After a long long wait, the city of Chicago Finally has another Stanley Cup to add to the mantel at the United Center after the teams 4-3 overtime victory last night in Game 6. The Hawks got on the board first at the 16:49 mark as Dustin Byfuglien connected for a power play goal. However before the 1st period was up the Flyers answered at 19:33 with a power play goal of their own thanks to Scott Hartnell. So we stood 1-1 at the end of 1. In that 1st frame, the Hawks out shot the Flyers 17-7 which was pretty indicative of the way play went in the 1st, as it was throughout most of the contest.
To the 2nd period we go and it took only 8 minutes for somebody to strike. And it turned out to be Danny Briere giving the Flyers a 2-1 advantage. The Hawks answered back less than 2 minutes later when Patrick Sharp pick up the tying goal on a great wrist shot from just inside the line. The Hawks would retake the lead with a little over 17 minutes gone in the period thanks to a beautiful tip in by Andrew Ladd. The initial shot came in from the point from Niklas Hjalmarsson. And that strike would hold up at periods end and after 40 minutes it was 3-2 Hawks. Shots in the period again favored the Hawks 10-6 but the Flyers did start showing more fight and desperation after the Ladd goal.
The Flyers offense really woke up in the 3rd, putting a ton of pressure on Hawks goalie Antti Niemi. 3rd period shot totals ended 12-9 for the Hawks but the better quality chances when the way of the Flyers. That was no more evident than at the 16:01 mark when Scott Hartnell scored his 2nd goal of the night to tie the game up at 3. It looked late like the Flyers were on the verge of victory and forcing Game 7 but Antti Niemi made another highlight reel stop on Briere in front. So the game went into overtime tied at 3.
And then 4:06 into overtime THIS HAPPENED:
Patrick Kane scored the Game Winning Goal ending the Hawks 49 year drought. In a small fit of irony the goal in the Box Score reads Patrick Kane from Brian Campbell. Why is that ironic? Kane is a native of South Buffalo and Campbell used to play in Buffalo for the Sabres. At the end of the night Antti Niemi turned away 21 of 24 Flyers Shots while his counterpart Michael Leighton stopped 37 of 41 shots.
The Conn Smyth trophy, which is awarded to the Playoff MVP every year, went to Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews who finished the playoffs with 7 Goals, 22 Assists (which lead all playoff scorers in that catagory) and 29 points, one point behind the Flyers Danny Breiere who finished with 30 points. Dustin Byfugelin also had a huge impact on getting the Hawks into the Finals with something like 5 Game Winners in the Playoffs. Antti Niemi was very solid in net going 16-6 throughout they playoffs with a 2.63 GAA and a .910 SV %. As for the Flyers, they too had solid play from their 3 best players in this 2010 playoffs, Danny Breiere, Michael Leighton, and Chris Pronger. Pronger averaged around 29:00 a game in these playoffs, while Danny Breiere led all skaters in scoring with 30 points on 12 Goals and 18 Assists. The story for the Flyers was the play of Michael Leighton who in 13 Games went 8-3 with a 2.46 GAA and a .913 SV %. Leighton was given a chance in the 2nd round against Boston when Brian Boucher got hurt. Boucher went 6-6 in these playoffs. putting up decent numbers.
Besides the Hawks breaking their own team drought and the curse of Marion Hossa, there are a few other great stories to come out of the playoffs, teh 2 biggest coming from the east. One is the fact that the Flyers in the 2nd round coming back from down 0-3 to beat Boston in 7. Also the story of the other Eastern Conferance Finalist, the Montreal Canadians. They, as an 8 seed, came back from down 3-1 to beat #1 Washington in 7, a feet that had NEVER before been done in teh playoffs. And if beating the Caps wasn't good enough for the Habs, they played another 7 game series in the following round against Sidney Crosby and Company in Pittsburgh. once again the Habs prevailed before falling to the Flyers in the Conferance Finals in 6. Be sure to check in with the blog in teh coming weeks for a NHL Season reacp, the NHL awards and Free Agency news.
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