Settling the Score

Patrice Bergeron does his best Bobby Orr impression after colliding with the
Flyers' Ville Leino. The Bruins came back on several occasions Thursday
 night to upend Philadelphia 7-5 in dramatic fashion.   

In a thrilling, back-and-forth affair that kept the TD Garden's sellout crowd of 17,565 on the edge of their seats from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer, the Boston Bruins came back in epic fashion Thursday night to take down the Eastern Conference leading Philadelphia Flyers, 7-5. Displaying a gritty sense of urgency and unquestioned will to win, the Bruins came from behind on three separate occasions and scored an eye-popping five goals in the final period to enact some much needed revenge on the team that came back from the dead to erase a 3-0 deficit to the Boston in both the series as well as Game 7 of last season's Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Rookie left winger Brad Marchand and defenseman Steven Kampfer played the hero, scoring the biggest goals of their young careers to tie and win the game, while Patrice Bergeron, Gregory Campbell, Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara each finished with a goal and an assist. Despite surrendering five goals, Bruins' netminder Tim Thomas stood tall when he needed to most, finishing with 30 saves.

"That was a roller coaster," said Thomas after the game. "Sometimes the best-laid plans don't work out that way. You've got to roll with the punches, and we did a good job with that."

Coming out flat and seemingly overmatched, the Bruins quickly fell behind 1-0 when Flyers winger Scott Hartnell beat Thomas less than four minutes into the game. If not for a plethora of spectacular saves by Thomas the Flyers could have easily taken a two or three goal lead.

Battling back, the Bruins tied the game 1-1 when Chara blasted a slap shot from the point past Boucher during a two-man advantage with less than two minutes remaining in the first period.

Then, just 45 seconds into the second period, Bergeron lit the lamp to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, the first of an astounding five different lead changes during the game. However, the advantage would be fleeting as the Flyers picked up goals from Nikolay Zherdev and Jeff Carter to take a 3-2 lead into the final period.

Much to the aching chagrin of Boucher, the hockey gods smiled down upon the Bruins just 38 seconds into the final period when a dump in attempt by Recchi ricocheted awkwardly off the end boards and squirted directly in front of the Flyers' vacant goal. Following the play, Recchi tapped the loose puck into the open net to tie the game 3-3. Mercilessly pouring it on the Flyers' goaltender, the Boston crowd began chanting "BOUCHER, BOUCHER, BOUCHER" in celebrated unison.

Just over a minute later, Michael Ryder tallied his 12th goal of the season to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead. However, the Flyers fought back once again as consecutive goals from Danny Briere and old friend Sean O' Donnell put Philadelphia back on top, 5-4. The once ecstatic Garden faithful was immediately zapped of energy as thoughts of "not again" raced through everyone's minds. Obnoxious Flyers fans began chanting "Game 7, Game 7."

But despite how eerily similar the game had felt to last season's epic playoff collapse, the Bruins showed heart and resiliency, fighting back to tie the score midway through the third period. Using O' Donnell as a screen, Marchard collected a drop pass from Blake Wheeler (two assists) and roofed a sizzling wrister past Boucher to tie the score 5-5.

Then, Kampfer blew the lid off the building when he snuck home a wrist shot from the corner between Boucher and the left post to give the Bruins a 6-5 lead with just 74 seconds left in regulation. Campbell added an empty-net goal to seal the game.

"It was a very nerve-racking game," said Marchard, who has seemed to click playing on a line with Bergeron and Recchi. "It was so back and forth. When Kamp got that goal to put us back in the lead with a minute left, it was an unbelievable feeling. We were very jacked up. It's a great win for us."

With the dramatic win, the Bruins have now won three games in a row and stand at 24-12-7, just six points behind Philadelphia for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

One last reason for optimism come playoff time? Since the humiliating collapse to the Flyers in last season's playoffs the Bruins are now 2-0-1 against Philadelphia.

I say bring on the Flyers. If last night's performance is any indication, the Bruins are far from done settling the score.