Stanley Cup 2010: Who's Hot, Who's Not After Two Games of the Finals

After a goal-scoring extravaganza in Game One, Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals was much more of a defensive battle.

Despite the Philadelphia Flyers coming on strong, particularly during the third period, the Chicago Blackhawks skated away with a 2-1 victory, improving their home record to 7-3 these playoffs and holding serve on their home ice advantage.

As the series prepares to shift to Philadelphia on Wednesday, let’s take a look at who has been standing out in the first two games and who needs to do a little bit more to get noticed and help lead their team to victory.

Hot

Marian Hossa: In Game One, Hossa had two assists. On Monday night, he continued to chip in with an assist on Ben Eager’s second period goal.

That assist came just 28 seconds after Hossa scored a goal of his own. He finished off Game Two with three points and now has five points in the Blackhawks' two wins.  

Antti Niemi: After making just 27 saves on 32 shots on Saturday, Niemi rebounded tonight with 32 saves on 33 shots. He made several huge saves throughout the game and withstood a Flyers barrage during the waning minutes of the third period.  

The NHL rookie now has 14 wins this postseason.

Troy Brouwer: Brouwer had a big night in game one with three points (2+1) and added an assist on Hossa’s goal tonight.

Michael Leighton: Although he was the losing goaltender, Leighton settled down tonight after being pulled on Saturday. He managed to stop 24 of 26 shots before he was pulled for an extra attacker in the third period.

He still leads NHL playoff goaltenders in save percentage (.930) and goals against average (1.97).

Flyers power play: Despite being down two games to none, the Flyers have been converting their power play chances; going 1-for-4 on Saturday and 1-for-3 on Monday. That means in the finals, they have roughly a 28 percent success rate on the power play.

Not

Daniel Carcillo: Carcillo made his return to the lineup tonight and continued to prove why he was scratched in the first place. He not only ran over his own teammate when he tripped up Jeff Carter; he also took an unsportsmanlike penalty conduct and left the Flyers two men down.

Mike Richards: The Flyers captain has a combined minus-3 rating in two games. Even though he had an assist on Simon Gagne’s goal tonight, it hardly made up for his four penalty minutes from earlier in the game.

Blackhawks power play: Granted, the Blackhawks did not have any opportunities to showcase their power play unit on Saturday. But tonight, they could not convert on any of their three opportunities; including a 5-on-4 in the first period when Richards and Carcillo were serving penalties for the Flyers.  

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews: Toews had a +1 rating tonight while Kane was even, but that won’t make the difference in these games.

Neither player had any points.

However, they did have a combined five shots on goal, so maybe in Game Three, some of those shots will start going in.

What Do You Think?

Is there anyone not on this list that you felt has had some strong performances in the Stanley Cup Finals so far?

Likewise, who may need to step it up a little bit as we head into a crucial Game Three?