PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Philadelphia Flyers scored the first two goals of Game Four of the Stanley Cup finals and never looked back winning 5-3 to even the series at 2-2. Five different Flyers scored on the way to victory sending the series back to Chicago with the Hawks looking for answers on how to change momentum back in their favor. Mike Richards scored the first goal of the game 4:35 into the game on the power play by stripping a Hawks defender of the puck and whipped a backhand shot past Antti Neimi for the 1-0 lead. Matt Carle jumped on a rebound later in the first period to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. It looked as though Chicago might have changed their fortunes scoring with 1:28 left in the period thanks to a Patrick Sharp goal but the Hawks were never able to build any momentum when with 37 seconds left in the period, but Claude Giroux was left wide open to the right of Neimi and tucked home a nice pass from the point to give the Flyers their two goal lead.
The Flyers eventually made the score 4-1 thanks to Ville Leino who set a Flyers scoring mark for rookies with a goal from the slot area 6:43 into the third period. The Hawks looked dead in the water but back-to-back penalties gave Chicago new life and scored on the 5-3 portion of the power play. The Flyers allowed a fluke goal with 4:10 remaining but Jeff Carter scored an empty net goal to put the Hawks away and officially evened the series.
Michael Leighton had a solid game in net making 31 saves on 34 shots while Neimi made 27. The Hawks did with the face-off battle winning 56 percent on the night with Jonathan Toews winning 73 percent. “ I said when we left there again it wasn’t just talking,” said Flyers Head Coach Peter Laviolette when comparing what happened in Chicago and Philadelphia so far this series. “ I thought we could have won both games. I like our game. I like what we’re doing. In saying that, they probably thought they could have won Game 3. It’s going back and forth quick both ways. Guys are really competing out there. But nothing changed for us. Our game hasn’t changed. Just the score changed. ”
And so has the series. For all of the talk before the finals that Chicago was head and shoulders the better team and that the series would be won in less than five games by the Hawks, now people who have not watched the Flyers as much as Chicago are now finding out what New Jersey, Boston, and Montreal has, that this is not a Flyers team that can be taken lightly. The series shifts back to Chicago for Game 5 on Sunday and return to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Wednesday. If there is to be a Game 7 it will be back in Chicago on Friday. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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