This ain't last year bro, get over it

Some pink hat Bruins fans or just miserable human beings-namely the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy- love to joke now that the Boston Bruins are up 3-0 on the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second year in a row, that Philly finally has the Bs where they want them.

I'm not going to dignify that with much of a response since it's a different year and a completely overhauled team for Boston. Yes, they had one of the biggest choke jobs in sports history last postseason which completely scarred all of us forever but that was by a fraudulent team (that still should have gotten the job done).

The Bruins' best players in this postseason: Tim Thomas, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Dennis Seidenberg, Chris Kelly and Nathan Horton were all for one reason or another (poor play, injuries, not on the team) were not playing for Boston last spring.

Zdeno Chara had two goals and an assist last night as the Bruins beat up the Flyers 5-1 at TD Garden to take a 3-0 series lead. Game 4 is tomorrow night back at TD Garden.

This was one over as fast as you can say Big Z (first of the playoffs) as the captain scored 30 seconds into regulation (from Marchand and Patrice Bergeron) and Krejci (fifth of the playoffs) made it 2-0 at 1:01 (with assists to Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton).

Philadelphia took a timeout after Krejci's goal but the damage had been done to goaltender Brian Boucher's (16 saves) already fragile psyche. For the third straight game in the series, he didn't make it through the entire contest as Sergei Bobrovsky (8 saves) entered in the second period.

Thomas (37 saves) continued to be a brick wall in goal and bar none, the best goaltender in the NHL playoffs. He never let the Flyers jump back into it and has completely neutralized their loaded offense.

The Bruins didn't let up when they got the early lead as Daniel Paille (first of the playoffs) and Horton scored in the second period to make it 4-0. Paille's goal at 13:39 was the direct result of a great transition with linemates Gregory Campbell (who had an assist) and Shawn Thornton (who drove to the net). Johnny Boychuck also assisted.

Horton's tally at 15:14 was Boucher's requisite soft as Kim Kardashian's butt goal that he allows each and every game. Krejci and Chara assisted on Horton's fifth of the playoffs that went right through Boucher's five-hole.

Philadelphia defenseman Andrej Maszaros got his team on the board at 16:26 of the second period. Darroll Powe and Daniel Carcillo assisted on Maszaros' strike that was inevitable since they were getting good pressure on Thomas.

Horton and Sean O'Donnell fought early in the second period. It was the first fight of the playoffs (as far as I know) but it was nice to see Horton step up and not give in to the endless cheap shots by the Flyers.

It was in garbage time but confidence-wise moving forward, Boston's last goal was perhaps its most important of the blowout as Chara broke the Bruins' 0-for-30 slump on the power-play in the playoffs. Yes it was on a 5-on-3 but who cares? Now they don't have to hear about that anymore. With assists to Krejci and Seidenberg, Chara fired a laser over Bobrovsky's shoulder.

One of the biggest misconceptions coming into this series was that the big bad Flyers would push around the Bruins. On second thought, not so much. Marchand, Paille, Boychuk, Lucic and Co. were all flying around last night and landing huge hits on Flyers. It was beautiful to see.

I'm not looking too far ahead but I'm very confident that if the Bruins don't win tomorrow night, they'll win in Game 5. The Flyers are just a mess right now while the Bruins have seven of their last eight playoff games including four in overtime. The best thing to do is get this over in Game 4, sweep the Flyers and get ready to face the Tampa Bay Lightning (who swept the Washington Capitals last night) in the Eastern Conference finals, someplace the Bs haven't been since 1992.

Tim Thomas shows he's a changed man

There was absolutely no reason to think the Boston Bruins would win Game 2 last night against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Wells Fargo Center.

Down 1-0 in the series, Philly needed a big effort to even it up and they couldn't have gotten off to a better start as James van Riemsdyk scored 29 seconds into the first period and then at 9:31 on the power-play.

From that point on though, Boston goaltender Tim Thomas (career-high 52 saves) played the best game of his career as he stood on his head and his team rallied for a heart-stopping 3-2 overtime win.

Chris Kelly (4th of the playoffs) and Brad Marchand (4th of the playoffs) tied it up later in the first period and then the teams flew up and down the ice in a scoreless second and third period.

Krejci (4th of the playoffs) got it done at 14:00 of overtime as he one-timed a great feed from Nathan Horton past Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher (32 saves).

van Rimesdyk was a revelation for Philadelphia as he was the most dominant offensive player in the game. I lost count on how many times he had great scoring chances for himself or teammates. His first goal was the result of a 2 on 1 with Claude Giroux. It looked like Giroux whiffed on his shot attempt but it went right to the former UNH star who put it past Thomas. Nikolay Zherdev also assisted on the goal.

The second Philly goal was the fault of Boston's defense, not Thomas. He stopped two shots before van Riemsdyk banged home the rebound. Danny Briere and Kimmo Timonen assisted on the power-play tally, van Rimesdyk's seventh of the postseason.

It makes sense that Boston's two most dependable forwards in the playoffs-not named Patrice Bergeron-combined to knot it at two before the first twenty minutes were up.

Tomas Kaberle's shot was blocked by Boucher, Michael Ryder drove to the net and was stuffed but Boucher couldn't stop Kelly as he swooped by and poked it in at 12:50.

Marchand's goal was a wrist shot from about 35-feet out which in most cases (especially when there's no traffic) should be stopped. Lucky for us, Marchand scored and it was thanks to a tasty pass from Bergeron with Mark Recchi picking up the second assist.

It's hard to imagine there's a hotter team in the NHL right now than the Bruins. They've won six of their last seven games, including a bananas four in overtime.

Game 3 is tomorrow night at TD Garden and needless to say, we don't need a refresher course on what happened last spring when these teams met. Boston dominated Game 1 and stole Game 2 thanks to Thomas' majestic play. Just like the Flyers came out on fire last night, I expect more of the same tomorrow. It's up to the Bruins to weather it all and come out on top, again.

Bruins make the playoffs for the fourth straight season, when's the parade?

Back-to-back games might be rough on the players and coaches but for sports fans (and it's all about us, right?) it allows us to quickly move on from poor results.

The Boston Bruins' weak sauce 1-0 blanking by the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon was one of the most forgettable games of the 2010-11 season.

Yet last night in Philadelphia, the Bs (42-23-10) beat the Flyers (45-20-10) 2-1 to clinch a playoff spot for the fourth straight season.

The fact that they knocked off the Eastern Conference's top team, who they ahem have some recent history with, made this two points all the more sweeter.

Kris Versteeg gave Philly a 1-0 lead at 4:45 of the first period, his 20th of the season, as a bad clearance bounced right to Mike Richards. He faked a shot and passed to Versteeg who roofed it over Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (27 saves). James van Riemsdyk assisted on the goal too.

Boston's power play cashed in on not only one but two chances as Nathan Horton tied it at 1-1, 7:40 into the second period. It was Horton's 23rd of the season, assisted by Tomas Kaberle and David Krejci. Krejci won the face-off and drew it back to Kaberle who shot it on Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher (34 saves) but he left a juicy rebound for Horton to scoop in.

Brad Marchand had the game-winner at 16:17 of the third period, from Dennis Seidenberg and Mark Recchi. Marchand had been blanked for the past twelve games (plus the two he was suspended for) but that tally was extra special since it was his 20th of the season in a big spot. Once again, Boucher left a rebound right in front for Marchand to put in the net.

Boston is now firmly in third place in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins are seven points ahead of Montreal, four points behind Washington and six points behind Philadelphia with seven games remaining.

Tomorrow night is another tough matchup as the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks come to the TD Garden. Chicago has 88 points but they're clinging to the eighth spot in the deeper Western Conference. I'll be there and I expect an up and down, fast-paced game.