Game 1 a coach's nightmare

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville had to be one of the few people not entertained Saturday night in the United Center.

And his team won the game.

Hockey coaches like boring. They're partial to defense. They prefer 1-goal victories to be 1-goal games.

Quenneville might have thought he went to the Stanley Cup Finals and a basketball game broke out. Or maybe it was an Arena Football League game.

Whatever it was didn't look like the NHL's two surviving teams were locked in a death struggle of a tractor pull - first to 2 goals wins.

If that were the case, the outcome would have been decided midway through the first period. Instead it wasn't decided until Tomas Kopecky scored the night's 11th goal with 11:35 left to play.

The Hawks won the series opener 6-5 and must have wondered what exactly happened out there.

"There was a lot of action, that's for sure," Quenneville said, not necessarily amused. "We stress defense. We have a defense-first approach but got away from it."

Some predicted the best-of-seven series would be a return to 1980s hockey when scoring was in vogue. Each of these teams has scoring power, and rules changes instituted during the last decade were intended to facilitate offense.

But the playoffs still are supposed to be the playoffs. Goals are supposed to be precious, not plentiful.

"We have to play much better because we had too many turnovers," said Troy Brouwer, who scored 2 of the Hawks' goals. "We don't like the way we played defensively."

Neither team played well. This wasn't so much playoff hockey as the Flying Wallendas on ice, with the respective goalies trying to perform high-wire acts without a net.

Or with a net that gaped about 10 feet wide for stick-wielding snipers.

The game's style was so unworthy of traditional playoffs - even in the modern era - that Lord Stanley's heirs might demand his Cup be returned.

"It was nerve-racking, that's for sure," Brouwer said. "Real emotional, back and forth, up and down. You try to stay composed and stick to the game plan."

Seriously, for two periods this was the equivalent of Lakers 165, Suns 159. Or was it Rush 106, Slaughter 101. Or was it Phillies 37, Cubs 35?

Listen, the NHL indeed is more wide open now, but George Clooney and Brad Pitt combined wouldn't figure to score as much on Rush Street on this night as the Hawks and the Flyers did in the United Center.

The Hawks allowed 17 Flyers shots in the first period. Too many. The Flyers allowed 15 Hawks shots in the second period. Too many.

The game featured five ties and three lead changes. To the teams' credit, they calmed down a bit in the final 20 minutes; Kopecky's goal was the only one of the period.

"Things settled down as the game progressed," Quenneville said. "Nobody envisioned what we had going into the third period."

As the winning coach, Quenneville might have viewed the victory as a dark comedy. As the losing coach, Peter Laviolette must have viewed it as a horror flick.

Asked for positives, Laviolette couldn't think of any. At least didn't mention any.

"Everybody's got to be better," Laviolette said.

Ah, yes, another coach who wasn't entertained.