FanHouse's Christopher Botta and A.J. Perez are on the road with the Blackhawks and Flyers, following every development of the Stanley Cup Finals. Each day, they'll be posting news and notes in this space. They'll be updating throughout the day, so keep checking back.
-- Blackhawks forward Andrew Ladd "skated lightly" and will miss his second consecutive game, Chicago coach Joel Quennville told reporters Monday morning. "Nothing's changed," Quennville said. "He is not playing tonight." Ladd suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Jose Sharks. He's been replaced by Tomas Kopecky, who had a goal and an assist in the Blackhawks' 6-5 victory.
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-- While Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette was making a big deal of not confirming Daniel Carcillo's return to the lineup, Philadelphia's official Twitter feed had already confirmed it.
-- Turns out Patrick Kane was a bit on edge for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, hence the jittery play in the Blackhawks' defensive zone.
"It's the Stanley Cup Final," Kane said Monday morning. "For a lot of us it's our first time here, so it's pretty exciting. For myself personally, I wouldn't say I was nervous. But I was maybe a little bit over-excited for the situation. I think you anticipate too much. Sometimes you go out there, you try to do too much, and it all backfires on you. I know I even said before the game that you can't do that, but it's one of those things you have to calm down and try to play our regular game."
-- While so much has been made of the battle between big boys Chris Pronger and Dustin Byfuglien, Flyers forwards should have have their hands full with Chicago's top D pair of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.
"They're two of the best defensemen in the game," said Flyers wing Claude Giroux said of the Team Canada pair. "Keith is always in the right place and controls the puck. Seabrook is a big guy who really knows how to play the body and blocks a lot of shots. They're very tough to play against."
-- Game 2 will be officiated by referees Stephen Walkom and Kelly Sutherland. The linesman are Steve Miller and Jean Morin.
-- Teams winning Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the championship 76% of the time since the best-of-seven format began in 1939.
-- If the Blackhawks win on Monday, you'd have to like their chances of winning the Stanley Cup. When the home team has taken the first two games of the Cup Final, they have gone on to win the series 31 out of 33 times.
-- After losing Game 1 of their second round series against Vancouver, the Blackhawks are 9-1 in their past ten games.
-- The Flyers have never beaten the Blackhawks in a playoff game, although it's not as bad it sounds. Before Saturday, the only history between the clubs was Chicago's four-game sweep of Philadelphia in the quarterfinals of 1971.
-- Philadelphia has a six-game losing streak in the Stanley Cup Final.
Stanley Cup Finals Notebook, May 31
May 31, 2010 – 1:30 PM
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