Monday, May 2, 2011
Posted: 10:42 p.m.Updated: May 3, 12:32 a.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
The essence of what defines the Stanley Cup playoffs was visible in all its grandeur Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.
For 74 minutes, and one second, the Flyers and Boston Bruins furiously skated down the ice and gave us a game that will surely be cherished, especially if your name is James van Riemsdyk, who was simply mahvalous as Billy Crystal would say.
That the Flyers dominated much of the fray only overshadowed how spectacular Tim Thomas was in net for the Bruins with 52 gargantuan saves.
Someone always has to win these Eastern Conference semifinal games of ultimate showmanship and the victor here was Boston in overtime, 3-2.
NHL
David Krejcis shot was so hard and quick into and out of the net that play continued before a stoppage when the officials had to go to replay to determine the Bruins had won it.
I wanted to get a good one-timer and it worked, Krejci said. I thought it was in, but then they kept playing so I just wanted to finish up on the shift and then the ref took a look at it and it was in.
Incidentally, Krejics line with Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton has three overtime game-winners this spring in the playoffs.
No matter.
Peter Laviolette said he expects a Game 3 Flyers victory when the series resumes Wednesday in Boston and that the pressure is all on Boston now.
I really like our guys, he said. I think were going to go into Boston and play a real strong hockey game and were going to win a game. This team never quits
The Bruins can now sweep the Flyers out of the playoffs with a victory in Game 3 and Friday in Game 4.
Going to the well is not an easy thing to do. Its a difficult thing to do. We did last series, we did last year against Boston, Laviolette said.
When you lose your first two games in your home building, there is a real expectation for the Bruins to win the series now. So it relieves us of the pressure to win a little bit. To just go in and play a game in Boston. And while it relieves us of pressure, it mounts on them now that they have a 2-0 lead.
If you thought these playoffs were already bordering on insanity with the Flyers goalie go-round, this latest episode surely added to the drama.
Talk about dj vu. Remember how Brian Boucher sprained his knee last year at Boston in Game 5? Michael Leighton came on to record a shared shutout during a 4-0 victory.
Well, Boucher suffered what two sources said appeared to be a dislocated finger in his glove-catching hand when struck by Johnny Boychuks shot in the second period. He was replaced by Sergei Bobrovsky with 8:59 left in the frame.
Boucher re-entered the game to start the third period, making that the sixth in-game goalie switch so far these playoffs, but would not meet with the media afterward, probably because he didnt want them to see his hand.
Laviolette called his injury, a malfunction.
Once the malfunction was fixed, Boosh went back in. I thought he came in and did a great job, he said.
Van Riemsdyk, who had a couple of monster games during the Buffalo series, came up with his best effort to date with two goals and narrowly missing a hat trick on several other chances in the third.
Every time you looked at the Boston crease, van Riemsdyk was there, fighting for position with the Bruins defense. Thats because Laviolette was triple-shifting van Riemsdyk, who logged 28:18 in ice timemost of any Flyer forward.
That was really awesome to watch him play like that, Laviolette said.
The Flyers were all over Thomas in the third period with 22 shots. The Flyers nearly won in the dying seconds of regulation when the puck came to Danny Briere, but he wasnt in full position to get in with his first shot and Thomas smothered his second.
I never saw it, Briere said. It was behind me and already over my stick. It was one of those bounces. If it stays on my stick instead of hopping over, its in the net. The hockey gods wanted otherwise tonight.
Thomas was spectacular for Boston, just as he had been against the Flyers all season (3-0-1) with 1.96 goals against average and .942 save percentage.
Its tough, the breaks, Briere said. We deserved better. We definitely had most of the chances tonight, but that doesnt win you games.
You have to score, myself included. We have to find a way to bury our chances. They didnt have many, but they made them count.
Chris Pronger was scratched with two new injuries, according to sources: his back and a pulled hamstring.
The emotional pregame as the Flyers and their fans remembered 911 and celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden carried over into the game.
You could see the re-energized skating by the Flyers. And on the first shift of the night, van Riemsdyk blocked Boychuks shot to begin an odd-man rush the other way.
It ended with Claude Giroux threading the puck across the slot under the diving Boychuk and van Riemsdyk lifting it high under the crossbar to make it 1-0 at 29 seconds.
JVRs second goal and seventh overalltying Briere for the club leadcame at 9:31 on the power play. What the Flyers didnt do in Game 1 they did heretraffic in front of Thomas as both Briere and van Riemsdyk got a whack at a rebound with the latter scoring.
The first goal I was just going to the net and G Giroux found me back door and I was
able to put the puck top shelf, van Riemsdyk said.
On the second goal I shot toward the net and got the rebound and was just whacking away at the puck in front.
As good a start as that was, the Bruins tied with a pair of goals just 1:25 apart in the final seven minutes of the period.
Boucher, who robbed Chris Kelly earlier, couldnt stop his rebound, partly because Andrej Meszaros pushed Michael Ryder into him and into the net.
Brad Marchand then tied it at 14:15 with a long slapshot that found the inside of the right post, a goal Boucher should have stopped. End of Flyer momentum.
Boucher prevented a third Bruin goal in the final 2:57 when Kimmo Timonens shot, while he was pinching low during 4-on-4, bounced off Thomas into the high slot for a Daniel Paille breakaway. Boucher made a pad stop on his 21-foot wrister.
The second period saw some very good missed opportunities by the Flyers as van Riemsdyk nearly got his hat trick, and Nikolay Zherdev twice had chances to complete at the net with Thomas making a great save in one case.
Then, Boucher got hurt and Bobrovsky came into the game. Didnt take him long to get warmed up as the Bruins peppered him fast and furious with six saves in the period.
We played really well, Timonen said. I thought we were creating a lot of chances to score, but their goalie was really good.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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