Bob Ford: Flyers skated like their boots were on fire

The only thing about the Stanley Cup Finals that sounded good at the outset of Wednesday's game was Kate Smith.

You have to give it to the old girl. She's been waiting through all these years for that next Cup celebration, and she still never bounces one off the pipes. Kate's just a grainy gal in a high-def world, but she still can get the stands revved up when the situation calls for it.

As for the rest of the prelude to Game 3 against the Chicago Blackhawks, nothing much else sounded good as the Flyers circled out from their dressing room. They were trailing the series, two games to none, having lost one high-octane game and one lowbrow game in Chicago to start the series.

If that seemed to leave them with few stylistic options, the Flyers shrugged and went for one that has worked in the past: Skate as if your boots are on fire.

Well, that strategy worked, although it took a tick less than 66 minutes of hockey, two goal reviews, and a lot of hard work before the Flyers won the game, 4-3, their first Stanley Cup Finals win since 1987.

It turned out that Game 3 was by far the best of the series, featuring a great back-and-forth tempo, a lot of hitting, some wonderful shots, and little of the sloppy play that bounced along the slushy swamp of the United Center.

The Blackhawks gave back as good as they got from the frenzied Flyers as the teams traded goals and Chicago came back twice from one-goal deficits before the Flyers opened the third period by doing the same.

Had either team gotten a two-goal lead, the game would not have been played as wildly, but this wasn't going to be that kind of night. As it was, every shot and every shift had to count. The Flyers, for all their energy, were not lucky with their shots. They hit the post a couple of times, missed a few rebound shots that were nearly the equivalent of open netters, and had to make up with hustle what they lacked in accuracy.

Still, through two periods, and late into the third, that was enough. The tension mounted, the contact increased, and the officials put their whistles away. This game, this pivotal game, was going to be decided by the players, and they knew it.

Earlier on, the game looked as if it might be decided by freeze frame when Scotty Hartnell's deflection of a Chris Pronger slapshot trickled through the pads of Chicago goalie Antti Niemi. The puck bounced off Niemi's right skate and trickled just millimeters over the goal line before being hooked out by a Chicago defender.