Flyers show heart with historic comeback
The previous three games seemed to be a distant memory for the Bruins when Milan Lucic's goal at 14:10 of the first period gave the Black and Gold a 3-0 lead. After that, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette called his time out to settle his team down.
They responded quickly.
Just 3:02 after Lucic's second goal of the game (his first came at 9:02 in the first stanza, 3:35 after Michael Ryder made it 1-0), James van Riemsdyk would give the Flyers a little bit of momentum with his first career playoff goal at 17:12 as his goal deflected off Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart. Instead of trailing 3-0 going into the first intermission, the Flyers were down 3-1 after one.
"They started strong," said Flyers captain Mike Richards about the start of the contest. "We just had to settle down and play hockey and be confident. JVR [van Riemsdyk] got that big goal at the end of the first. He played extremely well and carried us for most of the game."
After that, the Flyers finished what they started and Simon Gagne played the role of the hero, again.
The Flyers would respond quickly after the first intermission when Scott Hartnell made it 3-2 just 2:49 into the period when he gathered a rebound from Ville Leino and banged the puck home past Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask on the doorstep. Hartnell factored into the tying goal, too, when he assisted on Daniel Briere's seventh goal of the playoffs at 8:39.
"We started to finally make plays in the second period and it turned around," said Richards.
All of this, and a Bruins bench minor in the third period led to Gagne's heroics on a Flyers power play.
With the Bruins shorthanded, Gagne would take advantage of the opportunity and score his fourth goal of the playoffs at 12:52 to give the Flyers the 4-3 lead. Not only did Gagne provide the heroics Friday night, but he also netted game-winner in Game 4 (after returning from an injury), saving his team from elimination, and beginning the Flyers' comeback from their 3-0 series deficit.
"It's hard to believe," Gagne admitted after the game. "Not only were we down 3-0 in the series, but we were down 3-0 and putting ourselves in the tough situation early on in the game. Being able to come back from a 3-0 game and finding a way to get that goal on the power play just showed the character of this team.
"I'm just glad to be able to come back in that series and help the team to win."
After a resilient performance against the Bruins, the seventh-seeded Flyers will now face another resilient squad in the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night. The eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens enter the series fresh off defeating the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games.
"It's going to be exciting, there is no doubt about that," said Briere on the team's upcoming series with the Habs. "It is pretty amazing that a seven and an eight seed are facing each other. We were both on the same path a little bit, coming back 3-1 and 3-2 against two really good hockey teams. It is remarkable that these are the two teams alive in the Eastern Conference."
For now, however, the Flyers can cherish the moment, as they are now the third team in NHL history that has come back from a 3-0 deficit to take the series.
"It was great for me to be behind the bench, but this is all about the players," said Laviolette. "The players won a hockey game today. That's the biggest news you can write about. They worked for it, they fought for it and they earned it."
