It surely wasn't easy, but the Boston Bruins made history last night before a raucous crowd at the TD Garden, defeating the Canadiens 4-3 in another overtime thriller.
The Bruins were previously 0 for 26 in best-of-7 series alltime when losing the first two games. Undaunted by dropping the first two games at home, the B's outworked Montreal over the next five games, winning 4 of 5 in dramatic fashion.
Last night was the culmination of a series that featured dramatic moments, questionable hits, diving, and 4 total overtime periods. In previous years, this was exactly the type of series that would give Bruins fans fits, as the Bruins rarely rise to the occasion in high pressure situations.
This year might be different.
Nathan Horton's goal at 5:43 of the first overtime gave the Bruins a 4-3 victory and set up a semifinal matchup with last year's playoff foe, the Philadelphia Flyers.
After a nice pinch in the corner by Adam Mcquaid to gain control of the puck, Horton corralled a pass from Milan Lucic and blasted a slapshot past Carey Price to send the Bruins to the semifinals once again.
Early in the game, it didn't look like overtime would be in the cards, as the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Johnny Boychuk scored the first goal of the contest at 3:31, rifling a "Johnny Rocket" that made its way through traffic to give the Bruins an early lead. Assisting on the goal was Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, two thirds of the Bruins most consistent line not just in the playoffs, but also throughout the regular season.
Just two minutes later, Mark Recchi got in on the action. Not one to be outdone by his linemates, Recchi took a pass from Andrew Ference, found a shooting lane, and found the back of the net on a wicked wrister that put the Bruins up 2-0.
Just when we thought the lead was safe, we were reminded that nothing comes easy for the Bruins, especially against Montreal. Taking advantage of a hooking penalty on Michael Ryder, Yannick Weber blasted a shot by Tim Thomas to trim the Bruins lead to one and put Montreal squarely back in the game.
If the Bruins have been victimized by their penalty kill thus far in this series, their power play unit didn't take any notes on how to score, as they were absolutely brutal to watch, unable to successfully start a breakout and jumping offsides
seemingly every other possession.
Whether it was miscommunication or general laziness, the Bruins PP unit was once again their own worst enemy. Mark Recchi turned the puck over at center ice to the speedy Tomas Plekanic, who walked into the Bruins' zone and beat Thomas on a breakaway, tying the game and sucking the energy out of the Garden.
It was starting to feel like de ja vu all over again for the Bruins, until midway through the third period, when Chris Kelly scored his third goal of the playoffs at 9:44 (Ference, Peverley) to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead.
Protecting that lead would be the Bruins final test in regulation, but once again, it was their special teams that let them down. Patrice Bergeron was whistled for a questionable high sticking penalty with just over 2 minutes to play, putting Montreal on the Power play once again for the remainder of regulation.
Obviously it was PK Subban that tied the game on the Power play, who uncorked a top shelf laser past Thomas and tied the game at 3, forcing the extra period.
Horton was once again the hero and his goal sparked a celebration throughout New England and set a date with the Flyers. Game 1 is in Philly on Saturday afternoon.
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