If the first game of the Stanley Cup Final was a track meet, Monday night’s second game was a turf war.

The end result, however, was similar to Saturday night: The Blackhawks were one goal better than the Flyers.

As a result, NHL’s longest active Stanley Cup Championship drought is two wins away from being extinguished after Chicago’s 2-1 win at the United Center. Game 3 is at Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center Wednesday night.

Game 2 was nastier than Saturday night’s opener, as each team totaled 18 penalty minutes, including 10 minute misconduct penalties on Ben Eager and Chris Pronger at the game’s end.

The mean-spirited tone was set during pregame warm-ups, when Daniel Carcillo engaged Adam Burish in a war of words. Carcillo, who told reporters that he was “pissed off” that he was scratched Saturday night, was minus-1 in 11:04 and spent a great deal of time conversing with Tomas Kopecky and Burish.

Marian Hossa and Eager scored in a 28-second span of the second period to account for all of the Blackhawks' scoring. Eager’s first goal of the playoffs, at the 17:37 mark, was the game-winner.

Antti Niemi only gave up a third-period Simon Gagne goal on 33 shots. Michael Leighton made 24 saves for Philadelphia.

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