For Flyers, it's about finding an answer to Hawks' speed

The Philadelphia Flyers didn't beat any patsies to reach the Stanley Cup Finals against New Jersey, Boston and Montreal.

But they didn't see anything like the Blackhawks before this.

They have now.

While the Flyers were able to hang in Game 1 on Saturday thanks largely to the Hawks' poor defensive play, it was the speed and skill of the Western Conference champs that made the difference in their 6-5 victory.

"I don't mind the fast game," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said Sunday. "Like I said, when we went back and looked at the chances, there weren't a lot for them. I think after two periods there were six or seven quality chances. Five of them ended up in the net.

"The game is going to be fast. We're not going to change the way we play, as far as the speed, and try a countering game all of a sudden."

The Flyers liked the way they played offensively, controlling a good portion of the first two periods with a solid forecheck.

"We got here because we play an aggressive game," Laviolette said. "They do the same thing. They send their forwards hard into the offensive zone. They look to counter quickly. The game went back and forth pretty good.

"I'm sure they're not happy giving up 5 goals. I know we're not happy giving up 6. We need to tighten it up defensively."

The Hawks should have been feeling pretty good Sunday after winning despite themselves. The top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien was a combined minus-9 in their worst game of the playoffs.

"That line has been red-hot for us throughout most of the playoffs," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "They had a quiet night, but at the same time that's usually what can happen in the playoffs. The top line sometimes gets a lot of attention, and sometimes the other guys jump forward."

Toews promised his line would be better in Game 2 on Monday night at the United Center.

"This is the big show, and we want to play our best hockey every shift," Toews said. "We'll play better. It's as simple as that."

The Flyers liked the matchup of Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino against Toews, Kane and Byfuglien, but probably a bigger factor was defenseman Chris Pronger out against the Toews line all night.

"I think we just did a good job of denying them time and space," Pronger said. "If they don't have the puck, they can't make plays. And for a lot of their shifts we played in their end, forced them to play defense and really tried to deny the puck to both Kane and Toews.

"The times they did get it, we closed on them quickly and forced them to dump the puck."

For the most part, Pronger kept Byfuglien away from the net.

"There was a lot of talk. You guys had a lot to say about him, so I guess we needed to calm that down real quick," Pronger said. "I have played in the West for 14 years. I played against him a lot, so it's not like I've been out East for my whole career and never played against the guy. That may have been blown out of proportion, I think.

"I just tried to deny him easy access to the front of the net. As I said the first couple of days, I think teams allowed him to just to go stand there.

"You have to force a guy like that to work. He's a big guy, but he's got to exert some energy and work to get into position. You have to pay a price, whatever that may be."

The Hawks know they need to be better defensively Monday night in Game 2 and play more like they did in the third period Saturday, when they held the Flyers to 6 shots and no goals.

"The nerves and excitement are behind us now and we can just go play hockey," Toews said. "We can kind of pretend that we're down a game. We're very unsatisfied with the way we started the series."

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