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At the blue line, Philadelphia has a solid lineup physical defenders, capable of wearing down their opponent, while relying heavily upon Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and former Norris Trophy winner Chris Pronger, who won a Cup in 2007 with Anaheim. Chicago's defense tends to be faster and more agile, and always willing to lead the offensive rush. Anchored by Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and 2010 Norris candidate Duncan Keith – who lost seven teeth in Game 4 of the Conference Final and still saw more minutes than any other Hawk – the Blackhawks are still said to lack a true shutdown defenseman which sometimes leaves them open to defensive breakdowns. At the other end, the Flyers defense tends to have trouble when facing quicker, talented opponents, so ultimately this is a series which could very well be decided by which defense is better at shutting down their opponent.

Both Philadelphia and Chicago possess great amounts of offensive talent. The Flyers are led by Daniel Briere, Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell and their leading scorer, team captain Mike Richards, while the Blackhawks come to the table with Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg, and leading scorer and captain Jonathan Toews, who also leads the NHL in playoff scoring. Both clubs also provide a certain grittiness within their checking lines, while still contributing an offensive punch. The Blackhawks may have a slight edge in speed and, while not taking anything away from the Flyers' forwards, have put up some pretty impressive numbers against some stronger opponents while advancing through the Western Conference as opposed to the East.

Forgetting the regular season and conference playoff seeding, on paper the two appear to be evenly matched statistically. The Chicago Blackhawks have a slight playoff edge (5th overall) in power-play percentage over the Philadelphia Flyers (8th overall), while the Flyers' penalty-killing percentage (87.0%, 2nd overall) is only slightly higher than Chicago's (86.6%, 3rd overall). The Blackhawks and Flyers are also closely matched in goals-per-game average, sitting at numbers two and three respectively, while the Flyers lead in goals-against average, just ahead of the #2 Blackhawks. Philadelphia has also given up the fourth-fewest shots-against, with Chicago allowing the sixth-fewest, however, the Hawks have the clear shots-on-goal advantage over the Flyers, ranked sixth overall this spring, while the Flyers were only thirteenth.

Although the Flyers come into this series as the obvious underdog – having qualified for postseason play with a shootout win over the Rangers on the final day of the regular season, upsetting New Jersey, rallying from a 3-0 series deficit in their history-making upset of the Bruins, and beating another underdog, #8 seed Montreal, in the East Finals – they not only believe they deserve to be here, but believe they can win it given the way they got here.

The Blackhawks may be considered a cocky group, but they also know better than to take Philadelphia lightly. The predictions had them playing for the Stanley Cup this season and this team is determined to end Chicago's long championship drought. Ultimately, this could end up being a much better series than most NHL experts or fans assume it will be. Order 2010 Stanley Cup Finals tickets now to guarantee your seat as the Chicago Blackhawks battle the Philadelphia Flyers for the ultimate NHL prize, Lord Stanley's Cup.