Wacky? Wild? Game 1 was both

CHICAGO -- A Rembrandt or Van Gogh? Hardly. More like Doodle Art.

But on a night when their top line was a combined minus-9 with just two shots on goal, and they gave up five goals, the Chicago Blackhawks will take their first win in a Stanley Cup finals game since 1973 and be happy.

Very happy.

"A lot of action, a shootout at the O.K. Corral," Chicago's Joel Quenneville said after his squad produced a 6-5 victory over Philadelphia in what was his first Stanley Cup finals game as a head coach.

Wacky? You bet.

The Flyers led 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3, didn't take a penalty and still lost.

In fact, without being too harsh, if starting netminder Michael Leighton had come up with even one big save, the Flyers might be heading into Game 2 on Monday with a 1-0 series lead. But he didn't and was given the hook by Flyers coach Peter Laviolette with 4:42 left in the second period after Troy Brouwer scored his second of the game to give the Blackhawks a 5-4 lead.

Even then, this pond-hockey exhibition could have gone either way.

Arron Asham scored with 1:11 left in the second to tie the score at 5, and the Flyers nearly scored again before the second frame ended.

"I came out after the second period and we were starting in the third and I looked up and it's 5-5 and I was like, 'Holy crap, what is going on,'" said Chicago forward Kris Versteeg, who scored midway through the second period to make it 4-4. "It was obviously a bit different than what we were used to and the way we want to play, but we've got to really sit down and talk about how we're going to be better next game."

As a kid, Versteeg said he's played many Stanley Cup finals games in his driveway, but even those paled in comparison to the ice rodeo the packed United Center was witness to Saturday night.

"I don't think as many goals got scored in the driveway as did tonight," Versteeg said. "But it was definitely exciting, and it wasn't the way we wanted to play, though, in the end. I think the third period was the way we wanted to play, and we came out and played strong, but we've got to be a lot better next game."

John Madden won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003. In the finals against Anaheim -- one of the worst Cup finals series of all time -- it would have taken a week for those teams to combine for 11 goals. The goal production in Game 1 was the most in a Cup finals game since Game 4 of the 1992 finals, which coincidentally marked the last finals appearance by the Blackhawks............... read more