Flyers at Blackhawks, 5/31/10

Philly and Chicago square off in the Windy City for Game 2 of the Cup Finals.

Philadelphia Flyers at Chicago Blackhawks, 5/31/10

The Chicago Blackhawks, fresh off a 6-5 shootout win over over the Philadelphia Flyers  will look to take a 2-0 series lead in this the second game of the Stanley Cup finals. Both teams were coming in well rested after their Conference final victories and it showed as the teams combined for 11 goals in the series opener, the most of any two teams in this year's playoffs. Game 2 should be a slugfest as both goalies will look to bounce back from subpar performances, and Philly will do their best to earn a split, while the Blackhawks will aim to continue their win streak to 8 straight playoff contests and take a 2-0 lead going back to Philadelphia.

The Flyers looked poised to steal game 1 on a number of occassions as they took 3 separate leads in the game but in the end the Hawks were too powerful and the battle of garbage goals favoured the Blackhawks as they inevitably won the game 6-5. Michael Leighton was pulled in favour of Brian Boucher who allowed the game winner in the 3rd period. Leighton will get the start tonight but will undoubtedly be on a short leash. Overshadowed by Leighton's subpar performance was the play of Anttii Niemi who had a terrible game matching his wrost performance of the 2010 playoffs allowing 5 goals. Niemi will have a longer string on him than Leighton as the Flyers have a proven backup whereas Cristobal Huet hasn't seen any action since the end of the regular season.

Game 2's are always crucial games and both teams will be on the look to win this one. I said the Flyers would steal game 1 but they didn't have enough gas in the tank to ouotlast the Blackhawks. For me, this game is going to go one of two ways. Philly will win a tight one if Leighton can play well as they don't want to go home down 2 games as the Blackhawks have been on fire on the road. However, I can see the Blackhawks exploting Leighton and getting up early which will force the Flyers into stupid penalties and the Blackhawks powerplau is too strong to ignore. For the benefit of a good series I hope the Flyers can take this one and get a split going home. I feel like Leighton will bounce back in a big way, and that the multi faceted Flyers defense can shut down the high flying Blackhawks offense. Flyers win 3-2.

Kyle's Pick: Philadelphia Flyers, UNDER 5.5 goals

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