All The Way Back

The never-say-die Bruins live to see another day thanks to Michael Ryder's game-winning goal in overtime Thursday night. Boston defeated Montreal 5-4 in Game 4 to tie the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals 2-2. 

After spending the past few days in Lake Placid, NY, site of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice," the Black and Gold absorbed some of team USA's lingering magic and pulled off a Miracle of their own Thursday night in Montreal.

In one of the most thrilling playoff comebacks in recent memory, the never-say-die Boston Bruins overcame three separate deficits to stun the hated Canadiens 5-4 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals before an electric sell-out crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre. Seldom mentioned but ever-talented Michael Ryder played the hero, scoring a pair of goals including the game-winner 1:59 into sudden-death overtime against his former team.

The instant classic victory erases Montreal's once-commanding lead to tie the series 2-2. Game 5 is set to begin Saturday night in Boston.

"We didn't want to be down in the series 3-1, it would have been a tough one if that happened," said Ryder after the game. "It's pretty exciting to score but I'm just happy that we won the game. That's all that matters right now and it's good to go home tied 2-2."

Inciting the raucous Montreal crowd early, the Canadiens took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Brent Sopel's blast from the right point eluded Thomas under the elbow. Despite giving up the softy, Thomas more than made up for it by withstanding a furious first-period surge by Montreal. He finished with 15 saves in the opening period, including several of the spectacular variety.

Exhibiting their resiliency, the Bruins came back to tie it 1-1 with just over two minutes gone in the second period. Taking a beautiful long exit pass from Tomas Kaberle, Ryder went on a partial breakaway and buried a sizzling wrister top shelf, glove side past Habs goaltender Carey Price.

The tipping point in the series came moments later when Montreal scored two goals in just 55 seconds midway through the second period to take a 3-1 lead. The deafening crowd reached legendary status and head coach Claude Julien was forced to call a timeout.

Bruins fans couldn't help but begin to panic. How could Boston possibly come back after being down 3-1 in the game, let alone 3-1 in the series?

But they did.

"We knew we could do it," said Patrice Bergeron (goal, two assists). "We knew we had to be better and we had to just find a way to have a huge shift and get the momentum back, and we did that and we got the big goal and that was it."

The big goal came off the stick of Andrew Ference, who stepped into a blast from the point and fired it past Price to make it 3-2.

"After we got down 3-1 we regrouped a bit and managed to get back to our game and we tied it up and just kept pushing from there, " admitted Ryder.

The surging Bruins tied the score 3-3 at the tail end of the second period when Brad Marchand (2 assists) corralled a rebound from the point then fed Bergeron alone in front for his second goal of the series.

Not to be outdone, Montreal struck back less than two minutes into the third period. On the power-play, P.K. Subban snuck in a quick wrister past Thomas to give the Canadiens a 4-3 lead. 

The lead stood for much of the period until Chris Kelly, sporting a full cage mask after crashing head-first into the Habs goal in Game Three, buried a rebound off a Rich Peverley shot to tie the game 4-4 with just 6:18 to go in regulation.

A questionable interference call on Dennis Seidenberg gave Montreal a huge power-play with just over two minutes remaining but Thomas and the Bruins stood tall, ensuring the game would carry over into overtime.

"It was important for us to stand tall, not to panic, and have everybody come up big," said head coach Claude Julien. "They had some chances. But we also did a pretty good job, at times, of blocking shots and showing some desperation of killing that penalty. Those guys deserve a lot of credit for doing that."

Then, less than two minutes into sudden-death, the Bruins made good on a three-on-one when Peverley's shot went wide but directly to Kelly on the weak side, who immediately centered the puck in front to Ryder all alone on the doorstep.

Ryder did the rest.

"Kells threw it out there," said Ryder. I guess he saw me. I think Price was caught trying to get back to his post, and I just threw it in."

A sparkling testament to their resiliency, heart and character, Boston overcame deficits of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 to earn the unbelievably hard fought victory. Their only lead of the game came at the very end when Ryder ended it.

"It would have been really tough to win this series if we lost here tonight," said Thomas (34 saves). "Having said that, there is still a lot of work to do."

There sure is.

But after such an epic comeback in Game 4, the Bruins return to Boston knowing a reinvigorated fan base awaits them with open arms, knowing all too well that the momentum gained from Thursday night's emotional rollercoaster can carry the Black and Gold a long way.