Editor’s note: Starting Tuesday, March 24, NESN will re-air memorable games from the Boston Bruins’ Stanley Cup run. Up next is Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers. See the full schedule by clicking here.
While the Bruins’ Stanley Cup run in 2011 was plenty memorable, if anything was forgettable it was the second round.
Boston made easy work of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinal, sweeping the team that had erased a 3-0 series deficit and embarrassed the B’s in the same round the previous season.
It all began, though, with a shellacking in Game 1 at Wells Fargo Center, with the Bruins winning the opener 7-3.
Here are five things you might have forgotten about Game 1, which viewers can watch at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night on NESN.
1. David Krejci was the star after missing the last four games of the 2010 meltdown
A wrist injury sidelined Krejci for the four losses of the 2010 series, but he came back with a bang.
Krejci posted four points in the opener, with a pair of goals and as many assists. Of course, he would go on to lead all skaters in postseason scoring in 2011, and Game 1 went a long way in helping secure his spot atop the leaderboard.
2. The floodgates didn’t open until the second period, and the Flyers made a late push
Much of the first period was pretty narrow, with Nathan Horton’s tally at 19:24 in the first period breaking a 1-1 deadlock. It wasn’t until the B’s outscored the Flyers 3-1 in the middle frame that things really started to feel out of reach.
However, credit to the Flyers, they didn’t just lay down in the third period. Mike Richards scored on the power play at 13:02 to cut Philly’s deficit to 5-3. Yet, their excitement was short-lived, as just 1:57 later Brad Marchand would put away Boston’s sixth goal of the game.
3. Five Bruins had at least two points
It’s tough to score seven goals and have it not be a collective effort, so it should come as little surprise multiple guys got involved.
Krejci (2-2-4), Marchand (2-1-3), Patrice Bergeron (0-3-3), Nathan Horton (1-1-2) and Dennis Seidenberg (0-2-2) each had at least a pair of points.
4. None of the seven goals came on the power play
Yes, we’re beating a dead horse, but that man advantage unit struggled so badly in 2011.
In a game where the Bruins scored seven goals and had five opportunities on the power play, Boston could not cash in a single time, making them 0-for-26 with an extra man up to that point in the playoffs.
5. Milan Lucic and future Bruin Zac Rinaldo both got misconducts late in the game
Ah, just a couple of heavy hitters expressing displeasure with one another.
Both Lucic and Rinaldo got 10-minute penalties late in the game for misconduct, though it was relatively benign when you consider who was involved. After a whistle, an Andrej Meszaros slash drew the ire of Lucic, who was being held by a referee and promptly was shoved from behind by Rinaldo. Lucic clearly didn’t like it, so he turned around and swung (and connected) at Rinaldo.
Rinaldo and Lucic were taken off the ice by the officials, who obviously didn’t want the last four-plus minutes to turn into a complete gong show.
