Niemi's third period brings the house down

The chants from the crowd in the United Center for Antti Niemi rang down from the upper reaches of the building Monday night, bringing back memories of how Blackhawks fans once showed their love for Tony Esposito and Ed Belfour.

While Esposito and Belfour were two of the best goaltenders ever to wear the Indian head, it's Niemi who now sits just 2 victories from doing something neither of them did - winning the Stanley Cup.

"It's unbelievable how people react," Niemi said.

Led by Niemi's 32 saves, the Hawks held off the Flyers 2-1 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals for a 2-0 lead in the series that now shifts to Philadelphia.

Niemi made 29 of his saves in the final two periods, including 14 in the third when the Flyers dominated the play and came close to tying it several times.

"Antti was great in the third period," Hawks center Patrick Sharp said. "They had a lot of chances, and he made a lot of great saves."

The Hawks took a 2-0 lead into the third period on goals by Marian Hossa and Ben Eager 28 seconds apart late in the second, but the Flyers got within 2-1 on Simon Gagne's power-play score at 5:20 of the third.

The rest of the way was nail-biting time.

"They really came hard, and Antti was huge for us tonight," Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook said.

It was the second 1-goal win in as many games by the Hawks, although this was a far cry from the 6-5 shootout Saturday.

"We did a lot of things better than last game as far as managing the puck and being in better position defensively," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said.

The reality is the Hawks are facing easily their best opponent of the playoffs, and they know the series is far from over.

"It's nice to have a two-game lead," Sharp said. "We showed a lot of composure and poise and dug in tonight, but there's a reason these two teams are in the Finals. These are hard games."

The Flyers are hardly a frustrated team going home for Game 3 on Wednesday night at Wachovia Center.

"We're certainly not leaving Chicago thinking we can't win," center Danny Briere said.

"We seemed to dominate the third period," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "I don't think we should be frustrated. I don't think we got outplayed. I thought we outshot them and outchanced them and didn't get results.

"Their goaltender played extremely well in the third period."

Hossa's goal was only his third of the playoffs, but it couldn't have come at a bigger time at 17:09 of the second period.

He scooped up a rebound in front and lifted a backhander over Flyers goalie Michael Leighton, who had a much better game than in the opener when he was pulled.

Hossa hopped on Sharp's rebound while Troy Brouwer battled in front with a defenseman.

"It was nice to see him get that one," Keith said. "He's had some chances, but they didn't go in. He's been creating chances all through the playoffs for us."

The goal by Hossa hadn't even been fully announced when Dustin Byfuglien intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and fed Eager, who raced down the right wing and snapped a wrist shot over Leighton's glove through defenseman Matt Carle.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville purposely had fourth-liner Eager on the ice with Byfuglien and Jonathan Toews.

"Those (fourth-line) guys give us speed and energy, and sometimes you can just insert them with other guys," Quenneville said. "Benny gets in on the forecheck and hopefully he creates a little space and puck possession. That was a great shot and a big goal."

Niemi was outstanding in the second period stopping Mike Richards in alone and Arron Asham with a big glove save from the left side.

The save on Asham came minutes before Hossa's goal broke the scoreless deadlock.

The Flyers had only 3 shots on goal in the first period.

The Flyers pulled within 2-1 on Gagne's power-play goal at 5:20 of the third period with Sharp off for tripping.

Gagne beat Niemi on a quick turnaround slap shot from the right side that seemed to flutter with Jeff Carter battling in front with Keith.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p> <p class="News">Blackhawks 2, Flyers 1</p> <p class="News"><b>Three stars</b></p> <p class="News">1. Antti Niemi, Hawks: A 32-save performance, with 29 of them coming in the final two periods.</p> <p class="News">2. Brent Seabrook, Hawks: Seven hits and 3 blocked shots in 23 minutes.</p> <p class="News">3. Marian Hossa, Hawks: His first goal in nine games broke a scoreless tie in the second period.</p> <p class="News"><b>By the numbers </b></p> <p class="News">Teams winning the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals at home have gone on to win the Cup 31 out of 33 times.</p> <p class="News"><b>The quote</b></p> <p class="News">"We're certainly not leaving Chicago thinking we can't win." - Flyers center Danny Briere </p> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/ga.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/qos.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/qos_mps.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/swfobject.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/util.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/inlineutil.js"></script> <div id="commmanagerDiv"></div><div id="divPlayer"> <p> To view this site, you need to have Flash Player 8.0 or later installed. Click <a href='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer/' target='_blank'>here</a> to get the latest Flash player. </p></div> <script type="text/javascript"> playerTitle = "Associated Press Video"; playerFParam = "ilarl"; playerCategory = "Editors Picks"; directPID = "0531s_Stanley_Cup2"; playerAuto = "false"; playerPID = "PSlvHKIjOdolYsUhSjbpf7ROOkJP5EYR"; embedInlinePlayer("commmanagerDiv", "divPlayer") </script> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=384811">Images of the Blackhawks vs. Flyers, Game 2 </a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=384831"><b>ROZNER:</b> Hawks much more than just confident<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384830"><b>IMREM:</b> Fasten those chin straps for Game 3<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384833">Big Ben nets very big goal<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384829">Hossa 'bugged' no more<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384826">Niemi withstands barrage with big third-period saves <span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384820">Flyers' Carcillo injects some nasty into Game 2<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384813">Flyers fume over Burish's hit<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384812">Hockey still thrills Emrick<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=384792">Before Hawks star hit it big, he got his start in DuPage<span class="date"> [5/31/10]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>