NHL Playoffs: Boston Bruins Rydin' High! Series Tied at 2-2.

The Bruins were hanging in there with a win in Game 3.  They needed to win Game 4 to head back on to the Garden with a new best of three series.

To say that this game was a nail-biter would be an understatement.  It was a dog fight and the Bruins proved that in the playoffs, 60 minutes of play is required.

The Game

First Period

Habs open the scoring by way of Brent Sopel who ripped a shot from the point to beat Tim Thomas.  Habs up 1-0 on what proved to be the only goal of the period.

The Habs outshot the Bruins 15-8 and if it wasn't for Thomas, the score would have been much worse for this team.

Second Period

Bruins make it even by Michael Ryder coming off the bench to wrist one high on Carey Price.

Tomas Kaberle saucered a pass to Ryder who was coming off the bench and was all alone on Price to beat him high over his shoulder.

Habs take the lead back.  Michael Cammalleri buried his shot after the Habs swarm the net and nearly got one on just seconds before.  2-1 Habs.

Less than a minute later, Tomas Plekanec backhanded to Andrei Kostitsyn and he got it five hole.  3-1 Habs.

Just over two minutes later, Andrew Ference skated into a puck that was on it's end and ripped it up over Price's shoulder to put the game within a goal.  Ference appeared to give the Montreal fans the unflattering "you're number one" sign.  Later tried to say that the finger was stuck in his glove, but even this B's fan laughed off that excuse.  I'd expect at least a fine, but a possible suspension could be in play here.

Personally, singing the ole song with more than half of the hockey game left and it is still close with no obvious consistant dominance would tick off any opposing player to stick to the hometown faithful.

Less than three minutes later, Patrice Bergeron popped in the tying goal by a quick pass from Brad Marchand.

Marchand was just to the front left of Price who stopped Recchi's shot but couldn't control the puck.  Marchand quickly pulled the puck away from Price, passed it between the post and price to Bergeron who had all the time in the world to put the game at three apiece.

Third Period

The Habs wasted no time.  Less than two minutes in, PK Subban received a pass by James Wisniewski.  Subban skated from a bad angle to a better one low in the slot.  He then wristed a shot high and past a screened Thomas to retake the lead for the third time of the game.  4-3 Habs.

There were a ton of chances on both ends of the ice for scoring to happen but the netminders did not want any of it.

Price stopped a point blank shot when he was down and out but Johnny Boychuk could not lift the puck past Price's glove.

Cammalleri was off to the races and tried to beat Thomas five-hole, but Thomas shut the door.

Just over six minutes of play left, Ryder backhanded the puck at price and it seemed that Price lost sight of it.  The puck dropped behind Sopel who also could not find it.  Chris Kelly was right there to pop it between Prices wickets to tie the game at four and that forced overtime.

OT

It didn't take long to decide the outcome of Game 4. Rich Peverley shot the puck wide and it went behind the net.  From Price's left, Kelly quickly passed it to Ryder who was all alone and had even more time than Bergeron to bury the dagger in this game.

The goal tied the series at two apiece and the Bruins head back home to the Garden in hopes to break this trend of home teams losing.

This is the first time that Boston has won four straight playoff games at the Bell Centre (took Games 3 and 4 in Montreal in the 2008-2009 playoffs) and hope to win one in Boston and then to finish it back in Montreal.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves—one game at a time and Game 5 is next.

The series is now a best of three and the Bruins are hoping to continue to elevate their play to take the next two games and not have to come back home to a Game 7.

The Good

Not too much here other than the goal tending.  Even though there were nine goals scored in the game, the score could have easily been higher.  There were some remarkable saves made by both Thomas and Price.

The Bad

Nine Goals.

The Ugly

Yeah.  Nine Goals.

The Habs defense failed to help Price and he could only do so much.

Thomas' Bruins didn't fair too much better.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean"