2011 NHL Playoffs: Boston Bruins Perfect in OT, Game 3 Looms

Hey fans, sorry I'm so late with Game 2, but I wanted to give you the game's highlights as I feel it will play into tonight's Game 3 in Boston.

The second game of the the series between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers continued at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Bruins took the first game convincingly with a final score of 7-3 and look to take a 2-0 lead going back to Boston.

The Flyers' Chris Pronger was out of the lineup with a broken hand which shortened their D.

Jeff Carter was also a no show.

Back in net was Brian Boucher as Head Coach Peter Laviolette placed his trust in the net minder.

It didn't take long for the Orange Crush to lift the rafters.  James van Riemsdyk  and Claude Giroux were on the two-on-one rush and van Riemsdyk buries it on Tim Thomas' left side just 29 seconds into the game.

Halfway through the period, van Riemsdyk was on the doorstep on the power play and popped in his second goal of the game.

van Riemsdyk was on fire this night.  He was all over the ice and had several chances to add more for the Flyers. Just a few minutes later, Chris Kelly got the greasy goal as the Bruins applied pressure and were laying on the body, throwing the Flyers off their game.

Shortly after that, Brad Marchand scored a shot from the slot that looked like it was partially screened by a Flyers player.

With a four-on-four, Daniel Paille was off to the races with a clear breakaway, but could not capitalize on it as he shot right into Boucher's closed five-hole. 

The Second and third periods yielded no scoring, but some very close calls on both ends of the ice. Nikolay Zherdev had a close one, but Thomas slid from left to right and stuck the pad out to prevent the goal.  Zheredev was too close to pop it over the pad.

With Boucher out after hurting his hand off a Johnny Boychuk shot, Sergi Bobrovsky stepped in for the remainder of the second period and stopped all six shots he faced.

Boucher and Thomas were both spectacular and lucky.  

Early in the third period, van Riemsdyk had a close clear shot at taking the lead but nothing doing as far as Thomas was concerned.

Claude Giroux likewise had a mini-breakaway but came up short as Thomas was square and covered the angle.

Boucher was money on a Milan Lucic pass to Nathan Horton who tried one of his on-the-doorstep deflections but Boucher wanted the game to stay tied for now. 

The shots that Bobrovsky faced were not all easy.

There was a shot where David Krejci nearly scored on the wide open right side of Bobrovsky, the backhanded attempt went off the inside of the goal post and out the other side to keep it tied.

In the dying seconds, Daniel Briere wanted to end it with a one timer.  Thomas kicked out a shot at the net immediately after the faceoff and just missed Briere's stick forcing overtime.

Michael Richards ripped a shot, beat Thomas but not the goal post.

Rich Peverley hit the goal post shortly after that.

The posts and crossbars were the goalies' best friend this night.

That was until the six minute mark in overtime when David Krejci made a stretched one-kneed one timer off Horton's pass and it went over Boucher's right shoulder and off the rear crossbar or camera. The goal was not called and play continued as the Bruins were pouring out of the bench only to be rushed right back.

At the stoppage of play, the review clearly showed the puck was in the net to give the Bruins a perfect 4-0 overtime record, and more importantly, the 2-0 series lead.

Breakdown heading into Game 3.

The Bruins took both games in Philadelphia and look to take a stranglehold on the series.  Game 2 was not an easy road win by any means.

The Flyers out-hustled the Bruins and had ample opportunities to put this game away and tie the series at 1-1, but Thomas was Johnny-on-the-spot when he needed to be.  His 52 save game it worthy of being featured in a History Will Be Made commercial.

The Bruins need to help their net minder out as there were several defensive breakdowns that could have opened up the scoring.  Fortunately for the B's, there were timely saves by Thomas and there were some great collapsing on the net by the Bruins to prevent too much damage

If the Bruins want to continue to the next round, this cannot be counted on game-in and game-out as this Flyers roster is big, fast and knows how to capitalize on its chances.  This is one game where they could not, but again...don't count on this in a seven game series.

The good news for the Bruins is that they showed very good composure and didn't panic in overtime.  the usual killer for a team when the game turns into sudden death.

Thomas' 52 save game was one for the ages for the 37 year-old net minder.  The game marked his career high.

David Krejci was basically absent for the first series but has had hsi name in the score sheet for 5 of the 10 goals scored in this series.  Get Lucic cranked up and the Bruins will be that much more dangerous with three very productive lines.

The bad news for the Bruins is Adam McQuaid is still out after creaming himself into the boards after missing a full contact hit attempt on Mike Richards. He sprained his neck after going full tilt into the boards and will be missed.  Look for Shane Hnidy to step up in his place.

The B's power play has...well...no power.  0-for-28 and counting.  I am shocked that the Bruins have played so well but not at the same time.  While their PK is not stellar, it is good.  five on five play has been tops in the league.  The power play will have to ignite in order for success in this year's playoffs to succeed.

The Flyers have proven that they can take to the Bruins when needed to turn on that extra gear.  I don't know if that was the gear that they needed, but Coach Laviolette thinks so.

From NESN.com:

On Tuesday, he reiterated that message after the Flyers' practice, stressing how comfortable the Flyers are in overcoming long odds.

"You know, we are going to go into Boston and have some fun," Laviolette told reporters. "We just put our comfortable slippers on. It's time to go in there, like I said, the pressure really gets alleviated a bit. When you are down last year 0-3, you're down this year 0-2 in back-to-back series against the same team. That's technically 0-5. I'm not sure that any team in the history of sports has ever come back from 0-5. So we are just calm in there."

The Bruins aren't falling for the head games though. Veteran forward Mark Recchi, who won a Cup playing for Laviolette in Carolina in 2006, knows exactly what his old boss is trying to do.

"He's a very good coach, very intelligent and he's trying to take the pressure off his hockey club," Recchi told reporters at the Garden on Tuesday after being asked about Laviolette's comments. "He's a very good coach, and that's why he's won a Cup. He's good at it, and I have a lot of respect for him as a coach. He's going to do whatever he can. But we can't worry about what he says. We've got to worry about what happens in this dressing room. We'll be ready to play. We believe in each other, we trust each other, and that's all you can do."

While Laviolette wants to cling to the past, the Bruins are looking ahead knowing that the situation is clearly not the same as it was last year.

Flyers forward Claude Giroux seems to have the proper mindset.

"I think we have to [win Game 3]," Giroux said. "Coming back from 0-3, I think it's pretty hard even if we did it last year. We don't want to put ourselves in that situation."

Different Roster, different goalie, determined Bruins.  Game 3 is tonight at the Garden and you can be sure both teams are determined to take this game to the limit.

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