Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Play Offs

Blackhawks 6 - Flyers 5



Well this was definitely not a goal tending clinic. You had the Sieve (that's not a magnifying glass) vs Swiss Cheese. Of course both teams are not throwing the goalies under the bus and I agree, it can't all be laid on the shoulders of the goalies, but WOW! Let's look at some numbers

Antti Niemi - Niemi faced 32 shots and let 5 goals in. That's a save percentage of .843. (OUCH). Niemi did have a nice save in the 3rd period robbing Briere.

Mike Leighton -Leighton was pulled in the 2nd period after letting in 5 goals on 20 shots within 35 minutes, giving him a SV% of .750 (shudder). Mike is a big goalie, but played deep in his net giving the Hawks way too much space to shoot on. (thank you Kevin Weeks for that comment)

Bryan Boucher - This was Bryan's first night back riding the bench after injury, I'm sure he didn't expect to see ice time. He came in to mop up after Leighton and saw 12 shots, stopping all but 1. As he saw the fewest shots, he had the highest SV% with .916.

As for the rest of the teams, yeah I actually acknowledge there are more people on the ice besides the goalie, they were off, too. Chicago did a good job of winning face-offs (63%..largely due to Toews). Top lines for both teams were off. For the Hawks, the usual heroes of Toews, Kane and Byfuglien had no goals, no assists and were a -9. Not to be out done, the Flyers' Richards, Carter and Gagne had no goals, no assists an were a -7. Obviously with 11 goals scored, the secondary scoring guys stepped up. Secondary scoring is vital, but you have to have your super stars doing their jobs, too.

Big discussion question for the Flyers...who do you start with the next game, Boucher or Leighton?

Another issue to discuss, the Kopecky's game winning goal. The puck should have been whistled dead as it hit Patrick Kane on the bench, but it wasn't.


Hopefully the guys are just getting over nerves and feeling each other out and it will be an awesome Game 2!