play for Brouwer.”
Hossa is appearing in the finals for the third straight year with his third different team. He’s 0-for-2 in previous trips with Pittsburgh and Detroit. “Having been in this type of game, you keep your composure and try to be yourself and play the game you always play,” he said. “You have to be patient and take advantage of the chances you get.”
–So much for the hot goalie theory. Flyers starter Michael Leighton was pulled after Brouwer’s second goal of the night gave the Hawks a 5-4 lead at 15:18 of the second period. Leighton, a former Hawk, had been stellar since replacing injured Brian Boucher in the Eastern Conference semifinals, but he’s the quintessential journeyman: He’s been with eight organizations in nine years as a professional. Asking a journeyman goaltender to win the Stanley Cup is like asking Mike Morgan or Ron Villone (12 teams apiece) to anchor a World Series pitching staff.
“We were a little loose in front of the net, and we left too many point-blank opportunities,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said, partially absolving Leighton.
Hawks goalie Antti Niemi has had better nights, obviously, but he was strong in the third period and he made big stops when he had to. His denial of a wide-open Richards from the high slot with just over two minutes left was the Flyers’ last good chance.
– The anticipated duel between heavyweight Hawks forward Byfuglien and heavyweight Flyers defender Chris Pronger didn’t materialize. They had a couple of turf skirmishes in front of the Flyers’ goal, but nothing that required the officials’ intervention. Byfuglien was minus-3 for the evening after leading the Hawks with eight goals through the first three rounds of the playoffs. Pronger had two assists for the Flyers.
–The Flyers, in a total repudiation of their Broad Street Bullies past, were not assessed a single penalty. The Hawks had four minors. The Flyers scored a power-play goal on one of them, but the Hawks offset it with Bolland’s short-handed goal.
–The final word, from Quenneville: “Shootout at the OK Corral. A lot of action. I don’t think anybody envisioned a 5-5 tie heading into the third period, but I thought we improved as the game went on.”