Both events, however, were realities for the Bruins on Wednesday night, and as a result, they'll have to fight for their playoff lives in a deciding Game 7 on Friday night. Frankly, given the stomach punches endured by B's fans over the past few decades, it's enough to make even the staunchest Black and Gold supporter more than a little bit queasy.
Yet while it's easy to look at a blown 3-0 series lead and deem it as a calamitous collapse, nothing is ever quite that simple. The best example can be found in the first three games of the series, when the Bruins played well but still were not head and shoulders better than the Flyers. That didn't stop them from grabbing that huge series lead, and the same forces were in place in the following three games, only with Philadelphia ending up on the winning side.
The most troubling part for Bruins fans is the fact that in two of their losses, they haven't looked bad. They're starting to believe that the loss of David Krejci for Boston and the addition of Simon Gagne for Philly was enough to swing the momentum of the series. It may be, but there's obviously more at play.
The most pressing issue is obviously a lack of goal scoring. As soon as the Flyers claimed a 2-0 lead on Wednesday night, they went into lockdown mode in front of Michael Leighton's net. The B's continued to try to score on deflected shots from the point, but nothing was getting through, as evidenced by the Flyers' 30 blocked shots. The strategy finally worked with a minute remaining, when a Dennis Wideman changeup was hammered home by Milan Lucic, but the fact that a goal didn't come until Tuukka Rask was pulled for the extra man isn't exactly encouraging. Add in the fact that the Bruins' previous goal — scored more than 130 minutes apart — came with an extra skater on the ice.
The Flyers have obviously adjusted their defense, and the Bruins need to adjust their offense. If that much isn't clear by now, nothing is.
That problem is a bit compounded by the Bruins' lack of a reliable goal-scorer at this point. When Daniel Briere carried a puck through the offensive end and baffled Tuukka Rask with a hard, high wrister, the offensive talent gap between the two teams became that much clearer. Michael Ryder would seem to be the most likely candidate to score in such fashion, but with just one goal in this series (a goal that was a bit of a fluke to begin with), it's safe to say he's gone cold.
Still, the Bruins were able to get some scoring chances, with Patrice Bergeron and Trent Whitfield ringing iron, but if the B's continue to get consistent pressure on net but can't score goals, something's going to have to change.
Admittedly, it's been tough for both teams to play when they have no idea what the referees will be calling or letting slide. Just one penalty was called in the first period of Game 6 (a questionable elbowing call on Mark Stuart 11:02 into the game), though plenty of infractions took place. During the first intermission, the refs must have held a powwow and decided they'd hold a "Who Can Blow the Whistle the Most?" contest in the second.
Braydon Coburn was wrongly whistled for hooking just minutes before Daniel Paille was called for an elbow, even though there was at least eight inches of separation between Paille's limb and Scott Hartnell's hairy face. Chris Pronger was then sent to the box for outmuscling Zdeno Chara, and Briere was called for a hooking penalty so blatant that the ref standing mere feet away didn't call it … but the ref standing at center ice did.
The mother of them all, though, was the decision to award Ville Leino a penalty shot with 7:21 left in the game. It worked out for the Bruins, as Rask made a dazzling glove save to keep the score at 2-0, but considering the original scoring chance had essentially come on a 2-on-1, it was an odd call to say the least.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, they're in a position where they can't afford to let anyone else affect them. As has been made abundantly clear over the past six games (and the entire season series, for that matter), neither the Bruins or Flyers are significantly better than the other. Game 7 will come down to the team with more focus, more drive and, in all honesty, more favorable bounces.
Everyone knows that the game and the series could go either way, and the only thing left to do is watch. For Bruins fans, it might mean following the team's lead and watching through a screen.
