Flyers Face Blackhawks in Stanley Cup 2010!

Frank Doyle anticipates a classic Stanley Cup Finals matchup between Philadelphia and Chicago.

The Stanley Cup Finals begin with Game 1 this Saturday night in downtown Chicago and we can only be sure of one thing: it’s going to be good.

Chicago is the -333 favorite in the NHL odds to win the Stanley Cup and end a 39 year hockey drought in the Windy City. The Blackhawks have home ice and they come from the stronger conference, the West.

Philadelphia shouldn’t even be here. The Flyers were 0-3 down against the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semi-finals and only three teams in professional sports had ever come back from that sort of adversity. And then the Flyers became the fourth, joining the ’42 Maple Leafs, the ’75 Islanders and baseball’s Boston Red Sox in 2004 in reeling off four straight wins, bounding out of the grave and ready to rock again.

Theories that the Flyers would be spent by that effort were quickly disproved when they took care of Montreal in six games to win the Eastern Conference. For a team that needed a final day win over the Rangers to even get to the playoffs, you have to wonder: have these guys been holding out on us?

The Stanley Cup Finals will reveal all. The pro-Philadelphia argument is that the Flyers are a veteran team who are able to turn it on when it’s the big time. They have a seize-the-day spirit, and that spirit is personified by journeyman goalie Michael Leighton. Leighton is one of seven goalies to put on the pads for Philadelphia this year but once he took over from Brian Boucher against Boston neither he nor the Flyers have looked back.

If the Flyers’ fairytale is to come to an end, Dustin Byfuglien is the man that Philadelphia has to worry about. The Chicago left wing has scored eight goals in the playoffs and how to stop him is one of the big questions that the Flyers have to answer. Do they match him against another big man, fighting fire with fire, or pick a smaller guy to outskate him? Getting it wrong will only cost the Stanley Cup, after all.

The NHL odds have the Blackhawks as favorites, with a 4-1 result the most likely option at 3/1. Whatever happens, the NHL playoffs of 2010 have already given us a lasting image of hockey as it should be. Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith lost seven teeth when he got hit in the mouth by the puck on Sunday, but he was back on the ice after six minutes. Now that’s hockey.

XXIII: Gabriel Morency previews the Stanley Cup Finals

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