Of course, the Bruins know all too well that no series lead is ever safe against the Flyers. And their own turnaround against the Habs will serve as further warning against getting too comfortable in this series. Still, there is plenty to be positive about with the way the Bruins have played of late.
So while Boston looks to extend their lead on the Flyers, and then try to do a better job of closing this series out, here's a look at a half dozen items from the past week that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks in this week's edition of the Bruins Shootout.
1. David Krejci appears to be the Flyers' kryptonite. In his last 11 games against Philadelphia dating back to the Winter Classic at Fenway Park, the Bruins are 10-0-1 against the Flyers with Krejci is in the lineup, with Krejci posting 5-10-15 totals and a plus-8 rating in those games. Without him, they went 0-4, losing four straight games to squander a 3-0 series lead last year in the playoffs after Krejci was lost for the season with a wrist injury suffered on a hit by Mike Richards. So it's no surprise to see Philadelphia trying to play especially physical against Krejci again this series. The Flyers have taken every opportunity to finish hits on Krejci, trying to intimidate him both physically and psychologically by chirping him about last year's injury. It hasn't exactly worked, as Krejci has three goals and five points in two games, scoring the Game 2 winner in overtime as he's taken the extra attention in stride.
"Well, that's part of the playoffs," Krejci said after Game 2. "I knew that was what was going to happen. I just have to keep playing my game and focus on the things I can control. I can't really worry about what they are going to do to me too much. Just go out there and play my game and I think that's what I did [Monday].”
Bruins coach Claude Julien noted that Krejci is "really motivated to play in this series, obviously with what happened to him last year, and he seems like a determined player." Krejci managed just one point in seven games against Montreal, but it seems like Philly has once again brought out the best in the talented center.
2. Another center may be playing even better for the Bruins. Patrice Bergeron has been doing it all throughout the playoffs, contributing in all aspects of the game and at both ends of the rink. He leads the Bruins with 11 points through nine games, and only Brad Marchand (plus-8) is ahead of his plus-7. Bergeron's even made an impact physically, leading the team with 27 hits.
"What more can you say about Bergy?" Julien said. "To me, he's arguably our best forward since the start of the playoffs. He comes to play every night and he plays hard. He plays hard at both ends. He has contributed offensively, but without a doubt he is a most reliable two-way player. And he leads by example and you can tell he's a committed player this year and he's also a good leader in the dressing room and he is leading by example on the ice."
3. Julien has been criticized in some quarters throughout his tenure for playing his fourth line too much, especially in tight games late. But his willingness to use that line in overtime on Monday, and that line's ability to take a couple of shifts with the game on the line and not prove a liability, may have contributed to Krejci and the top line ultimately scoring the game-winner.
After being hemmed in their own zone for most of the third period, when the Bruins were outshot 22-7, Boston's top three lines were gassed in overtime and needed a break. The fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton provided that with a pair of shifts, even as Flyers coach Peter Laviolette was able to get his high-powered line of James van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Nikolay Zherdev out opposite them. Van Riemsdyk scored both of the Flyers goals, but didn't cash in against the fourth line when they took a shift eight minutes into OT and another just under four minutes later. A better rested Krejci then scored the game-winner less than two minutes after that second shift by the fourth line.
"That's what we had to do," Julien said. "At one point you could see your bench was running out of gas and you have to go with your fourth line. They have to go out there and do the job and we've had confidence in them all year. It's just a matter of them going out there and the one time I know they were out there against the other team's top line. And there is no doubt we would have liked a better scenario, but that's where we were at that time of the game. And again, you have to believe in those guys and they have to do the job and they kept them off the scoresheet. It's things like that that really help your team win and our bench got their second wind with a couple shifts from our fourth line and hopefully that was one of the reasons that we found a way to win."
4. The Bruins aren't just getting big performances from their forwards this postseason. The defense has been chipping in as well. And no one has contributed more than Dennis Seidenberg. After missing last year's playoffs when his forearm was sliced by a skate late in regular season, Seidenberg has made up for lost time by leading the Bruins in ice time in three of the last five games, including a team-high 36:26 in Monday's overtime epic. He was a plus-3 with six blocked shots in that game, and overall leads the team with 27 blocked shots to go with 23 hits, 25 shots, a plus-5 rating and 1-4-5 totals.
"He's a horse," Julien said. "He's strong and you look at the minutes he's been logging and he doesn’t get tired, he can take it. … When we acquired him the one thing we knew about him was he was really a big-game player and he's proven that and even more so. When you look at the way he's performed you can see how much we missed him last year in the playoffs and how better we would have been a team with him in it."
5. The Bruins haven't been taking any shortcuts to their postseason success. Not only did they go the full seven games against Montreal in the opening round, they needed to go to overtime in three of those games. It was the first time they've played three overtime games in a series since 1998 and the first time they've won three OT games in a series since 1943. With another OT win in Game 2 against Philly, the Bruins have now played their most overtime games in one postseason since 1992 and are one shy of the club record of five set in 1939 and matched in 1978. Their four OT wins have already tied the team record set in 1978.
The Bruins are hardly alone going to sudden death this spring. Across the league, 19 of the first 59 playoff games have gone to OT, including five of the first 10 games in the second round. Every series in both rounds except Detroit's four-game sweep of Phoenix has featured at least one overtime game.
6. Chris Kelly joked after being forced to wear a protective cage to protect a facial injury that maybe he would keep it on if he scored a few goals, referencing Rip Hamilton's decision to keep his face guard on after his injury healed in the NBA. Well, Kelly has three goals and three assists in six games since donning the cage, after managing just one point in his first three playoff games without it. But Kelly made it clear this week that despite the success with it on, he won't be keeping the cage any longer than he has to. "No, I'm not a superstitious person, not by that extreme anyway," Kelly said.
While Krejci mentioned that the Flyers have been chirping him about his wrist injury from last year, Kelly hasn't been getting any grief for wearing the cage. "Not that I've heard," Kelly said. "I don't hear as much with the cage on, so maybe they are chirping me. I don't know."
