The 2010 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2009–10 season, and the culmination of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Western Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks and the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia Flyers. It was Chicago's 11th appearance in the Finals and their first since , a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was Philadelphia's eighth appearance in the Finals and their first since , a loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Chicago defeated Philadelphia four games to two to win their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, and their first since , ending what was the longest active Stanley Cup drought at the time.
The Blackhawks became the fourth major Chicago sports team to win a championship since 1984, joining the 1985 Chicago Bears, the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, and the 2005 Chicago White Sox. The 2016 Chicago Cubs would complete the cycle of all Chicago sports teams winning at least one championship in 30 years. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2010 playoffs, and was the first Blackhawks player to receive this honor. He and teammates Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook won the Olympic gold medal with Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics, adding the three players to the list of Ken Morrow () and Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan (both ), as well as Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter (both ), as the only players to accomplish this double in the same year. Having played for Team USA at the Olympics, Patrick Kane joined Chris Chelios and Brett Hull (both 2002) as having won both the Olympic silver medal and Stanley Cup in the same year. Jonathan Toews also became the 24th player and the seventh Canadian to become a member of the Triple Gold Club having won an Olympic gold medal, an IIHF World Championship Gold Medal, and the Stanley Cup.
Paths to the Final This was the third straight Finals in which the Western Conference team was an Original Six team that won the Central Division and the Eastern Conference team was an Atlantic Division team from the state of Pennsylvania. The Red Wings and Penguins played each other in the Stanley Cup Final in and .
The Blackhawks and Flyers had previously met in the 1971 playoffs; the Blackhawks defeated the Flyers in four games.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks finished the regular season as the Central Division champions with 112 points. This was the 14th division title in franchise history for Chicago, but the first since when it was called the Norris Division. As the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the seventh seed Nashville Predators and the third seed Vancouver Canucks in six games each, and then swept the first seed San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Final to advance to the Finals for the first time since .
Chicago's Marian Hossa is the first player in NHL history to appear in three straight Stanley Cup Final with three different teams. He previously made the Final with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and with the Detroit Red Wings in 2009. Along with Hossa, the other half of Chicago's preseason acquisition from Detroit, Tomas Kopecky, was also playing in his third straight Stanley Cup Final.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs after finishing the regular season with 88 points, and winning the tiebreaker over the Montreal Canadiens, with more wins (41 to 39). The Flyers were the last team to qualify for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Their Cinderella march to the Finals began on the final day of the regular season when they met the New York Rangers in a winner-take-all match-up for the final playoff spot. Philadelphia defeated their Atlantic Division rivals 2–1 in a shootout, the first do-or-die shootout for a playoff spot in NHL history.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers upset the second seed divisional rival New Jersey Devils in five games. In the second round, against the sixth-seeded Boston Bruins, Philadelphia became the third NHL team to win a seven-game series after being down three games to none (the others being the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders). In addition, in game seven of that series, the Flyers rallied from a three goals to none deficit to win the game and series, 4–3.
In the Eastern Conference Final, the Flyers eliminated the Canadiens in five games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since . They were also the first team to reach the Finals with less than 90 points in the regular season since the Vancouver Canucks in , when they had 85. It also gave the city of Philadelphia the distinction of being the first city to have all its teams play in each of the four professional sports leagues title rounds since 2000, following the 76ers in the 2001 NBA Finals, the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX after the season, and the Phillies in back-to-back World Series in and , winning in 2008 to bring the city of Philadelphia a championship after 25 years. The Flyers attempted to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in and .
Game summaries Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the entire four rounds of the playoffs
Game one
The Chicago Blackhawks won the first game by a score of 6–5 on the strength of two goals by Troy Brouwer. Throughout the game, the two teams traded goals with neither team having a lead greater than one. The Flyers opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first period on a goal by Ville Leino that deflected off the face of Niklas Hjalmarsson. The Blackhawks responded with two quick goals, one of which was shorthanded, to take the lead. The lead would not last long, however, as the Flyers would counter with two goals of their own to re-take the lead 3–2 after the first period. Patrick Sharp scored 1:11 into the second period to tie the game once again. Both teams would trade goals once again and tie the game at five after the second period. Michael Leighton was replaced by Brian Boucher after allowing the fifth Chicago goal. In the third period, Tomas Kopecky scored what would eventually prove to be the game winner at 8:25. Antti Niemi finished the game with 27 saves on 32 shots while Leighton saved 15 out of 20 shots. Boucher stopped 11 of 12 shots faced in relief of Leighton.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st PHI Ville Leino (5) Daniel Briere (10) and Chris Pronger (11) 06:38 1–0 PHI CHI Troy Brouwer (3) Marian Hossa (10) and Brent Sopel (4) 07:46 1–1 CHI Dave Bolland (6) – sh None 11:50 2–1 CHI PHI Scott Hartnell (4) – pp Daniel Briere (11) and Chris Pronger (12) 16:37 2–2 PHI Daniel Briere (10) Ville Leino (9) and Scott Hartnell (6) 19:33 3–2 PHI 2nd CHI Patrick Sharp (8) Troy Brouwer (2) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (5) 01:11 3–3 PHI Blair Betts (1) Arron Asham (3) and Darroll Powe (1) 07:20 4–3 PHI CHI Kris Versteeg (5) Tomas Kopecky (2) and Duncan Keith (10) 09:31 4–4 CHI Troy Brouwer (4) Marian Hossa (11) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (6) 15:18 5–4 CHI PHI Arron Asham (4) Daniel Briere (12) and Scott Hartnell (7) 18:49 5–5 3rd CHI Tomas Kopecky (4) Kris Versteeg (6) and Dave Bolland (6) 08:25 6–5 CHI Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st CHI Ben Eager Cross-checking 03:26 2:00 CHI Patrick Kane Slashing 09:58 2:00 CHI Brian Campbell High-sticking 15:51 2:00 2nd CHI Adam Burish Boarding 04:59 2:00 3rd None Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total PHI 17 9 6 32 CHI 9 15 8 32
Game two
The Blackhawks took game two of the best-of-seven series by a score of 2–1, thus giving them a 2–0 series lead heading into games three and four in Philadelphia. In contrast to game one, game two was a low-scoring affair with much tighter defense displayed by both teams. Neither team would score in the opening frame as the game entered the first intermission scoreless. It was not until late in the second period that Chicago managed to get the ice breaker with a goal from Marian Hossa. The Blackhawks quickly added another goal just 28 seconds later on a wrist shot by Ben Eager. The Flyers would eventually reply in the third period on a power play goal by Simon Gagne but it would not be enough. Both goaltenders were much stronger as Antti Niemi stopped 32 of 33 shots for the Blackhawks while Michael Leighton rebounded with 24 stops on 26 shots.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st None 2nd CHI Marian Hossa (3) Troy Brouwer (3) and Patrick Sharp (10) 17:09 1–0 CHI CHI Ben Eager (1) Dustin Byfuglien (3) 17:37 2–0 CHI 3rd PHI Simon Gagne (8) – pp Mike Richards (16) and Jeff Carter (2) 05:20 2–1 CHI Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st CHI Kris Versteeg Interference 07:26 2:00 PHI Blair Betts Cross-checking 14:48 2:00 CHI Tomas Kopecky Elbowing 17:27 2:00 PHI Daniel Carcillo Unsportsmanlike conduct 17:27 2:00 PHI Mike Richards Elbowing 17:27 2:00 2nd PHI Mike Richards Hooking 05:08 2:00 CHI Troy Brouwer Roughing 19:24 2:00 3rd CHI Patrick Sharp Tripping 03:21 2:00 Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total PHI 3 15 15 33 CHI 9 13 4 26
Game three
The Flyers won game three in overtime, 4–3, to pull within two games to one in the series. Daniel Briere opened the scoring for Philadelphia with a power play goal at 14:58 of the first period. Duncan Keith tied the game at 1–1 early in the second period, and both teams added another goal to leave the score at 2–2 entering the third period. Patrick Kane scored with 17:10 remaining in the game to give the Blackhawks their first lead, but Ville Leino responded with the tying goal 20 seconds later. In overtime, shortly after a review determined that a shot by Gagne was not a goal, Claude Giroux scored the game-winner at 5:59 of the extra period. This was the first time since 1987 that the Flyers had won a game in the Stanley Cup Final.
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st PHI Daniel Briere (11) – pp Scott Hartnell (8) and Braydon Coburn (3) 14:58 1–0 PHI 2nd CHI Duncan Keith (2) Patrick Kane (14) and Marian Hossa (12) 02:49 1–1 PHI Scott Hartnell (5) – pp Chris Pronger (13) and Claude Giroux (10) 09:55 2–1 PHI CHI Brent Sopel (1) John Madden (1) 17:52 2–2 3rd CHI Patrick Kane (8) Jonathan Toews (20) and Ben Eager (2) 02:50 3–2 CHI PHI Ville Leino (6) Claude Giroux (11) and Matt Carle (11) 03:10 3–3 OT PHI Claude Giroux (9) Matt Carle (12) and Daniel Briere (13) 05:59 4–3 PHI Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st CHI Marian Hossa Slashing 13:54 2:00 PHI Daniel Carcillo Charging 18:05 2:00 CHI Dustin Byfuglien Roughing 20:00 2:00 2nd PHI Chris Pronger High-sticking 03:36 2:00 CHI Dustin Byfuglien Slashing 09:31 2:00 PHI Michael Leighton (served by Ville Leino) Delay of game 14:59 2:00 3rd None OT None Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT Total CHI 9 12 4 2 27 PHI 9 7 15 1 32
Game four
The Flyers evened the series at two games apiece by winning game four, 5–3. The Flyers took the lead 4:35 into the game on a Mike Richards power play goal. Matt Carle extended their lead to 2–0 at 14:48 of the first period. Sharp cut Philadelphia's lead in half with 1:28 left in the period, but Giroux restored the Flyers' two-goal advantage 51 seconds later. Following a scoreless second period, Leino gave Philadelphia a three-goal lead 6:43 into the third period. Dave Bolland (on a power play) and Brian Campbell scored later in the third to leave Chicago trailing 4–3 with 4:10 remaining. However, Jeff Carter scored an empty-net goal with 25 seconds left to clinch the Flyers' victory.