Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Deja vu: Bruins crush Flyers 5-1 to take 3-0 lead in series

Zdeno Chara, Tim Thomas

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33), of the Czech Republic, celebrates with goalie Tim Thomas after they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 in Game 3 of a second-round NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoff series in Boston, Wednesday, May 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

AP

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette tried to turn the pressure around on the Bruins saying that the Flyers would win and they’d come out and get after it tonight in Game 3. Turns out it took just over a minute of play to show the Flyers that these Bruins aren’t the same ones they dealt with last season.

30 seconds into the game Zdeno Chara scores the first of two goals ripping a loose puck past Brian Boucher to make it 1-0. Just 33 seconds later David Krejci would put one past Boucher to make it 2-0. Laviolette would call a timeout to settle things down but it was just a sign of what was to come as the Bruins rolled to a 5-1 win and a 3-0 series lead on the Flyers.

Anything that could go right for the Bruins did tonight. Hell, they even had a power play goal, Chara’s second of the game late in the third, to snap the 0-for streak in the playoffs. Getting a three point night out of their captain as well as the first goal of the playoffs from Daniel Paille as well as another goal for Nathan Horton showed that everything is going right for the Bruins.

The only blemish on the night came when Andrej Meszaros scored late in the second period to make it 4-1. Tim Thomas aside from that was awesome yet again stopping 37 shots. The real goaltending story came, again, from the Flyers as they would press both goalies into duty tonight as Boucher was chased after giving up four and stopped 16 shots on the night. Sergei Bobrovsky would play the final 25 minutes or so of the game stopping seven of eight shots.

While previous games blame could be placed on the Flyers defense for not playing smart enough, tonight it all falls on Boucher. He flat out didn’t have it tonight and after getting pounced on immediately in the first period, he was rattled. The Flyers play like a team trying to do too much in their own zone and flat out Brian Boucher is not good enough to handle this series.

Some fans might start firing up the bogeyman talk about the Bruins being up 3-0 on the Flyers for a second straight year and that anything can happen. Sure, anything can happen, but it’s not going to this time around. These Bruins are motivated and loaded with more talent than last year’s team. Also having a healthy and on point Tim Thomas in goal makes a world of difference.

The Flyers simply haven’t had answers for anything the Bruins do. They can’t match up with Krejci’s line, they’re getting outworked all over the ice by anyone in a B’s sweater, and their goaltending is not playing well. The Flyers needed strong defensive play and for their goaltending not to be hide-your-eyes bad to go at it with the Bruins and they’ve gotten neither of those things.

It’s hard to see how Philadelphia will turn things around, if they do that at all and while last year taught us that anything can happen in the playoffs, anything isn’t happening here. These Flyers are a mess.