Ville Leino’s 16 playoff points is one more than the rookie record.
What started as a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series is now a best-of-three. The Philadelphia Flyers tied the series 2-2 thanks to Friday's 5-3 victory against Chicago as 120 home favorites.
The combined eight goals soared ‘over' the 5 ½-goal closing total, which enabled the ‘over' to improve to 3-1 in the first four games of this series.
The series now shifts back to Chicago on Sunday before returning to Philadelphia for Game 6 next Wednesday. Most offshore sports books monitored by the Don Best odds product have opened Chicago as a hefty 210 home favorite for Game 5, with the total set at 5 1/2 'over' (minus 130).
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The Flyers, 9-0 in Games 4 through 7 during this year's playoffs, built a 3-1 first-period lead on goals by Mike Richards (power play), Matt Carle and Claude Giroux.
A third-period goal by Ville Leino that deflected off the back of the Chicago's Kris Verteeg made it 4-1 with 13 minutes, 17 seconds left and proved to be the game-winner because of a furious Chicago rally.
It gave Leino 16 playoff points, one more than the rookie record set by Brian Propp in the 1987 playoffs. Leino had missed about 10 first-period minutes after a vicious open-ice hit by Brian Campbell.
The Flyers have won 10 straight home games against Chicago since 1996. It was their second straight win in the series, and they handed Chicago back-to-back road losses for the first time since Nov. 27 at Anaheim) and Nov. 28 (at Los Angeles).
A 5-on-3 power-play goal by Dave Bolland cut the lead to 4-2 with 7:59 left, but Michael Leighton made two key stops on the remaining 5-on-4 advantage to protect the two-goal lead.
Chicago got to within 4-3 on Campbell's goal with 4:10 to go.
The win raised Leighton's record to 8-2 during the current playoff run. Chicago netminder Antti Niemi took the loss to lower his playoff record to 14-6. Before Friday, Niemi had stopped 109 of 112 shots (.973 save percentage) in the four postseason games following a loss this year.
Chicago, which outshot the Flyers, 34-31, finally scored its first power play goal during these Finals. The Hawks were 1-for-3 with the man advantage, while the Flyers were 1-for-6.
The Hawks, aiming for their first Cup since 1961, had been 4-0 this year in playoff games following losses and had outscored their opponents, 14-3.
The Flyers are 13-6 in series that are tied at two games each, while the Hawks are 13-18 in series that start 2-2.
There were two lineup changes in Game 4.
Philadelphia enforcer Dan Carcillo was a healthy scratch. James van Riemsdyk replaced Carcillo, who didn't play in the series opener. Carcillo had no points and four penalty minutes in the previous two games. Van Riemsdyk has two goals and two assists in 18 games this postseason.
Chicago forward Andrew Ladd was back in the lineup for Game 4 after missing three games with an undisclosed injury he sustained in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
He has two goals and an assist in 16 games this postseason. Ladd was called for interference just 36 seconds into the game.
The Blackhawks also swapped out defensemen, inserting Nick Boynton into the lineup for the first time this postseason. He replaced Jordan Hendry.