The Philadelphia Flyers will face-off against the Chicago Blackhawks in a best of 7 series for the Stanley Cup beginning tonight in Chicago. It has been a long and wild ride for both of these teams in getting to this point.
The Philadelphia Flyers have had one crazy year. They got into the playoffs on the last day of the season, defeating the New York Rangers in a shootout. They fired their coach John Stevens midway through December and replaced him with Peter Laviolette, who has been credited for the unbelievable turnaround the team has made. Laviolette previously won a cup with the Carolina Hurricanes and coached the New York Islanders to two straight playoff appearances. After getting into the playoffs as the 7th seed, they defeated the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after falling behind 3-0 in the series, the third NHL team ever to do so.
The Chicago Blackhawks lost a crushing series to the Detroit Red Wings last season in the Western Conference Finals. But with the core of great young players like Jonathon Toews and Patrick Kane, they knew would be back. And they are back a year later after sweeping the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals.
Unlike any sport, a team in the NHL can ride the streak of one player who can put the team on his back and carry them all the way to a championship. That is exactly what the Philadelphia Flyers are doing on top of Michael Leighton. Leighton has lost only 1 game since taking over for Brian Coucher, who was injured in Game 5 of the Bruins series. He has also recorded 3 shutouts. The Flyers were heavily criticized for not going after an established goaltender at the trade deadline, but that decision has paid off tremendously now.
The Blackhawks are riding the play of Jonathon Toews who is the leading point getter in the playoffs so far this year. Antti Niemi leads all goaltenders with 16 playoff victories this year, supporting a 2.33 goals against average. The Blackhawks do have home ice in this series, however that does not have as much an impact as it normally should.
The power play chances will be key for the Flyers in this series. They do not have the firepower that the Blackhawks do, but if they can create power play opportunities they can help offset that. I give the goaltending edge to the Flyers, if Michael Leighton is not the gaolie we think he is, the Flyers would not have made it this far. He is the real deal. In the end, I believe the Blackhawks will be just a little too much for the Flyers to handle and I think they will win in 6 games.
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