What's the greatest Bruins game ever broadcast on NESN?
That's up to you.
We've narrowed the bracket down to eight finalists, and now it's your turn to vote over the next eight weeks to select the No. 1 heart-stopping, gut-wrenching, iconic Bruins game since NESN became the home of the Black and Gold.
The third week of matchups brings us to the 1988 conference finals against New Jersey and a special regular-season game for Cam Neely in 1994.
In 1988, the Black and Gold clawed their way to their first Stanley Cup appearance since 1978 — and they had to take down the Devils to get there. There was no shortage of drama, either, as Game 3 featured a standoff between New Jersey coach Jim Schoenfeld and referee Don Koharski. A fight in the tunnel — which allegedly ended in Schoenfeld pushing Koharski to the ground — resulted in Schoenfeld being suspended for Game 4, but he got an injunction from the league and was able to coach. In protest, the refs refused to take the ice, so the league had to consult emergency amateur refs.
All the drama culminated in a do-or-die Game 7. Late in the third period, the Bruins' Craig Janney intercepted a pass and slid the eventual game-winner into the goal, then sailed through the air looking like the iconic Bobby Orr in the Stanley Cup finals against St. Louis. Boston ended up winning 6-2 and advancing to the cup for the first time in almost 20 years.
Is that better than Cam Neely's miraculous feat on March 7, 1994? One of the Bruins' all-time greatest players joined the rest of the Bruins' all-time greatest players when he notched his 49th and 50th goals of the season in one game against Washington. He needed just 44 games to do so, joining Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the fastest players to reach the 50-goal mark in a season. Neely was limited to just 49 games in 1993-94 because of a bad knee and a bad hip, but that didn't stop him from making history.
Now it's your turn to choose. Don't forget to stay tuned and make sure that your favorite game makes it through to the finals.
Click here to submit your vote.
