Stanley Cup Finals Notebook: June 1

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.

-- Monday's Stanley Cup Final contest drew the best overnight rating for a Game 2 since such data began to be recorded in 1975, the league announced on Tuesday. The NBC Sports broadcast posted a 4.1 rating and 7 share, a 21 percent improvement over last year's Game 2 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. "These historic viewership numbers are the result of compelling stories and great play on the ice, two markets on fire for their teams, terrific coverage by our North American television partners, and a season's worth of unprecedented fan engagement on multiple platforms across North America," NHL COO John Collins said in a statement. Surprisingly, Indianapolis had the highest rating (4.0) of any non-hockey market and bested several NHL cities like Detroit. Games 3-4 shift to Versus.

-- The Philadelphia Flyers have won only two games in the playoffs when they didn't at least match the opposition in blocked shots. The Blackhawks had a 29-22 edge in the category over the first two games of the final. "These guys stepped in front of a
lot of shots," Flyers forward Danny Briere said. "Last night we had three or four good chances like in the higher slot, and they had two or three guys in line trying to defend that shot. ... It's something they're doing well."

Blackhawks lead series, 2-0
Blackhawks vs. Flyers Series Page

-- Blackhawks coach Joel Quennville didn't give an update on injured forward Andrew Ladd, who has missed the first two final games with an apparent upper-body injury. "We'll address that tomorrow," Quennville said. "Same status as he's had in the Playoffs.

-- Seven different Blackhawks players have scored goals in the final. (Troy Brouwer, who scored twice in Game 1, is the only Chicago player with multiple goals. "Some guys have maybe a little more skill level than others, but I think they're all able to score," Quennville said. "I think that's what you see in a lot of playoff series."

-- Longtime Montreal reporter Marc de Foy will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for hockey journalism and former Washington Capitals broadcaster Ron Weber is the latest Foster Hewitt Memorial Award recipient for outstanding contributions by a broadcaster, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday.