Flyers lose Game 1 shootout
Blackhawks 6, Flyers 5
Flyers lose Game 1 shootout
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
CHICAGO -- "Wild" does not begin to describe the evening. "Wide-open" does not do the action justice. As someone ducking his head into the press box said last night, "Yeah, we all knew we were at the Stanley Cup Final -- but little did we know that it was the 1987 Stanley Cup Final."
But it was like that. It was every bit of that. And because the Blackhawks got the last goal -- by Tomas Kopecky, in the third period -- the Flyers' springtime of resilience will now be tested again. The final score was Blackhawks 6, Flyers 5. And it really was that wild.
Eleven goals -- and none of them were scored by the first-line players on either team, who canceled each other out and left the circus to everyone else.
Where to begin? The Flyers led by 3-2 after the first period, and that was the most goals scored in the opening period of a Stanley Cup Final in 28 years. The Flyers dominated in many ways, outshooting the Blackhawks by 17-9, but the Blackhawks can be devastating on the rush. They weren't able to sustain a lot of offensive possession time, but they made their chances count.
"I think everybody was a little bit nervous, fighting the puck," Danny Briere said. "With the atmosphere in the building it is not easy to control but it's good to have that lead."
To run through a description of all of the goals would be to re-write "War and Peace." Suffice it to say that neither goaltender was all that great, or all that well-supported. Both Antti Niemi of the Blackhawks and Michael Leighton of the Flyers gave them up in about every way you can give them up -- and, when the Blackhawks made it 5-4 at 15:18 of the second period on a shot by Troy Brouwer over Leighton's glove, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette had seen enough. Out came Leighton and in came Brian Boucher -- who hadn't played or dressed since spraining both knees in a crease pileup in Game 5 against Boston, on May 10th.
"You know sometimes you just feel bad," Gagne said, in an interview after the second period. "It's not Michael's fault. It's maybe our fault. We kind of left him by himself a couple times on a lot of those goals, so you feel bad for him and we're going to try to go back in and win the game for him."
Here is how the procession of Flyers goal-scorers went to that pont: Ville Leino, Scott Hartnell, Briere and Blair Betts, of all people. Hartnell had a great, active first period. Defenseman Chris Pronger had two assists in the first period and played an enormous 11 minutes, 45 seconds. But it was back and forth and then it was forth and back and it was 5-4 in favor of the Blackhawks when Boucher came in. Then, about 3 1/2 minutes later, it was 5-5 when Arron Asham scored his fourth goal of the playoffs (Briere and Hartnell each getting their second assists of the night).
And that's where it stood, going to the third period. And now, first and foremost, Laviolette will be asked questions about his goaltender for Game 2.
Don't panic, just play better in front of your goalie. Also, start pounding 'em!— jojo57- Nice of Boucher to come in and give up the game winner. Thanks buddy!— jibberjabber
- exhausting, but fun game to watch, hope for better results— zonaindie2
- Despite horrible officiating trying to keep the Flyers in the game & sloppy play by the Hawks in general they still win game 1. Got to be a big boost for the Hawks knowing such a poor effort & they STILL are up 1-0 Look for a much tighter played game next time & yet another HAWKS WIN!— HawksWin
- Gagne was flat out awful tonight on the defensive end and not much better on the offense. Funny hearing the Hawk fans chanting "Leighton" when the score was tied at 4. Tough loss after having a 4-0 advantage in powerplays.— nate
Tired? At the very most, there are 6 games left in the season. They have all summer to recover. Roll the best 4 you have on the blueline, and rest in July. I'm more worried that Lavvy went and potentially touched off a goalie controversy. The way Leighton got hung out to dry makes me think both he and the team defense can improve. But it also makes me think that the Flyers have not played this kind of offensive team in a LONG time...— Doctor D- Leighton has responded well from bad outings this season and he better do the same this time. The Flyers let that one get away. Dustin who? Jeff Carter needs to show up for game 2 (Even if he does, he will be traded on draft day, book it!).— forphillyfromla
- n62 - Good point. It's still just a one-game meltdown. Leighton got them this far and I'd guess he'll get the start for game two, not to mention the fact that Boucher is probably not at 100%. I should tell you that I was rooting for the Hawks, but fair is fair - that was a great game between two evenly-matched teams. I can't imagine game two will be that close, although don't ask me to predict which team will win.— Lorne
- Wow, what a game. Rich had it right, that was Gretzky era hockey. Don't know what happened to te D but they proved they can skate with the Western Conference. Now they have to figure out how to slow the game down. Don't play their game, make them play the Flyers' game.— phillyjeffsr
- It's pretty simple: (1) you don't win when giving up a shortie, (2) the Flyers crashed hard to the net the first half of the game and swapped places with the Hawks in that regard during the 2nd half, (3) way too many odd man rushes, and (4) Leighton is human after all. Despite all that, they only lose by one. All things considered, Flyers should feel about as good as you can while being down one. This series is going to be competitive...and entertaining.
Comment removed.- We'll see Syd, the Hawks play better on the road so you need to steal one here. Both teams will tighten it up on Monday!— ChiTownBullet
- Maybe Boosh can complete the job he started in 2000? Lightning in a bottle?— lukebonbon
- We haven't won a friggin game in the Finals since Game 6 in '87 while Genesis was playing next door at the Vet. Maybe Phil Collins should sing the National Anthem on Wednesday— Flyers1975
- Hey, Chicago's goalie was nothing to talk about. The Flyers can beat this team. Tighten up the D and they'll be fine.— mike l
