They jumped out quickly with a goal less than two minutes in. They answered every rally the Flyers made. And by the end of the game they had taken home ice away from Philadelphia with a convincing 7-3 victory at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday afternoon.
But for all that, the Bruins also recognize that the work has just barely begun.
"It's a good start, but it's only one game," Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said after dishing out three assists in the win. "We've seen it last year. They're a team that's not going to quit. Yeah, we're pretty happy with our effort. I thought it was overall a pretty good effort for 60 minutes."
Yep, that specter of last year's matchup with these same Flyers stands as a constant reminder that no series is over until it really is over. The Bruins looked great at the start of that series as well, building a 3-0 lead before collapsing over the course of the final four games.
That's something the Bruins are determined not to repeat, and a reason why even a victory this impressive won't get the club the least bit overconfident.
"I thought around the net we were pretty good," Bergeron said. "We were good creating our chances, even though they were doing a good job in blocking us out. We found a way to get those loose pucks and found a way to move their feet. It is only one game, so we have to make sure we cannot be satisfied."
The Flyers series from last year isn't the only cautionary the Bruins can point to in their effort to stay even keeled after a victory like this. The Bruins also know they just lost the first two games of their last series at home against Montreal and still came back to win, so this one is far from over.
"We just came off a series that we won where we lost both games at home," Bruins goalie Tim Thomas said. "The reality is that we got one of the four wins that you need to win a series. If you read anything into it more than that, I don't think it does you any good. You can be happy with what you accomplished tonight, but by tomorrow morning we've got to put that behind us and start focusing on the next game."
The Bruins can take pride out of the victory, especially with the way they never let up on the Flyers. In the past, they've often been guilty of sitting back too much and playing not to lose rather than playing to win when they have a lead. There was little evidence of that in this one.
"There's been a few games, even in the last series where we were up and would kind of sit back and let the team get back into it," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. "We did a good job responding after they got that third goal and that was big for us."
The Flyers did threaten as some undisciplined play cost the Bruins early in the third. After extending the lead to 5-1, Philadelphia answered with a goal late in the second and a power-play tally by Mike Richards at 13:02 of the third to cut it to 5-3. That was Philadelphia's first goal on its fifth power-play chance of the day, including three straight in a 3:31 span in the third as Andrew Ference, David Kejci and Brad Marchand all took minors.
The Flyers had the crowd back in the game and the momentum on their side after cutting the lead to two, but the Bruins ended any hopes of another comeback as Marchand answered with his second goal of the night less than two minutes after Richards score, and Gregory Campbell added another from Krejci less than three minutes after that.
"They just kept coming," Bergeron said. "It's the playoffs and we both want to win, so obviously we're not satisfied with only one win. But we showed some character scoring some goals, especially when they scored that third one."
In the end, it looked a laugher as the Bruins rolled to the four-goal victory. But it wasn't without some nervous moments, especially considering the past history of the teams involved.
"That was a good game, and you don't usually have those types of games during the playoffs," Thomas said. "It was nice. But we didn't have that lead for the whole game, and Philly's known for their comebacks even within games so you always have to be on your toes."
Even with the contest over and Game 1 in the win column, the Bruins know they'll have to stay on their toes for the rest of the series. They've already learned that the hard way.
