Editor’s note: Starting Tuesday, March 24, NESN will re-air memorable games from the Boston Bruins’ Stanley Cup run. Up next is Game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Montreal Canadiens. Get the full schedule by clicking here.
Game 3 of the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals may have put the Bruins a comfortable lead in the series against the Philadelphia Flyers. But it gave Boston fans some not-so-great déjà -vu.
The B’s found themselves up 3-0 in 2010 to the Flyers, only to have Philadelphia complete the improbable comeback and knock the Bruins out of the race for the Stanley Cup.
But times were different and Boston locked up a Game 3 win thanks to a give-goal effort from the club, including two from Zdeno Chara.
Here are three things you might have forgotten about Game 3, which can be seen Friday night at 9 p.m. ET on NESN:
1. Chara and David Krejci scored in the opening 63 seconds
It didn’t take long for Boston to open up the scoring. In fact, it took just 30 seconds after the puck dropped thanks to Chara’s first of the game. David Krejci then followed suit with a nice setup by Nathan Horton to double the Bruins’ lead to 2-0 just 33 seconds later.
Those two goals were the fastest ones Philly had allowed to start a playoff game and also marked the fastest a team potted two goals in a playoff game since 1998.
“I think anytime you score on the first shift it gives your team so much momentum and confidence,” Brad Marchand said, via MassLive. “Krejci’s line did a great job on going up and following it up.”
2. Boston forced Brian Boucher out of the net in the second period
Boucher collected 34 regular-season wins in the 2010-11 season for the Flyers, but Boston was just too much for him in Game 3. Daniel Paille and Horton made it 4-0 in the middle frame and Philly made the change to rookie Sergei Bobrovsky. He allowed one goal but made seven stops for the remainder of the game.
3. Chara’s second goal ended a power-play drought
Heading into Game 3, Boston was a dreadful 0-for-30 on the power play. But that all changed when the B’s had a 5-on-3 advantage after back-to-back Flyers penalties. Chara beat Bobrovsky with his famous slapshot to put the B’s up 5-1, give them their first power-play goal of the playoffs and sealed the 5-1 win.
Check out some highlights from the thrilling win here, with Chara’s tally coming in around the 15:50 mark.
