Throughout the entire night the vibe coming from the fans in Philadelphia felt like they were waiting for something awful to happen to the Flyers all night. The only time the fans were at all excited came after Claude Giroux’s goal that made it 3-1. Heading into the third period with a 3-2 lead, that lingering dread hung through the Wachovia Center and perhaps through some sort of weird cosmic translation it got through to the Flyers.
The Bruins tied the game at 3-3 3:49 into the third period thanks to a power play goal from Milan Lucic. The Flyers would do their part to try and overcome the tension and did that for a short time when at 14:20 of the third Ville Leino tipped home a Chris Pronger shot to give the Flyers a 4-3 lead. Time whittled away and the tension increased and built up until the 19:28 mark of the third after the Bruins won a face off in the Flyers end and who else but the ageless wonder Mark Recchi ripped home a one-timer to tie the game at 4-4.
Mind you, I’m no believer in any of that cosmic sort of stuff at all, but through the entire game the feeling of dread filled the arena and, unfortunately for the Flyers and their fans, the home team has given them no reason as of yet to make that feeling unjustified. If the Flyers are going to have any sort of heart, they’re going to need to come through with a winner tonight and do so in some kind of dominating way.