Blackhawks Edge Flyers In Game One Of Stanley Cup Finals
By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 30, 2010 2:54AM
The entire city has been buzzing for tonight's Stanley Cup Finals opener and we got a fast-paced, thrilling game that matched the hype. And, lucky for us, the Blackhawks were on the winning end, edging the Flyers 6-5 to take a 1-0 series lead. The Flyers got on the board first but the Blackhawks responded with two goals: Troy Brouwer scored to even the game and Dave Bolland scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway. But the Flyers would complete a wild first period with two more goals and a 3-2 lead at the first intermission. Just 71 seconds into the second period, the Blackhawks tied the game with a Patrick Sharp goal. The Flyers scored again, taking the lead back 4-3. But, once more, the Blackhawks scored twice to take back the lead as Kris Versteeg scored to tie the game and Brouwer netted his second goal of the game. The Flyers swapped out their goalies and then tied the game with 1:11 left in the second, leaving the teams knotted at 5-5 after two periods. Brian Boucher did well for the Flyers after replacing Michael Leighton, stopping the first 11 shots he faced, but Tomas Kopecky scored the go-ahead goal 8:25 into the third period.
Antti Niemi had one of his shakier performances of the playoffs in goal for the Blackhawks, allowing five goals on 30 shots faced (matching his previous playoff-high in goals allowed from Game One of the Vancouver series). But he still stopped 25 shots and the Blackhawks offense was relentless in a fast and furious game that left us exhausted when the final horn sounded. If this is a sign of things to come, we're in for an all-time classic of a series. We'll see on Monday night when the puck drops for Game Two (7 p.m., TV: NBC, Radio: WGN 720 AM).