Grindin' In The Corner with Moose

I think Dustin Byfuglien is the most hated man in Philadelphia right now. The ultimate agitator, he throws cross checks, he plows people out in front after the whistle, he likes to give our goalie snow showers or clip his leg skating by. Players like this usually don't make their contributions on the score sheet.

Not this guy.

Byfuglien was a monster on both ends of the ice Sunday night. In just 18:48, he logged two goals and two assists for a rating of +3. In the Chicago zone, he was responsible for nine hits, and two blocked shots. Hate him all you want. I do. But he is a workhorse.

When asked if Chicago came out with a sense of desparation, he had this to say:

"Getting two down in their building, we had to come back with some fire and show them that we weren't gonna quit, and right from the get go we just moved our feet and stayed physical."

"He's out there to battle and so am I." he said after being asked if there was any satisfaction in "flattening" Chris Pronger "You just try to get the best of him and be strong and that's all you have to do".

Yeah kid, that's all you gotta do, right? That statement summarizes the entire feel of this series. The Blackhawks are primarily a group of overconfident kids who feel entitled to be in the Cup finals, as where the Flyers are much more of a blue collar type of crew.

If the Flyers want to have a shot at taking these last two games, they have to get under Chicago's skin. The key to that is to generate more chances in front. Antti Niemi is pretty easy to get out of position if you start firing on him. He instantly drops to the ice and works low. It becomes easy at that point to go top shelf and rack the points up.

The other key is to just hit. Hit and hit and hit. Young teams get dissheveled when they gotta play off their asses. So make them play off their asses!

"That's all you gotta do", right Dustin?



Playing off balance is not going to help the cause any.

Leighton or Boucher?

Peter Laviolette knows.

I'm sure the goalies know.

The only people out of the loop?

Us.

The job appeared to be up for grabs after Michael Leighton was benched after the first period of game 5. He saved 10 of 13 shots. Brian Boucher's 11 of 14 didn't look a whole shitload better if you ask me, but i'm just a reporter, what do I know.

Look, this is a no brainer. Leighton's stats in these playoffs are better from front to back. Better GAA, better save percentage. The most important stat? Leighton's
8-2, and Boosh is just 6-6. We most likely won't know until faceoff who is between the pipes, but if you want to win this series, Leighton's obviously the guy.