Leighton, Niemi Seizing the Day in the NHL Playoffs

Frank Doyle looks at the state of play in the NHL after the first two games in both Conference Championship games.

All the talk before the Eastern Conference Finals was about a goalie. Turns out we were talking about the wrong one.

Jaroslav Halak was the man everybody was talking about after Montreal’s sensational win over Pittsburgh in the Conference semi-finals. But Halak has had an unadulterated nightmare against the Flyers while his opposite number, Michael Leighton, has been outstanding.

All the more so when you consider that Michael Leighton has been a journeyman pro all his life. But the day is now here for Leighton and he’s seized it with both hands, like a hockey playing Roy Hobbs.

Montreal’s job, then, is to break Leighton’s heart. It hasn’t happened for the Habs so far – the Montreal players are being philosophical about it, accepting that goalies can get hot like Leighton has got hot and accepting that although they’re losing they’re not playing badly and the goals will come. But at the back of their minds, they know they’re 0-2 down and the time left for things to click into place is running out. No pressure, then.

At least Montreal is in a 0-2 hole on the road. The Sharks have lost two straight to Chicago on their own home ice and the NHL betting currently shows the Blackhawks as more or less unbackable favorites for the series as they prepare to return to the United Center for Game 3.

Chicago’s Antti Niemi is the Blackhawks’ equivalent of Michael Leighton. A guy people couldn’t point out on the street at Christmas who is now playing like a MVP. And while the Canadiens are showing patience and resilience – because nobody even expected them to have got past the first round, after all – the Sharks are like men with a cloud of doom following them around, a team that is becoming known for failing to deliver on potential.

We are only two games in to the series after all. Chicago has been far from dominant on home ice so far, and Montreal can’t be ruled out against Philadelphia if the Habs were able to take down Washington and Pittsburgh.

But as of now, the NHL odds say that Chicago is the team to beat. Could the Stanley Cup return to Chicago for the first time in thirty-nine years? The last time the Stanley Cup was in Chicago, the Yankees won the World Series, Alabama ruled college football and the Boston Celtics won the NBA title. Sound familiar?

XXII: Gabriel Morency breaks down the Conference Finals

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