Bruins Nation

I was in the section right behind the boards 20 rows up when Bergeron went down and didn't get back up. Everyone in the Garden was shocked. Quite frankly, Bergeron looked dead. Since then, I've wanted Philadelphia to lose every single game. So what happens the next time the Bruins play the Flyers, Mike Hartnell puts a very illegal hit on Andrew Alberts (Alberts is still injured from it because of post concussion syndrome). All I wanted on Saturday was for the Bruins to beat the Flyers, and they did.

NESN started out their coverage of the game by highlighting a cut on Jeremy Reich. Apparently him and Zdeno Chara dropped the gloves at practice. Both players downplayed it, and Claude Julien said he was glad that the two were practicing with such high intensity. NESN never mentioned, however, who won. After Thomas's poor performance against MOntreal, julien decided to give Auld the start.

The Bruins started off by taking a bunch of early penalties. Aaron Ward looked to be going after Hartnell (I don't blame him). With Eight and a half left in the first, a Flyer shot hit off the post. The rebound then hit off the boards and bounced right to Jeff Carter, who shot it in. A little later, Milan Lucic tried to put a hit on Smith. It was a bad idea. Milan Lucic hit his head on the dasher and blood sprayed everywhere. Thishappening after Reich had taken a shot off his ankle. Now two tough guys were injured with the Bruins down by one. Hockey is truly a great sport though. Milna Lucic got stitched up and Reich got his swelling to go down. Both players returned in the second period.

Four minutes into the second period, the Bruins were able to go on a 5 on 3. During that time, Marc Savard shot a one million mile per hour slap shot into the net. Late in the second, good passing on a power play led to Chara shooting the puck near the faceoff circle. Marco Sturm was able to put in his rebound. The second period ended with the Bruins up 2-1.

Five minutes into the third period, David Krejci did a great job feeding the puck to Chara in the offensive zone. Chara sent a drive toward the net that was deflected in by Peter Schaefer. The Bruins started getting a sloppy with a two goal lead. Alex Auld started having to make really nice saves. Eventually Philly got their chance. On a Flyer power play with under ten minutes left, a shot came while a group of Flyers crashed the net. The puck somehow went in. Three minutes later, Marco Sturm was robbed by the Flyer crossbar. Philadelphia then got the puck and got a shot off to Auld. Auld saved it, but he wasn't able to control the rebound and Daniel Briere was able to put it in easily. All tied up I would have figured the team would ease up. They didn't. The Flyers toward the end of the third started coming very hard. The Bruins were lucky to makje it into overtime.

As overtime started, it looked as if the Flyers had all the momentum and energy. On a Bruins clear, Sturm (or Savard, I couldn't tell) was racing towards the puck. This caused the goalie to come out of the net to clear the puck. He cleared it right to Aaron Ward, who from the blue line shot the puck into an open net, and the Bruins won 4-3!