Each service is divided into two rakats, or units, of prayer with a very brief break in between. When the Blues are playing, Umar will glance down at his phone during that minute interlude to check in on their progress. He remembers it getting a little tricky during Game 7 of the series against Dallas.

“I kept looking at the score, and I thought, ‘Oh great, double overtime, how am I going to concentrate?” The first thought that popped into his head was the 1996 playoff game against the Red Wings, in which the Blues lost in double overtime.

“Oh, please don't happen again,” he thought. “Oh please don't break our hearts.”

Then, he picked up his recitation of the Quran exactly where he left off a minute earlier. After leading nearly a thousand people through the next two rakats, he checked the score again during the break.

The Blues had scored.

“Alhamdulillah!” he thought, which means “all praise and thanks be to Allah.”

He knows there will be competition for the faithful’s attention when he leads the prayer tonight as the Blues play their first finals game in their hometown in 49 years. He can certainly relate, but as the spiritual leader of the mosque, he is clear about priorities.