Four For Flyers

Baffled Bruins Beaten in Boston
It was either utter lunacy or a mere atrocity, depending on which perspective you take. Comebacks such as last night are more historical than Jamie Moyer taking the mound for another season. The resilient Philadelphia Flyers overcame a 3-0 series deficit and 3-0 hole in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals to best the Bruins 4-3 in Boston. That means the Flyers scored four straight goals and defeated Boston four straight times. The seventh seeded Flyers advanced Friday to face eighth seeded Montreal in an unlikely Eastern Conference final beginning Sunday. Boston becomes just the fourth team in NHL history to lose a series after winning the first three games.
Boston sizzled from the start and sailed out to a 3-0 lead with home ice advantage in their favor. Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic collected power play goals for the home team within the first fourteen minutes of the contest. Lucic slipped an unassisted puck past Michael Leighton, again with 5:50 left in the first period for a 3-0 blitzing Boston edge. James van Reimsdyk found the back of the net for the first time this series with 2:48 remaining in the opening period to cut the Bruins’ lead to 3-1. Claude Giroux was credited with the assist on the first Flyers’ goal that gave Philadelphia life. Philadelphia worked quickly to silence the crowd and held the Bruins without a shot for a span of ten minutes in the second period.
Pete Laviolette’s Flyers were ferocious during the second period as they scored twice to knot the game at three. Scott Hartnell backhanded a rebound at 2:49 into the second and Daniel Briere solved Tuuka Rask with a wraparound attempt at 8:39 to tie the game. Rask made 23 stops but the Flyers were the beneficiaries of some good bounces and bad breaks by the Bruins. Boston was whistled for having too many men on the ice at 11:10 into the final period. The game remained tied until Philadelphia’s Simon Gagne buried the Bruins with his fourth post-season goal off a blocked shot. The Flyers made the lead stand on the road to send Boston home with an historical collapse. Gagne’s wrist shot goal occurred on a power play, where the Flyers went 1 for 3. Gagne, who began the series with a broken toe, was the hero for Philly in Game 4 when he prevented a series sweep by potting the deciding goal in overtime. Last night, he capped off the last of four unanswered goals by the Flyers. Philadelphia toppled the Devils in round one, defeated Boston in four straight games and have now earned the right to play for a chance in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Flyers are fabulously fine in elimination games this season.

Parting Points: Song for Saturday- “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”- Green Day

I love seeing an ARod grand slam. It would be even sweeter if he did the same Monday against Boston.