Faceoff failures frustrate Flyers

It was all Blackhawks when it came to faceoffs in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Hawks won 63 percent of the 64 draws with Jonathan Toews going 18-6.

"Just work ethic, I guess," Toews said. "We were prepared going into those faceoff dots and really wanted to win them."

Flyers center Blair Betts said his team wasn't "faceoff-ready" for the game.

"The centermen didn't do a very good job on winning the first battle there and we just didn't look sharp," Betts said. "That was a good indication of how we weren't ready to play."

Toews won 5 of 6 faceoffs from Danny Briere.

"I had a tough start against him, I think my first four faceoffs," Briere said. "And then after that we were able to settle down, and I think as a team we did better in the second and third period. We knew coming in that he was a good faceoff guy."

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said his team's 38 percent winning percentage on faceoffs wasn't good enough.

"Faceoffs, a lot of times, not only do they give you possession of the puck, that's the obvious; but they also kind of give you the state of the team and where they're at," Laviolette said. "Hockey is a very competitive game, and it's about 1-on-1 battles and winning those 1-on-1 battles. Most originate in the faceoff circle. To me, we have to compete a little bit better."

The Bolland factor: Thanks to the line of Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg and Tomas Kopecky, it was a quiet night in Game 1 for Philadelphia's top line of Mike Richards, Jeff Carter ands Simon Gagne.

They had no points and were a combined minus-7.

"He's a good player," Richards said of Bolland. "I'll give him that. I played against him in junior and he's a very smart, intelligent hockey player. I thought we had good looks (Saturday) night. We just didn't score, and did everything but.

"So I think persistence is something we need to have as a line and not get discouraged by one or two bad bounces and just keep trying."

Bolland thought it was anything but a nasty first game.

"It was pretty calm, nothing really happened," Bolland said. "It could get nastier as it goes on. If it goes either way, we'll play that game."

Ladd update: Andrew Ladd remains questionable for Game 2 after sitting out the series opener with an upper body injury.

"Laddie will continue (to be) day-to-day, but we expect him to be playing," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said Sunday. "We'll address that (today)."

Soup's off: Defenseman Brian Campbell didn't have a great night in Game 1 with a key turnover that led to a goal and a penalty that turned into a Flyers' power-play goal. As a result he played only 13 minutes.

"He's fine," Joel Quenneville said when asked if Campbell was banged up.

Taking bad ice: Both teams thought the ice at the United Center wasn't very good for Game 1, calling it chippy. Pucks were bouncing and passes were difficult to make.

"The first 10 minutes of the period it's fine, but maybe near the last 10 it heats up a bit," Kris Versteeg said. "There's nothing they can do about it. They're not going to change the temperature or anything like that. They're not going to tell the people to stop screaming and opening doors.

"They do the best they can to make the ice the best they can. Obviously, sometimes it's a bit rough out there, but you just have to play through it and not worry about it."

He said it: Brent Seabrook on whether his initial Stanley Cup Final experience is working out as he thought it might:

"I didn't know about media when I was 9 years old (growing up in Tsawwassen, British Columbia), so I didn't know it was going to be this big. I never had any media when I scored the game-winner in the parking lot or the driveway, either."

• Daily Herald sports writer Lindsey Willhite contributed.