Jonathan Toews has an idea for the Blackhawks in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final Monday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 p.m. ET) at the United Center: treat it as if they are down 1-0 in the series instead of ahead 1-0.
The Hawks weren't happy with their performance in Game 1, when they had to rally from behind on three occasions to beat the Flyers 6-5.
"The nerves and excitement are behind us now and we can just go play hockey the way we know we can play," Toews said Sunday. "We can kind of pretend we're down a game. We're very unsatisfied with the way we started the series regardless of us being up 1-0. To us that doesn't matter."
The Hawks should have been feeling pretty good on Sunday after winning in spite of themselves, and with their top line of Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien a combined minus-9 in their worst game of the playoffs.
"That line has been red-hot for us throughout most of the playoffs," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "They had a quiet night, but at the same time that's usually what can happen in the playoffs. The top line sometimes gets a lot of attention, and sometimes the other guys jump forward."
Toews promised his line would be better in Game 2.
"This is the big show and we want to play our best hockey every shift," Toews said. "We'll play better. It's as simple as that."
The Flyers liked the matchup of Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino against Toews, Kane and Byfuglien, but probably a bigger factor was defenceman Chris Pronger out against the Toews line all night.
"I think we just did a good job of denying them time and space," Pronger said. "If they don't have the puck, they can't make plays. And for a lot of their shifts we played in their end, forced them to play defence and really tried to deny the puck to both Kane and Toews. The times they did get it, we closed on them quickly and forced them to dump the puck."
Quick on the draw
It was all Blackhawks when it came to faceoffs in Game 1. The Hawks won 63 per cent of the 64 draws with Jonathan Toews going 18-6.
"Just work ethic, I guess," Toews said. "We were prepared going into those faceoff dots and really wanted tow in them."
Flyers centre Blair Betts said his team wasn't "faceoff-ready" for the game.
"The centremen didn't do a very good job on winning the first battle there and we just didn't look sharp," Betts said. "That was a good indication of how we weren't ready to play."
Toews won 5-of-6 faceoffs from Briere.
"I had a tough start against him, I think my first four faceoffs," Briere said. "And then after that we were able to settle down, and I think as a team we did better in the second and third period.
"But definitely, in the first period, I don't know, I haven't had the chance to pay much attention. We knew coming in that he was a good faceoff guy. But in the morning that's something I was planning on doing, taking time to kind of go over all the faceoffs that were taken [Saturday] night."
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said his team's 38 per cent winning percentage on faceoffs wasn't good enough.
"Faceoffs, a lot of times, not only do they give you possession of the puck, that's the obvious; but they also kind of give you the state of the team and where they're at. Hockey is a very competitive game, and it's about 1-on-1 battles and winning those 1-on-1 battles. Most originate in the faceoff circle. To me, we have to compete a little bit better."
The Bolland factor
It seems the Hawks can't play a playoff game without centre Dave Bolland playing a key role.
Thanks to the checking line of Bolland, Kris Versteeg and Tomas Kopecky, it was a quiet night in Game 1 for Philadelphia's top line of Mike Richards, Jeff Carter ands Simon Gagne.
They had no points and were a combined minus-7 while Bolland, Versteeg and Kopecky each scored a goal and had an assist.
"He's a good player," Richards said of Bolland. "I'll give him that. I played against him in junior and he's a very smart, intelligent hockey player. I thought we had good looks [Saturday] night. We just didn't score, and did everything but.
"So I think persistence is something we need to have as a line and not get discouraged by one or two bad bounces and just keep trying."
Ladd update
Andrew Ladd remains questionable for Game 2 after sitting out the series opener with an upper body injury.
"Laddie will continue [to be] day-to-day, but we expect him to be playing," Quenneville said Sunday. "We'll address that [Monday]."
Bad ice
The Hawks and Flyers thought the ice at the United Center for Game 1 wasn't very good. Pucks were bouncing and passes were difficult to make.
"The first 10 minutes of the period it's fine, but maybe near the last 10 it heats up a bit," Versteeg said. "There's nothing they can do about it. They're not going to change the temperature or anything like that. They're not going to tell the people to stop screaming and opening doors.
"They do the best they can to make the ice the best they can. Obviously, sometimes it's a bit rough out there, but you just have to play through it and not worry about it."
