Five different Bruins lit the lamp: Bergeron, Krejci, Recchi, Sturm and Wheeler. Where has this scoring prowess been all season long?
Even more encouraging was the no-nonsense attitude the Bruins brought to the game. Gone are the days of being pushed around.
Stuart dropped gloves twice, while Thornton came close to doing battle. Despite their fights and hard physical play, the Bruins only got whistled for penalty, the Flyers as well.
Philly tried to establish an up-tempo game to start things off, but the Bruins were able to dictate the style of play for much of the game. Of course, it's easy to do that when you bang shots home with aplomb.
Third period, 1:30, 5-1 Bruins: And as I say that, the Bruins make a push down the ice, with Marchand
coming down the left side and flicking the puck to Boucher as Vladimir
Sobotka tries to put the rebound in.
The Bruins have assumed control in Flyer territory.
Third period, 2:00, 5-1 Bruins: As the game winds down, this is how it's developing: Flyers get the puck, push it down the ice and let loose a shot not all that close to the goal that either goes wide or deflects off a player.
Then, the Flyers either regain possession and start over again, or the Bruins grab it and either play keep-away or dump the puck down the ice.
Yup, this game's over.
Third period, 4:35, 5-1 Bruins: Marchand just misses a a cross-ice pass to bang the goal home. He was getting his bearings after slipping while chasing the puck down the ice.
Third period, 5:40, 5-1 Bruins: As the 4-on-4 setup winds down, play has slowed to a more deliberate pace.
Third period, 7:05, 5-1 Bruins: Let that be a lesson to Carcillo. Patrice Bergeron came hard down the left side, drawing close to the goalie before dumping it off to Marco Sturm just to the right of Boucher for the Bruins' fifth lamp-lighter of the game.
Third period, 7:41, 4-1 Bruins: Carcillo is hoping to get into a fight with Hunwick, but the referees won't let that happen.
"How brave Mr. Carcillo is," the announcers remark.
Hunwick didn't shy away from the battle, and both will head to the box for two minutes due to misconduct.
Third period, 8:22, 4-1 Bruins: Philadelphia is playing up-tempo, while the Bruins are trying to slow the game down.
Neither has been able to establish the momentum, although the Bruins are starting to match the Flyers in urgency.
Third period, 10:32, 4-1 Bruins: Girioux splits a Bruin defender's stick, and the Flyers are trying to seize an opportunity here.
They grab a couple shots, but nothing gets done and the Bruins re-assume control.
Bergeron jumps the line, so play will be stopped.
Third period, 12:01, 4-1 Bruins: Some rough play going on, as Stuart shoves Carcillo and Carter down.
Carcillo wasn't too pleased and was jawing, pushing Stuart away from him. Shawn Thornton wastes no time dropping his gloves, ready to do damage.
The referees break things up, and it seems like Carcillo may have changed his mind. Smart man; he already took one beating, no need to take another.
Third period, 14:20, 4-1 Bruins: The B's have a nice chance here to get a breakaway with Lucic and Krejci responsible for most of the action. They can't get it off, and the Flyers bring the pressure.
They leave the puck behind, though, so Boston breaks up the opportunity.
Philly regains possession, and Mike Richards passes to Jeff Carter who slams a shot at Rask. The goaltender turns the goal away.
Third period, 15:25, 4-1 Bruins: A strong slapshot 60 feet out by Braydon Coburn results in an easy save for the Bruins.
The ensuing face off results in a scrum by Boston's net before Rask can finally put a lid on the puck.
Third period, 16:17, 4-1 Bruins: Boston couldn't capitalize on a power play after Danny Briere hooked David Krejci.
Beginning of third period, 4-1 Bruins: The Bruins got off 14 shots that period, one more than the first.
Philadelphia saw their output go from nine to 14, and a tinge of desperation is creeping into their game as they scramble to narrow the deficit.
It's important for Boston to come out and establish the pace, making the Flyers hang back and wait for plays to develop. It'll eat valuable time off the clock, not to mention allow the B's to keep some energy in reserve.
End of second period, 4-1 Bruins: Well, that was certainly a nice period to be a Boston fan. The Flyers got the scoring started by netting a goal it up 1-1.
Then, the Bruins fired back by scoring three unanswered (thus far) goals to take a commanding lead into the final intermission.
One interesting plot that's been developing is Mark Stuart's no-nonsense attitude, already dropping the gloves twice and showing players all over the league not to mistake their immediate non-response to the Marc Savard hit as a sign of weakness.
Second period, :50, 4-1 Bruins: The Flyers muffed a great chance there, with Claude Giroux trying to give-and-go with Gagne that ends up going nowhere.
Second period, 3:55, 4-1 Bruins: A good bounce on a shot from Matt Carle saves the Bruins from coughing up a goal.
The Flyers are really bringing the pressure lately. They'd love to at least pull within two before the period ends.
Second period, 7:47, 4-1 Bruins: Wide open goal for Simon Gagne there, but he misjudges his shot and it goes off the post.
Second period, 8:44, 4-1 Bruins: David Krejci decides to join the scoring party, as Blake Wheeler passes to Michael Ryder who backhands it to Krejci. The pass, reception and goal wasn't pretty, but does it matter? All that matters is that the lamp lights.
Leighton is being removed from the game in favor of Brian Boucher, a 33-year-old from Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Second period, 9:25, 3-1 Bruins: Marco Sturm was caught behind the Flyers' goal all by his lonesome, but gets the puck to Seidenberg. He brings it over to Matt Hunwick, who takes a shot from the blue line.
The puck bounces off of the goalie, and Bergeron is there to take action.
Second period, 12:19, 2-1 Bruins: Here we go again. Ian Laperriere and Stuart are both tussling, and it takes a while before Laperriere hits the ice. Both will be assessed fighting majors.
It's save to say that Stuart, who just participated in his second fight of the game, is making sure other teams know not to push the B's around.
Laperriere is the active leader for penalty minutes due to fighting, by the way.
Second period, 12:44, 2-1: The period isn't even halfway over yet, and the Bruins already have six scoring chances in the period — 12 overall.
Second period, 15:15, 2-1 Bruins: The play this period is much faster — the Flyers are trying to control the game.
The puck gets sent into the netting, but the B's will have a face off in Philly territory.
A few short seconds later, and you could see that goal coming from a mile. The Bruins went wing-to-wing on a breakout with Seidenberg passing to Bergeron in the center, with Recchi flipping the puck home.
Second period, 18:36, 1-1: The Bruins get the second period off to a nice start, with Marco Sturm executing a shot on goal that Leighton bobbles briefly.
The referees had to help clear out the crease after that shot as there was a bump in the ice due to built up ice chips.
Dennis Seidenberg just sent Carchillo into the boards rather roughly, and that will draw a power play opportunity.
… And four seconds into the power play, Jeff Carter pops a goal home to tie it.
The Flyers smell blood, and they come out of the faceoff strong. There's a pile-up in front of Rask, and the referees take time to soothe emotions.
Beginning of second period, 1-0 Bruins: One thing to keep an eye on that didn't occur in the first are power play chances.
The Flyers are hot in power play opportunities lately, which is a large part of their surge to sixth in the conference. The Bruins boast one of the best penalty kills in the game, but as for scoring? That's another story.
End of first period, 1-0 Bruins: A strong period for Boston. The game got off to a poor start as the Flyers were up-tempo and pressing the puck.
Boston was able to slow down the game and establish their own pace, and it's been a back-and-forth affair ever since.
Boston outshot Philly 13 to 9, with the only goal being scored by Blake Wheeler. It's 1-0 heading into the first intermission.
First period, 1:31, 1-0: The Bruins foil a burgeoning breakaway by Philly. After the Flyers mess up trying to gear up for another attack, the Bruins get the puck to Bergeron who flips a shot off that goes awry.
Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley just wryly mentioned that there was a shoulder-to-body hit on the ice, with no suspension likely.
First period, 3:01, 1-0: There was a great chance there for the Bruins to bang home another goal as everyone seemed to be standing around waiting for a nonexistent whistle. Milan Lucic caught on and snapped a shot, but went off a Flyer's body.
First period, 4:11, 1-0: Krejci had a nice run on the goal, trying to beat out a Philly defenseman to the net. He snapped a shot that went wide, easily pushed by Leighton away from the goal.
First period, 5:58, 1-0: We've got a battle on our hands. It's Mark Stuart against Daniel Carcillo. Stuart is throwing some serious haymakers that keep missing their spot. Carcillo loses his balance and goes down.
Stuart grabs Carcillo's head, and … the referees stop it. You could see some pent-up anger there. Other teams be warned: don't trifle with the Bruins, who are very upset about the whole Savard saga.
First period, 6:33, 1-0 Bruins: Goal for the Bruins. It was a 3-on-1 setup, with Krejci passing to Blake Wheeler who flipped the shot home without much difficulty, engineering a deke to throw Leighton off his game.
First period, 9:17, 0-0: Rask just made an impressive save, caught halfway in a dive as the Flyers' Aaron Asham took a wristshot.
Rask had been on the right side of the goal and had to slide over quickly to reject Asham. Play has been stopped for a TV timeout.
First period, 10:46, 0-0: Boston's been picking it up a bit recently. The momentum is starting to swing the Bruins' way. They are dictating the pace of the game after the Flyers got off to a quick pace to start.
First period, 12:30, 0-0: First shot on goal for the Bruins, and it's Marco Sturm that draws that honor. Goalie Michael Leighton, filling in for the injured Rey Emery, gloved it. Leighton has been on fire and is 7-0-1 in his last eight games.
First period, 13:00, 0-0: This won't surprise you, but the Flyers already have three shots on goal while Boston has none.
The Bruins are doing a good job on defense of securing the puck and bringing it up the ice, but they fall apart when it's time for a money shot.
Speaking of money shots, David Krejci just keyed up for a shot but flubbed it.
First period, 15:50, 0-0: This Flyers team is playing rather physical, but the Bruins aren't letting them get away with it. There's plenty of jostling going on.
After a faceoff won by the Flyers, the Bruins grabbed control and brought the puck all the way down the ice behind the goal.
Chara flipped the puck to Dennis Seidenberg who shot it on net, but the puck was deflected. Philly has now gained control.
First period, 18:00, 0-0: The first couple minutes of the game have resulted in a Flyers team bringing the pressure. They've already ripped off a shot on goal.
Beginning of first period: The banged-up Bruins just got even more banged up: Miroslav Satan is out with a groin injury. Brad Marchand takes his place.
No worries for those wondering if Chara would play: he's in the game, with Jeff Penner a healthy scratch.
Tuukka Rask grabs the starting goalie job back from Tim Thomas, as the youngster is in net tonight.
5:01 p.m.: Boston.com reports that Bruins captain Zdeno Chara will be a game-time decision against the Flyers.
Chara participated in the team's morning skate and said he felt fine.
"It was bothering me for a little bit," Chara told the Web site of the lower-body injury that kept him out of Tuesday's overtime loss to the Maple Leafs. "You get to the point where you don't want to do more damage to it. So we let it sit and rest."
2:37 p.m.: The Philadelphia Flyers will host the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The Bruins are coming off two demoralizing losses — against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively — while having the Marc Savard-Matt Cooke specter hanging over their heads.
With Zdeno Chara banged up as well, the Bruins (29-24-12) have a lot on their plate as they jockey for a playoff spot, a mere three points ahead of the New York Rangers. The sixth-seeded Flyers (35-26-4) are closer to the Bruins in points than they are to fifth-seeded Ottawa, so they're going to be coming out hard.
All the action starts at 7 p.m., so point your TV remote to NESN and your computer mouse to NESN.com when the puck drops and we'll bring you all the action.
