Editor’s note: Starting Tuesday, March 24, NESN will re-air memorable games from the Boston Bruins’ Stanley Cup run. Up next is Game 4 of the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Montreal Canadiens. Get the full schedule by clicking here.
April 21, 2011 is when things really started rolling for the Boston Bruins.
They entered the fourth game of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens down 2-1. They had stolen Game 3 at Bell Centre and either were going to draw level or be pushed to the brink of elimination in Game 4.
What resulted was a thrilling 5-4 overtime win, with Michael Ryder’s tally less than two minutes into the extra period giving Boston the win to level the series as it shifted back to Boston.
Here are five things you might have forgotten about Game 4, which can be seen at 8 p.m. ET on Friday night on NESN.
1. The winner wasn’t Michael Ryder’s only goal of the game
Game 4 of this series ultimately helped get Ryder going, as the former Canadiens winger became a pretty large part of the Bruins’ postseason success in 2011.
While he did score the winner at 1:59 in OT off of Chris Kelly’s feed from behind the net, he also had a game-tying tally just a few minutes into the second period. Down 1-0 in the middle stanza, Ryder scored off a pass from Tomas Kaberle at 2:13.
2. Chris Kelly was a big contributor in the win
Playing with a cage after suffering a facial injury in Game 3, Kelly contributed three points with a goal and two assists.
His goal, which came at 13:42 in the third period, tied the game at four and sent the game to the extra period.
3. The Bruins were on the penalty kill in the final minutes of regulation
It was a chaotic final couple of minutes in the third period, as Dennis Seidenberg was penalized for interference at 17:41.
The result was two anxiety-inducing minutes late in the period in which Montreal got a few quality chances. During that power play the Habs had two shots on net, two shots get blocked and one shot go wide of the net.
Boston, obviously, ultimately killed the penalty and hunkered down the final 19 seconds to get to overtime.
4. Montreal blew three leads
While Kelly’s game-tying goal obviously is the most notable equalizer, it wasn’t the only time the Bruins came back from a deficit.
The Habs ended up blowing a 1-0 and 3-1 lead, in addition to 4-3.
5. It was the Andrew Ference middle finger game
Many Bruins fans remember the blueliner scoring and then appearing to give the bird.
That, um, memorable moment happened when he scored at 9:59 in the second, though Ference after the game denied that’s what he was intending to do.
“I think my glove got caught up,” Ference said, via the AP. “I can assure you that’s not part of who I am or what I ever have been. It looks awful, I admit it. I completely apologize about how it looks.”
