Philadelphia - - Flyers forward Ville Leino has had a whirlwind season. He had trouble fitting in early on and got very little ice time. Then all of a sudden this former scoring champ of the Finnish Elite League caught fire, got tons of power play time, and has been a top-notch scorer. He’s tied the club rookie scoring record previously help by Brian Propp and now he has been one of the team’s most reliable scorers in the Stanley Cup. What’s his secret? How has he had this kind of success against Hawks goalie Antti Niemi?

In 2008 the Finnish forward happened to be in the SM Liiga playoffs against Niemi’s Pelicans. Did that familiarity help him rack up the three points (two of them are goals) he has so far in the Stanley Cup?

“I feel like I have a little edge on him for those games,” he said with a smile, as if the secret was out. His team won that series. “I don’t know if it really matters.”

But as we all know the more a sniper faces a goalie the more chance he has to figure out his weaknesses and Leino had a chance to do that way before any of his Philadelphia Flyers teammates.

“It kind of feels the same way."

Now they have been facing off against each other in the Stanley Cup and that is a shock to him considering where he was in 2008.

“Not for sure. I never thought about that for a second…never.”

Niemi was signed as a free agent by the Blackhawks and after proving himself in Rockford during an AHL season in 2008-09. He has emerged as the Blackhawks franchise goalie and now these two countrymen get to go head-to-head on an even bigger stage.