Blackhawks take their game to another level in 7-4 win over Flyers

From Chicago — The Chicago Blackhawks broke up their lines Sunday but maintained a unified purpose, taking a cue from a quietly intense declaration by their captain, Jonathan Toews, after their morning skate.

They hadn’t come this far to fall now and had worked too hard to accept more of the manhandling they had gotten from the Philadelphia Flyers in the first four games of the Stanley Cup finals. Each player would have to fight harder in puck battles and push through the neutral zone — whatever it took for the team to realize its potential.

“We all knew we needed to dig deep and have fun,” Blackhawks winger Kris Versteeg said.

They found a new level of physicality and determination, scoring three goals in the first period to chase goaltender Michael Leighton while plowing through the Flyers’ defense in a 7-4 victory that put them one victory from the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title since 1961.

Their speed and grit embarrassed Philadelphia’s previously solid defense. Chris Pronger was on the ice for six Chicago goals and in the penalty box for the other and was minus-5 defensively. He also took a hard but clean hit into the boards from Dustin Byfuglien early in the second period.

“They came out hard and we didn’t answer their intensity or physicality,” Pronger said. “They came out hard, like they needed a win, and we didn’t answer that.

“We didn’t do a very good job in the neutral zone and didn’t have a very good forecheck. As a consequence, we were spending a lot of time in our own zone and what was inevitable happened.”

The Blackhawks can win the Cup on Wednesday at Philadelphia if they can break the pattern of the home team winning each of the first five games. If not, they will return to the United Center on Friday with home ice again on their side.

“The line changes obviously looked like a good thing. But the No. 1 thing was the way we played as a team,” Toews said. “We all understand in our locker room it doesn’t matter who you are playing with. You have to go out there and make a difference.”

The difference from their losses at Philadelphia in Game 3 and Game 4 was startling.

The spark generated by the reconfigured lines produced two goals and two assists from Byfuglien, who had been neutralized by Pronger but was a force alongside Dave Bolland and Versteeg. Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist with linemates Patrick Sharp and Andrew Ladd. Toews centered for Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky, and although the line didn’t score, it didn’t need to.

“We play like that every night, it’s going to be tough to beat us,” Kane said.

Brent Seabrook got the Blackhawks started with Chicago’s second power-play goal of the finals, taking a pass from Versteeg and whipping a 30-foot wrist shot that might have been deflected past Leighton’s stick at 12:17 of the first period.

The Blackhawks took advantage of a delayed penalty to score their second goal, at 15:26. Brent Sopel took a shot that went off the end boards and caromed to Bolland, who banked the puck off Leighton’s right skate and into the net.

With the crowd roaring, the Blackhawks padded their lead to 3-0. Versteeg took a long lead pass from Seabrook, weaved his way from the left side to the right side and let loose a long wrist shot that eluded Leighton at 18:15. Byfuglien had the secondary assist on the goal, as he also had on the second goal.

“I was focused, ready. I knew what I had to do,” Byfuglien said. “I just stuck to my game plan and never got away from it.”

The Flyers scored on their first shift of the second period on a tap-in by Scott Hartnell, but Kane gave the Blackhawks a 4-1 lead at 3:13 on a short wrist shot.

The Flyers cut that to 4-2 when defenseman Kimmo Timonen scored off a mad scramble, but Byfuglien made it 5-2 during a power play at 15:45 and the Blackhawks held off a Flyers team that is accustomed to making comebacks.

This comeback, though, would be the biggest of all.

“We seem to like to make things difficult on ourselves,” Pronger said, one of the few times he was right all night.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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