Stanley Cup Finals 2010: Philadelphia Flyers Make It a Series with OT Win

Game 3 and the series is shifted to the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.  The Hawks were going into the Orange Crush with a 2-0 series lead hoping to put a strangle hold on the Stanley Cup Final.

The Flyers have other plans and want to at least take this series back to Chicago.  Mission accomplished.

For the Flyers to get back into this, they needed to get back into their game of hard physical play and timely pinching and they did this in spades.  Having out shot the  Blackhawks 32-27, the Flyers nearly got half of those shots in the third period out shooting their opponents 15-4.

They brought more traffic and the chances were generated, but most were not cashed in .  These will be sure to be reviewed by Coach Laviolette and his team to try and make those chances count.  As far as I saw, the Flyers did outplay and out chance the Blackhawks and was deserving of the win.

A falling Scott Hartnell blind pass got to Danny Briere who was all alone to Antti Niemi's right side and he buries it to open the scoring late in the first period.  This is the start the that Flyers needed as the Blackhawks were not going to lay down and take it.

The game was tied by a shot from Duncan Keith and it goes off Jeff Carter's stick.  No chance for Michael Leighton .  

Scott Hartnell's goal was by way of a review.  The puck seemed to go off the post but the goal judge lit the lamp and sounded the horn.  Despite this, play went on, the power play expired and finally, when the whistle was blown, the zebras were gone to review it.  It counted as the review showed the puck on it's end but clearly over the line.

Chris Pronger was effective on Dustin Byfuglien as he was held pointless and a -1 in the game.  In fact, Byfuglien was held to only one assist in Game 2 and a combined -3 in this series.

Brent Sopel make a slap shot and it again deflects and goes off a player to be redirected pass Leighton.  So far, this has not been Leighton's series.

Although the Flyers' play was better, they did have moments of sloppiness.  Patrick Kane gets by the Flyer's defense and makes a breakaway goal to Leighton's right and that gave the Blackhawks the lead for the first time in the game.

The lead was short lived as Ville Leino scores off a rebound that was sending Niemi from right to left.  As he was moving to save the shot, the puck was rebounding to a charging Lieno who popped it into a wide open right side of the net.  Just 20 seconds after  Kane's goal.  If it wasn't a record for the shortest held lead, it has to be up there.

Niemi's puck control was not the best in this series.  The Blackhawk's saving grace was the combination of Niemi's stopping ability and the Blackhawk's rebound control to avoid any Flyers from getting such chances.

The Flyers brought back their pinching and fore checking game and it paid off for the home team.

The rest of regulation proved nothing and it goes to Extra Fun.  This could prove advantage Chicago as they have not lost an OT game in these playoffs (2-0).

Philadelphia played three games prior to this one and had a 2-1 record.

With just over 5 minutes into OT, the Hawks made a bad change with allowed some of the Philadelphia D to pinch in further than they would normally dare and this allowed Claude Giroux to skate right in front of Niemi and the shot was deflected off Giroux's stick and between the netminder's legs to turn this series back into a potential long one as it is now a one game lead that the Blackhawks now enjoy with the next game back in Philly.

If the Flyer's win Game 4, they will need to take this play back to Chicago if they have any hope of taking The Cup back to PA.  If they do not, and the Blackhawks bring their speed past the Flyer's D, then President Obama will give this home city NHL team their congratulations with a little more pride at the White House.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean "