After the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals the Chicago Blackhawks hold a 2-0 series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers after notching a pair of 1-goal victories at home before the series moves to Philadelphia. The Flyers have been in this position before having surrendered a 3-0 series lead to the Boston Bruins in the second round of the playoffs before staging an historic comeback that included coming back from a 3-0 1st period deficit in game 7. While the Blackhawks hold a commanding lead in the series the games have been hotly contested ending in scores of 6-5 and 2-1 respectively. As expected both offenses have risen to the challenged as evidenced by the 11-goal, back-and-forth barrage in game one. Game 2 played much more like a finals contest with both goaltenders bringing their A-game. The Blackhawks' net-minder Annti-Niemi was able to edge out Flyers goalie Michael Leighton by stopping 32/33 shots he faced (nearly half of which were taken in a furious 3rd period by the Flyers' attack) allowing only a seeing-eye puck to bounce over his shoulder through a screen. Prior to the postseason Niemi had been considered the Blackhawks' weak-link by analysts who didn't believe they had the goaltending to win it all. Niemi is quickley proving just about everyone wrong.
For the Flyers they will need to feed off the energy of the home crowd as the series moves to Philadelphia in a pivotal game 3. Coming back from a 3-0 series deficit once is an historic acheivement and it's far too much to ask them to do it again. The Bruins were suffering from too many injuries that crippled their ability (pun very much intended) to close out the series. Chicago is an entirely different animal. After taking a surprise 2-0 lead over the top-seeded San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference finals on the road they had no trouble shutting the door and completing the 4-game sweep at home. Considering all that tonight's game 3 really is a must-win game for the Flyers, a franchise that has lost their last 6 games in the Stanley Cup Finals (not that anyone on the team had anything to do with 1997 team but still...).
In both games 1 and 2 the first period was indicative of the how the rest of the game will play out. In game 1 the 1st period saw 5 goals and the rest of the contest was no differet. Game 2 was a tough, physical battle, literally from the opening faceoff as the Flyers looked to step up their intensity after being criticized for playing two soft in the previous game. Game two remained a scoreless tie after period 1 and it was a see-saw of big hits and terrific goaltending the rest of the way. The Wachovia Center in downtown Philly will be covered in orange and absolutely rocking well before the puck drops tonight at 8 PM. The Flyers have to use that energy to jump on the Blackhawks and Niemi early to take them out of the game before they can get settled. That's a tall order given Chicago's level of talent but if Philadelphia doesn't play their best hockey tonight in every facet of the game than this series could for intents and purposes be over. Regardless this game promises to be exciting no matter what the outcome.
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