3 Game Series...

I came in late, after the Flyers had already taken a 3-1 lead, and I figured that this one was over.

The Hawks made a late run in the third, scoring on a 5-on-3 power play, then scoring again on one that a Flyers' player held on to, sort of lost track of it, then it dribbled in without really being touched by a Hawks player. But the Flyers had already stretched the lead to 4-1, and when the Hawks pulled Niemi, Duncan Keith lost a puck at center ice and a Flyers' player took it in for a goal.

The Hawks look slow compared to the Flyers. They look unagressive, confused, and overmatched. The Flyers, on the other hand, are on every pass, every possession, skating toward the puck aggressively and staying in the passing lanes, challenging every Hawks possession. They are physical, and while the penalty disparity shows that the refs are either looking the other way, or the Flyers are simply good at picking their times to get dirty, the Hawks are not a bunch of blameless Boy Scouts when it comes to taking dirty shots. They just aren't as good at it.

It would seem to me, the uneducated Johnny-come-lately Black Hawks fan, that they have to get back to doing what they do best. They have to challenge every Flyers possession in the manner that the Flyers are challenging them. They have to be faster, and they have to be better on defense. Niemi is stopping a lot of shots, but the law of averages is coming into play.

Game 5 is now a must-win for the Hawks.

*****c