Notes from Lord Stanley

After a thrilling six-game series, the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup by overpowering their undermatched opponents, the Philadelphia Flyers.

Game 1 was marked by two teams caught up in the moment.  Both teams came out jittery and nervous, a tad overwhelmed with the realization that, "Hey, we're in the Stanley Cup Finals.  We better play good."  That nervousness contributed to poor goalie play and too many over-aggressive plays by defensemen, which led to eleven goals scored between the two teams.  In a game like that, no team has a definite advantage, and it just turned out that Blackhawks came out on top.  (Chicago 6 - Philadelphia 5 : Chicago leads 1-0)

Game 2 was much tighter defensively from both squads with only three total goals scored as opposed to eleven.  Marian Hossa scored a goal in this game.  He must feel good finally breaking through after ending up on the losing side of the last two Stanley Cup Finals.  The other goal scorer in this game for Chicago was Ben Eager, a player much more known for his defensive intensity than his offensive ability.  So when he ripped a wicked wrister from the right wing late in the second period, it caught Philadelphia goalie Michael Leighton by surprise and tickled twine at the back of the net.  (Chicago 2 - Philadelphia 1 : Chicago leads 2-0)

After Games 1 and 2 in Chicago, the series shifted to Philadelphia where the Flyers felt the energy of their home crowd and brought a much greater effort.  Philadelphia was the more aggressive team in both of these games, which suited their style of play better and that would show up on the scoreboard.  (Philadelphia 4 - Chicago 3 in OT : Chicago leads 2-1)  (Philadelphia 5 - Chicago 3 : Series tied at 2)

After getting roughed up on the road, the Blackhawks took it right to the Flyers when the series moved back to Chicago for Game 5.  The extremely deep Blackhawks flexed their muscles offensively and defensively.  Not only did the Blackhawks score seven goals, but they put Chris Pronger on his ass a few times, returning the favor that had been done unto them the last two games. That sends a message, a message that we're one game away from tasting sweet victory.  (Chicago 7 - Philadelphia 4 : Chicago leads 3-2)

With the fat lady's vocal chords all primed and ready to go, Chicago ended it when they had the chance in Game 6, not wanting to drag the series out to a seventh game.  This is the game where Chicago's depth really showed its worth because as the sixth game of a grueling series ground closer and closer to the finish, it was the Blackhawks' legs who appeared fresher.  Chicago had the advantage of having three lines (Jonathan Toews' line, Patrick Sharp's line, and Dave Bolland's line) all able to come in and play at a high level on both ends of the ice.  For Philadelphia, they seemed to be more tired in this game with a rotation heavily favoring only two lines, Mike Richards' and Daniel Briere's.

Another thing the Blackhawks showed in this game was resiliency.  Chicago led 3-2 after Alan Ladd's goal at 17:43 gone in the second period, and after that was very content sitting back in a defensive shell and playing the trap game.  That changed when Scott Hartnell scored the game-tying goal with 3:59 left in regulation.  Now Chicago could have felt sorry for themselves for not being able to protect a lead and just given up looking forward to a Game 7 in Chicago, but they were resilient instead.  They got back into their offensive mindset and went out and grabbed that Cup by Patrick Kane scoring the winning goal with just 4:06 gone in overtime.  (Chicago 4 - Philadelphia 3 in OT : Chicago wins 4-2)

Kane's cup-winning goal brings me to another point, this more indicative of the entire series though.  It may be cliche to say--though cliches are there for a reason as there is some truth to them--you need your big players to play big in big games.  Every game in the Stanley Cup Finals is a big game, and Kane and Toews had a better series overall than Richards and Simon Gagne, which directly leads to the Chicago win.  The entire NHL season ended with a goal coming of Kane's stick, and Toews continued to play well en route to winning the Conn Smythe Trophy for Playoffs MVP.  Kane and Toews combined for nine points in the Stanley Cup Finals while Richards and Gagne combined for only four.

-- from Eric