The Bruins
look to do what they could not do last year and close out the Flyers and move
on to the Eastern Conference Finals. With a 3-0 lead in the series it should be
Boston all the way, the NHL odds makers have them -170 favorites.
History will not be repeating
The Boston Bruins
are going to win this series. Let’s not
believe for a moment that the Philadelphia Flyers will do this year what they
did last. They were only the third team
in history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win four straight and win the
series. It was an amazing feat and one
that propelled them to the Stanley Cup finals.
But to think that lightning will strike again would have them hitting
the lottery at the same time. It’s just
too much to ask.
The story so far
But the
issue before us is not to conjecture about which team wins the series, it’s who
wins the game. Tonight’s game. After serving up two consecutive winners in
Games 1 & 2, I abandoned the Bruins and believed the Flyers would win a
close checking, low scoring affair. I
was wrong on both counts as the Bruins lit the lamp twice within a little more
than a minute gone in the 1st period and any thoughts I had of a
Flyers victory coupled with the Under, faded like a frat boy at an open bar. But just when it looked as though I may get
lucky and escape with a winner on Under 5 ½, the B’s finally broke their power
play drought when Zdeno Chara scored his 2nd goal of the contest and
slammed the door shut on any chance Philadelphia had of winning the series and
any chance I had of winning my bet.
The Bruins
only fired 28 shots on net in Game 3 but they scored 5 times. The Flyers coach Peter Laviolette continues
to play net roulette and pulled Brian Boucher after the Bruins connected for
the fourth time and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 7 of the Bruins final eight
shots. Though Boucher hasn’t been the
dog that the Philly fans are making him out to be, he is clearly being
outplayed by his counterpart Tim Thomas.
Thomas stopped 37 of 38 shots Wednesday night and he has been the story. However, what is more surprising is the cohesion
of the 1st line who was virtually silent in the Montreal series
coupled with the awakening of Rich Peverley, Chris Kelly and Tomas Kaberle who
were all acquired late in the season and are only now paying dividends.
So how does tonight go?
The bottom
line is that the Bruins are clicking on all cylinders while the Flyers are
stuck in neutral. They have been money
burners for NHL handicappers that backed them this season, -10.5 units and have
lost 6 of 7 to the Bruins this season.
Though the starting goaltenders have not been announced as of this
writing, it’s a lock that Thomas will be back in the saddle for Boston and it
would not surprise me one iota if Bobrovsky got the nod over Boucher. Either way, it won’t really matter as I
believe the Bruins will be hell bent on exorcising the ghost of Flyers past
(specifically last year) and will end the series in Boston tonight. If Bobrovsky does indeed get the nod, I would
put a small play on the Under as well which stands at 5.5 on the NHL odds board. Boston wins tonight.