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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Simon Gagne to the rescue


It would have been nice to get the Flyers out of the way ASAP but close-out games don't seem to be the Bruins' speciality this postseason. After no-showing in Game 5 against Buffalo in the last round, Boston gave a much better effort last night in Philly for Game 4 but still came up short.

The Flyers won 5-4 in overtime on Simon Gagne's goal at 14:40. Boston scored the first goal but Philly rattled off three straight. The B's tied it at 3 but it looked like the Flyers won it at 4-3. However, Boston tied it one more time, with 32 seconds left in the third period.

Tuukka Rask had his worst game of the playoffs and not surprisingly it ended up in a loss. He had 29 saves but too often he was flying out of his crease, like Tim Thomas on Red Bull.

Brian Boucher was still his unimpressive self but he made 33 saves and got the win so I'll give him his due.

What else can you say about Mark Recchi? They guy continues to play out of his mind. He gave the B's a 1-0 lead 15:37 as he scored a typical garbageman goal. Patrice Bergeron's shot was stopped by Boucher but it bounced right in front and Recchi roofed it over the Rhode Island native. Daniel Paille also assisted on the goal.

Finishing up periods is another weakness of the Bruins and Danny Briere tied it with 54 seconds left in the first period. Claude Giroux and Matt Carle assisted.

Chris Pronger and Giroux scored within 8:35 of the second period. Rask was probably one more goal away from being pulled but Boston recovered with a fluke of a goal by Michael Ryder. His weak shot went wide and came off the endboards and ricocheted off Boucher's pads in. It was like a bad Pee-Wee goal but who cares? Matt Hunwick and Blake Wheeler had the assists.

Milan Lucic tied it 3:49 into the third on the power play with a perfect tip of Dennis Wideman's shot. Marc Savard had his second point of the series with a helper.

Ville Leino put Philly up 5-4 with 5:40 left from Pronger and Briere but once again Recchi was Mr. Clutch. Taking a perfect pass from Bergeron, he put it over Boucher from a sharp angle.

Game 5 is Monday night in Boston. Time to end it and get to the Bruins' first Eastern Conference Final since 1992.

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