Blackhawks rebound to take 3-2 lead over Flyers
Big Buff got bumped from a struggling top line and responded with a performance that has lifted the Chicago Blackhawks to within one win of the Stanley Cup.
Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals and had a pair of assists as Chicago got off to a quick start and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 on Sunday night for a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.
The 257-pound Byfuglien, who had eight goals in the first three rounds of the playoffs but none in the first four games against a tough Flyers defense, had a power-play goal in the second period and added an empty netter in the closing seconds.
"Getting down there two games in their building, we had to come back with some fire and get on them and show them we weren't going to quit. Right from the get-go we moved our feet and were physical," Byfuglien said.
Byfuglien's top line that had included Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews was split up for Game 5, a strategy that worked for coach Joel Quenneville. They had combined for just one goal and four assists in the first four meetings with Philly. Kane also had a goal and an assist, and Toews added an assist Sunday.
Brent Seabrook added a power-play goal, and Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks.
Chicago can capture the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961 with a victory Wednesday night in Philadelphia in Game 6. A Flyers win would send the series back to Chicago for a decisive Game 7 on Friday night.
"We're not going to think about that now. We have to keep levelheaded and go into that building with the same mindset and have fun," Versteeg said of Wednesday's chance to wrap it up.
All five wins in the series have come on home ice.
Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen, James van Riemsdyk and Simon Gagne scored for the Flyers. Gagne's goal with 2:36 left made it 6-4, but a half-minute later Byfuglien converted the empty-netter.
"We got outworked pretty good," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.
The Blackhawks blitzed goalie Michael Leighton with three goals in the final 7:43 of the first period, and the United Center erupted as Chicago quickly found the offensive game that had helped it make the finals.
Leighton was pulled - for the second time in the series in favor of Brian Boucher - after giving up three goals on 13 shots in the first period.
"We weren't very good in the first period," Laviolette said, adding he didn't know who would start in goal for Game 6.
Trailing 3-0, the Flyers wasted little time in getting one of the goals back as Ville Leino took the puck to side of the net and tried to stuff it in. But after hitting goalie Antti Niemi, the puck sat just off the line before Hartnell came in and knocked it home just 32 seconds into the period.
Kane, who had been with Byfuglien on a struggling Blackhawks first line that Quenneville split up, got his second goal of the finals on a nice pass from Andrew Ladd. Ladd had his shot blocked by Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, recovered the puck and passed it to Kane, who streaked to the net uncovered to beat Boucher for a 4-1 lead.
Pronger finished with a miserable minus-5 rating in Game 5.
As they have done throughout the series, the gritty Flyers responded quickly to a Chicago goal with one of their own. Timonen converted from the left circle after Niemi had gone down making a save seconds earlier, and it was 4-2.
With Flyers defensive star Pronger in the penalty box for hooking, the 257-pound Byfuglien who likes the space in front of the net, finally got his first goal of the series after a pass from captain Jonathan Toews, making it 5-2.
Before the goal, Niemi made a great pad save on a point-blank attempt by Mike Richards during a Flyers power play, keeping it a two-goal game.
Van Riemsdyk scored on a rebound in the final period to cut Chicago's lead to two and Niemi made another nice stop on Richards with about five minutes left.
Kane then skated down the left side and made a crisp feed to Sharp. That gave the Blackhawks a four-goal lead with just under four minutes left.
Aggressive from the outset, shooting from all angles, getting the puck through the neutral zone and able to keep their own end clear, the Blackhawks were in control early after two losses in Philadelphia that appeared to swing the momentum in the Flyers' favor.
On a power play, Seabrook took a nice pass from Versteeg, who had skated behind the net, lined it up from the left circle and beat Leighton for a 1-0 lead. The Blackhawks had entered the game just 1 for 9 on the power play in the series.
With a delayed penalty about to be called on the Flyers, Bolland gathered the puck as it bounced off the boards behind the net and then shoveled it in off Leighton's skate for a two-goal advantage.
About two minutes later, Versteeg took a pass at center ice, skated high between the circles and rifled the puck past Leighton for a 3-0 lead.
Leighton withstood a furious early attack with a great stop on Patrick Sharp, as Chicago had a quick 6-1 shots advantage, but the Blackhawks kept coming. Chicago finished the period with a 13-7 edge.
Quenneville shuffled the lines - with Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky joining Toews to start the game. Kane skated with Ladd and Sharp, and Byfuglien was teamed with Versteeg and Bolland.
NOTES: In the 20 previous Stanley Cup finals series tied 2-2, the club winning Game 5 has won the Stanley Cup 14 times. Last year, the Pittsburgh Penguins were one of the six teams to overcome a loss in Game 5 after the series had been knotted at 2-2. ... Among the 22,305 in attendance was Michael Jordan, wearing a Toews jersey and waving a souvenir towel. ... Pronger, the Flyers' workhorse throughout the playoffs, logged 28 minutes, 37 seconds of ice time. ... Flyers RW Danny Briere got a cut near his eye from an errant stick in the final period.
Pronger loses his edge, and Flyers D goes soft
Chris Pronger and Philadelphia's stiff defense suddenly went soft, and the Flyers are facing elimination.
After pushing Dustin Byfuglien and the Chicago Blackhawks around for the better part of the Stanley Cup finals, Pronger and his blueline mates ran out of steam in the 7-4 loss on Sunday night.
Pronger, Matt Carle, Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen were so good in front of goalie Michael Leighton while the Flyers won Games 3 and 4 and stormed back in this series. With the United Center crowd going eardrum-cracking crazy, however, the Blackhawks came out with a bundle of energy and scored three times in a six-minute span late in the first period.
The Flyers never recovered.
Frustrated for the better part of the first four games, the 257-pound Byfuglien - moved to a different line as part of a major shuffle by coach Joel Quenneville - finally scored and got some revenge on the pesky 6-foot-6 Pronger.
The NHL postseason leader in defenseman scoring with four goals and 13 assists entering this game, Pronger has been squarely in the discussion for the Conn Smythe Award as the MVP of the playoffs if the Flyers can win their first Cup since 1975. He had a plus-7 rating over the first four games, and he averaged more than 29 minutes of ice time per game.
After playing only six of his previous 21 postseason games in the red, though, Pronger was on the ice for six of Chicago's goals. His penalty led to the other one.
Pronger spoke before the series started about making Byfuglien work in front of the net and not simply letting his linebacker-like body camp in front of the crease as Pronger insinuated previous Blackhawks opponents let happen.
Well, Byfuglien was as active as he's been in two weeks, even finding an opportunity to knock Pronger off his feet and onto the ice with a lowered shoulder near the corner midway through the second period.
The hit song "How You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy got a little airplay at the arena a few seconds later.
Then with 4:42 left in the second period, Pronger was called for hooking on Patrick Kane. Booed all night by the red-clad crowd, Pronger drew more jeers when he was shown on the video board sitting in the penalty box with a gap-toothed grimace.
Just 27 seconds later, Byfuglien got his first goal of the series.
Parked by the crease without Pronger to push him out, Byfuglien caught a break when Coburn slipped and couldn't stop the pass from Jonathan Toews. Byfuglien tapped in the puck for a 5-2 lead, his face wearing a look of relief when shown on screen.
Then came the ultimate insult, with 2:05 left and an empty Flyers net. Byfuglien flipped a puck past Pronger that had enough on it to wiggle down the ice and into the goal.
Pronger was a big - literally - reason why Chicago's top line of Toews, Kane and Byfuglien were so unproductive in the first four games. By splitting them apart, Quenneville made it impossible for Pronger to follow them all around.
Maybe it was the home-ice advantage, complete with Michael Jordan wearing a Toews jersey in the seats, or maybe it was just an off night, but the Flyers didn't have the same spark that they showed even in losing Games 1 and 2 here.
They looked frustrated, even taking the retaliatory penalties they smartly avoided in most of the first part of the series.
Leighton was pulled after the first period, the second time coach Peter Laviolette made an in-game goalie change in this series.
The home team was sloppy in the middle of the game, but the Hawks had too big of a lead and too much momentum on their side for the Flyers to take advantage of it.
Leighton sure wasn't at his best, but Chicago's first goal - by defenseman Brent Seabrook - glanced off Pronger's skate when he tried to close his legs and block the shot. It slipped between Leighton's blocker and the side of the net.
Later, after Scott Hartnell scored to give the Flyers their first goal early in the second period, Kane answered for the Blackhawks to stretch the lead to 4-1.
Pronger couldn't block Andrew Ladd's pass, and neither Carle nor center Danny Briere tracked Kane who got loose and sent an across-the-slot pass from Ladd into the net past Leighton's sub Brian Boucher.