Boston Bruins put Philadelphia Flyers on verge of elimination after menacing 5-1 Victory: NHL Playoffs
The Bruins could not have had a better playoff series, but with these consecutive wins, comes a reminiscence of last year’s playoffs which ended so bitterly, even the Philadelphia Flyers could not have perceived it possible.
Last year, the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers were in the same position as they are now with the Bruins up ahead in the series 3-0 and the Flyers on the verge of elimination. Philadelphia bounced back and took over the series by winning all remaining
four games to advance into the next round.
Boston have their mind set on avoiding that situation while they thrashed the Flyers 5-1 on Wednesday, showing them they are not about to let down their guard any time soon. It was an exhilarating victory at the sold out TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
which had the fans celebrating while at the same time remembering the horrific and historical loss in the reaming matchups.
"We're happy tonight, but we can't get too high in the playoffs," said Patrice Bergeron. "We're going to celebrate tonight, but we're going to get right back to work tomorrow and make sure we work Friday, because Philly is not going to quit."
Bergeron earned his 10th assist of the postseason when he set up his captain Zdeno Chara for the opening goal, 30 seconds into the first period. David Krejci scored his fifth of the playoffs 33 seconds later to take an early iron grip over the
match. Both teams remained scoreless for the remaining 19 minutes of the period as both goalies transitioned themselves into lockdown mode.
The National Hockey Leagues’ leading goalie and Boston’s key factor for success, Tim Thomas remained in top form, blocking 37 of 38 attempts for a near shutout. His counterpart, Brian Boucher was replaced with less than four minutes remaining in the second
period after he let two more goals through, blocking only 16 off 20 attempts. His replacement Sergei Bobrovsky had to face only eight attempts of which seven he managed to divert in the remaining 24 minutes.
"We were not quite as prepared as we should have been have been for what they did at the beginning of the game," Flyers chairman and founder Ed Snider said. "I never think this team doesn't fight. ... Last year we showed fight throughout the playoffs. [It's]
very much the same squad. They're not ever going to quit."
Daniel Paille and Nathan Horton became the reason for Boucher’s dismiss as they extended the Boston lead to 4-0 with a little over four minutes remaining in the second. Andrej Meszaros finally put Philadelphia up on the boards as he scored his second nearly
a minute after Horton.
Zdeno Chara earned his second of the postseason late in the final period at the 18:38 mark to secure the match. At that time it was already over for the Flyers but making a statement was Chara’s main motive.
On Friday, Boston have a chance to eliminate the Flyers at home in a clean sweep like the Tampa Bay Lightning or they can wind up in the same situation they were in the previous playoff series and call it quits right there.
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