Tonight is the opening matchup of the Stanley Cups finals that pits the Western Conference powerhouse Chicago Blackhawks against the cinderella (technically) Philadelphia Flyers. The Blackhawks attack is spear-headed by perhaps the best offensive line in the NHL that features Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien and have enjoyed exquisite goaltending from Antti Niemi who has seemingly been standing on his head for the entire playoffs. The Flyers have battle through a season marred by injury, especially to their goaltenders but resiliently bounced the No. 2 seeded New Jersey devils in the first round before their historic comeback from a 3-0 series deficit to the Boston Bruins after which the easily handled the Montreal Canadiens in 5 games to reach the finals as the 7th seeded team.
I have to admit that I am much more informed about the Flyers than the Blackhawks but as is usually the case I feel this series will come down to which goalie plays better between the pipes. Niemi has been a terrific goaltender all season and his play has only improved in the postseason highlighted by a 44 save masterpiece in game one of the Western conference finals against the top-seeded San Jose Sharks to secure a 2-1 win on the road. Anyone who watched the olympics this winter saw the havoc that Toews and Kane wrecked for Canada and the USA respectively and if anyone thinks Patrick Kane can be pushed around this article might change your mind.
The Flyers have won 8 of their last 9 games after dropping 3 in a row to the Bruins. Their success has been keyed by the return of the team's emotional and veteran leader Simon Gagne who has scored 7 times in the 9 games he's been back. The Flyers have a lot of offensive depth even if they can't matchup against Toews and Kane et. al. with snipers like Jeff Carter (also newly returned from injury) and Daniel Briere, play-makers Mike Richards, Claude Giroux and Ville Leino and top-notch defenders Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen. The backbone of the Flyer's success has been the emergence of goalie Michael Leighton. Leighton played well in net during the regular season but was limited after an injury. He was pressed into service against the Bruins after Brian Boucher suffered a knee injury and wasted no time in shutting down opposing offenses. Leighton posted 3 shutouts in 5 games against the Canadiens and leads all postseason net-minders with a save percentage of .948 and a 1.45 goals against average. As I said before the battle between Leighton and Niemi will be the one to watch all series.
The Blackhawks sports the longest current Stanley Cup drought in the NHL having not hoisted the Cup in 49 years. The Flyers haven't reached the Stanley Cup finals since the 1997 season when they were lead by Ron Hextall and Eric Lindros but were swept by a Detroit Red Wings squad that had one of the best seasons in NHL history. I'm not informed enough and perhaps too biased to make a good prediction on this series so we'll all just have to wait and see.
P.S. I can't mention Ron Hextall without showing due reverence
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