Leighton stands ground, Flyers-Blackhawks tied 0-0 after 1st in Game 2 of Stanley Cup finals

Flyers, Blackhawks 0-0 after 1 in Game 2

CHICAGO — Michael Leighton stood his ground in goal, and the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks are locked in a scoreless tie after a chippy first period in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Leighton was pulled in the second period of Game 1 after giving up five goals on 20 shots in a 6-5 loss to the Blackhawks. On Monday night, he had stopped nine shots through the first period.

After tying an NHL record with five goals in the first period of Game 1, this time the teams were exchanging angry words and hits instead of goals.

The Flyers’ Daniel Carcillo was back after being held out the past three games, on the first line alongside Michael Richards and Jeff Carter. It didn’t take long for things to heat up.

Carcillo tried to run into Chicago’s Tomas Kopecky but wound up flattening Carter instead, to the fans’ delight. The cameras caught Carcillo yelling at the Blackhawks’ bench a few minutes later and he wound up with an unsportsmanlike penalty later.

In Game 1, the Flyers outshot Chicago 17-9 in taking a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. Things were considerably tighter Monday as Chicago outshot Philadelphia 9-3 — and the Blackhawks got their first power play of the finals, 74 minutes and 48 seconds into the series.