The Philadelphia Flyers hopes to tighten its hold on the National Hockey League (NHL) leadership in the Eastern Conference when they play host to the Boston Bruins on Sunday evening.The home-team Philadelphia Flyers (45-19-10) are the odds on favorite to win over the Boston Bruins (41-23-10) due to their superior record in the current NHL season. Read more
The Chicago Blackhawks look to go perfect at home to start their series with the Philadelphia Flyers after a back-and-forth Game 1 victory.
Game 1 was exciting with multiple lead changes before the Blackhawks were able to settle things down a bit in the third period and secure a 6-5 victory. Both teams will be looking to play more responsibly on the defensive end of the ice and will be expecting better goaltending after both sides let in some bad goals.
The Chicago Blackhawks‘ secondary scoring really revealed itself on a night where their top line wasn’t getting much done.
Their second and third lines each had three goals with Troy Brouwer leading the team with two of them.
The top line was held pointless and didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities despite Jonathan Toews owning the faceoff circle by winning 75 percent of his 24 draws.
Antti Niemi let in a number of bad goals in Game 1. So far in the playoffs, Niemi has bounced back after bad games with excellent ones and the Hawks are certainly hoping that he’s able to repeat that pattern.
The only injury of note for the Hawks is Andrew Ladd who will miss the game due to a shoulder injury.
One of the big reasons that Chicago’s top line failed to find the back of the net was the play of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger. Pronger was a force in front of the net keeping Byfuglien in check and the crease clear in 32:21 minutes of ice-time. The 6-foot-6 defenseman equaled the total number of shots for Chicago’s top line with five.
Philadelphia’s goal-scoring mirrored Chicago’s in many ways with the top line getting blanked while the scoring-depth came through.
The Flyers’ second line that’s been hot and cold all playoffs was hot again with three goals while the third and fourth lines added a goal apiece.
Discipline was a major story of Game 1 as the Flyers didn’t take a single penalty which kept Chicago’s lethal power play on the bench.
Michael Leighton got the hook in net after allowing the first five goals. Brian Boucher, the Flyers’ goaltending hero from the first two rounds picked up where he left off before his injury stopping 11 of 12. However, Philly will start Leighton again in Game 2 electing to give the player that was so brilliant against Boston and Montreal one more chance.
The top ten plays of the week from a week that saw the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers advance to the Stanley Cup finals by eliminating the San Jose Sharks and the Montreal Canadiens.
