2010 Stanley Cup Finals

The Chicago Blackhawks finished the regular season as the Central Division champions with 112 points. This is the 14th division title in franchise history for Chicago but the first since 1992–93 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 Final for the first time since 1992.

Chicago's Marian Hossa is the first player in NHL history to appear in three straight Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams, having 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.

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, having more wins (41 to 39). The Flyers were the last team to qualify for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Their Cinderella march to the Final 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 historic shootout, the first do or die shootout for a playoff spot in NHL history.[6]

In the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers upset the second seed New Jersey Devils, another of their division rivals, 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 overcame a three goals to none deficit to win the game and series, 4-3.[7]

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 1997.[2] They were also the first team to reach the Final with less than 90 points in the regular season since the Vancouver Canucks in 1994, when they had 85. It also gave the city of Philadelphia the distinction of being the first city to have had all its teams play in each of the four professional sports leagues title rounds since 2000,[8][9] following the 76ers in the 2001 NBA Finals, the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX after the 2004 season, and the Phillies in back-to-back World Series in 2008 and 2009, winning in 2008 to bring the city of Philadelphia a championship after 28 years.[2] The Flyers attempted to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975.[2]

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.[10]

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.

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.[11] This was the first time since 1987 that the Flyers had won a game in the Stanley Cup Final.

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.[12]

The Blackhawks took a 3–2 lead in the series with a 7–4 victory in game five. At 12:17 of the first period, Brent Seabrook scored on a power play to give Chicago the lead. Within the next six minutes, the Blackhawks tripled their advantage, adding goals by Bolland and Kris Versteeg to make the score 3–0. At the start of the second period, the Flyers again took Leighton out of the game, replacing him with Boucher. Four goals were scored in the second period—two by each team—and the Blackhawks entered the third period with a 5–2 lead. James van Riemsdyk pulled Philadelphia within two goals at 6:36 of the third. Sharp made the score 6–3 with 3:52 remaining, but Gagne answered for the Flyers 1:16 later. Thirty-one seconds after Gagne's goal, Dustin Byfuglien tallied an empty-net goal—his second goal of the game—which concluded the scoring. Flyers' alternate captain Chris Pronger was on the ice for six of Chicago's goals and was in the penalty box on the seventh. Discounting the power play goal, Pronger finished -5 on the game.[13]

External video
Game 6 Full replay (NHL International's feed) on the NHL's official YouTube channel

The sixth game required overtime, as the score was tied 3–3 at the end of the third period. Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks scored the Cup-winning goal at 4:06 into the overtime period, a shot in which the puck crossed the goal line and then got stuck underneath the padding in the back of the net. Several observers, including most of the players and all the officials initially lost sight of the puck. Only Kane and Patrick Sharp started to celebrate immediately, soon followed by the rest of the Blackhawks. It was only after a video review that the goal was officially awarded.

Jonathan Toews won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. It was the first Cup to be won in overtime since 2000.

Game one produced the best overnight rating in the United States for a game one since the 1999 Final. The 2.8 overnight rating and six share was a 12-percent increase from the first game of the 2009 Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.[17] Meanwhile, in Canada, game one was viewed by 3.164 million people on CBC.[18]

Game two of the series, on Memorial Day, earned a 4.1 rating.[19] The number of viewers increased as the game averaged approximately six million viewers with a peak of 6.940 million at 10:30 pm ET.[20] According to NBC, this is the highest game two since at least the 1975 Final because data prior to then is unavailable. Game two also saw a 21-percent increase over 2009's second game.[21] In local markets game two drew a 25.1 rating and 39 share in Chicago along with an 18.5 rating and 28 share in Philadelphia.[22]

Game three returned to cable on Versus where it received a 2.0 rating and 3.6 million viewers.[19] The broadcast peaked at 5.1 million viewers at 10:30 pm ET. It ranked as the highest rated and most viewed program in the history of Versus.[19] It also ranked as the highest-rated and most-viewed Stanley Cup Final game on cable television since 2002.[19]

Game four saw a decline of 9% from the 2009 Final between the Penguins and the Red Wings as just 3.1 million viewers tuned into the game.[23]

With the series returning to broadcast television on NBC, the ratings trend rebounded and improved over the 2009 Final ratings trend. Game five's prime time portion of the broadcast received a 3.3 final rating and averaged 5.8 million viewers, an increase of 38% in the ratings and 32% in viewers over the 2009 Final.[24] Locally, the Chicago market received a 26.0 rating while Philadelphia had a 19.7 rating. The average for the three NBC broadcasts rose to 5.4 million viewers, an increase of 800,000 compared to 2009.[25] This increase came despite going head to head with the 2010 NBA Finals.

Game six was the most-watched NHL game since game six in 1974, drawing a 4.7 rating and 8 share, up 38 percent vs. 3.4/6 for game six in 2009.[19][26] The top two markets were Chicago, with a 32.8/50 and Philadelphia, 26.8/38.[27] In Canada, game six was the most-watched all-American Stanley Cup Final game on the CBC, with 4.077 million viewers.[19][26] The Final averaged 3.107 million viewers, up 44 percent from 2009.[19][26]

Chicago skyline with the CNA Center showing the Chicago Blackhawks' logo, the Willis Tower's spires lit in red, the Smurfit-Stone Building saying Go Hawks and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower saying Hawks win the night after the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, viewed from the Petrillo Music Shell lawn in Grant Park.

The win was the Blackhawks first championship since 1961. It gave the city of Chicago the distinction of being the first city to have at least a championship in each of the four major professional sports since 1985.[3] It also vaulted Toews into the Triple Gold Club, having won the Olympic Gold medal in Vancouver earlier in 2010 and an IIHF World Championship Gold medal in 2007. Toews and defencemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook also became the fourth, fifth, and sixth players to win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in the same year.[5] With Chicago's win, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now the only Original Six team not to win the Stanley Cup or play in the Finals since the 1967 expansion; their most recent Finals appearance is 1967.

The day after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley issued a proclamation declaring June 11 Chicago Blackhawks Day in the city of Chicago.[32] That day, an estimated two million Chicagoans attended the Blackhawks Stanley Cup parade, more than the estimated 1.75 million who attended the parade for the Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series championship,[32][33][34] and more than the rallies at Grant Park for any of the Chicago Bulls' NBA championships. The Blackhawks' celebration also overshadowed the series between the White Sox and Chicago Cubs taking place around the same time.[35] However, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén said that the parade the White Sox had was far bigger than the Blackhawks'.[36] Daley presented the proclamation to the team at the celebratory parade and rally.[32]

US President Barack Obama, a former US Senator from Illinois and Chicago resident, phoned Joel Quennville to congratulate his team and to invite them to the White House. Obama joked that he now had "bragging rights" over Vice President Joe Biden, a Flyers fan.[37] The following year, the Blackhawks lost in the first round to the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. They would, however, win the Stanley Cup again in 2013 and 2015, becoming one of two teams to win three Stanley Cup championships in the post-lockout era (the Penguins also won the Cup three times, in 2009, 2016 and 2017).

The loss by the Flyers was the sixth straight Final series they have lost, tying them with the 1933-40 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1956-95 Detroit Red Wings for most consecutive finals lost.[5] The following season, the Flyers got swept by the Boston Bruins in the second round 4-0.

Since the Cup-winning puck got stuck underneath the padding in the back of the net to end game six, there has been controversy and speculation as to its current whereabouts. Amid the confusion involving the video review and the subsequent celebrations, the Cup-winning puck got lost. Because it ended the Blackhawks' then-record for the longest active Cup drought, it is considered a valuable piece of sport memorabilia. So much so, a Chicago-based restaurant has offered a $50,000 reward for it, and the FBI has been called in to investigate the case.[38]

Video and pictures taken from the game indicate that linesman Steve Miller was the first person who took the puck after the game-winning goal was scored, but he denies knowing where it eventually went.[38] As a result of an ESPN story about the controversy on April 21, 2011, the league relieved Miller of his 2011 postseason duties for more than a week, citing that the controversy was a potential distraction during the playoffs.[39] In reinstating Miller, the league said it is standing by him and his story.[39] As Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports wrote, "it's also completely believable that this guy accidentally handed off hockey history to someone else in the postgame euphoria, and is unable to piece together what happened. So he's just going with the straight denial."[40]

• Kris Versteeg's name was misspelled KRIS VERTSEEG with the "S" and "T" transposed. The engraver was able to correct the mistake.

Left off the Stanley Cup

• #29 Bryan Bickell, LW, only played 16 regular season games, and 4 playoff games with the Blackhawks. NHL refused Chicago's request to include Bickell's name on the Stanley Cup since he did not play in final 2 rounds of the playoffs, and spending most of the season in the minors. Bickell played 65 games in the minors playing for the Rockford IceHogs AHL. He was, however, included in the team picture.
• #8 Kim Johnsson, D, played 60 games, 52 for Minnesota and 8 for Chicago, missing the last 14 games and all the playoffs due a concussion. Chicago chose not to submit his name for engraving because he spent most of season with Minnesota. Johnsson was left out of the team picture. Due his concussion Johnsson never played in the NHL again.
• 6 Ambassadors were also included on the Official Stanley Cup Picture - Ab MacDonald, Denis Savard, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito. - All 8 members along with 13 more scouts, and other players, and non-players were awarded Stanley Cup Rings.