Are you kidding me? Other than the Patriots loss in the Super Bowl a few months back (which we'll never talk about again), could the sports gods be smiling on Boston anymore these days?
The Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 last night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at the Garden.
After being down 3-1 in the series, the Bruins can pull off the upset of the top-seeded Canadiens, Monday night at the Bell Centre.
The third period of this game featured six goals, including four by the home team. Boston could not play with anymore heart as they were down three different times in this game and still staved off elimination once again.
Phil Kessel was the star of this game, scoring two goals. Marco Sturm had an assist and the game-winning goal in the third on an outstanding individual effort.
Montreal goalie Carey Price could not be playing worse, having given up 10 goals in the last two games, eight in the last two third periods.
Chris Higgins (first of the series) put the Habs up 1-0 9:44 into the first with a great move around Tim Thomas. Kessel tied it up 1:54 into the second as he gathered the puck at center ice, completely undressed a Montreal defenseman then whipped a shot past Price.
Tomas Plekanec sprang out of the penalty box after a penalty and walked in a breakaway, putting the puck away on a back-hander. The action was back and forth as Montreal hit the crossbar later in the period and the Bruins hit two posts.
3:13 into the third, Vladimir Sobotka (second of the series) scored off a nifty assist from Peter Schaefer. A little over seven minutes later, Montreal defenseman Francis Bouillon (playing in his first game of the series) put the Habs up 3-2. That started a flurry of five goals in seven minutes and nineteen seconds.
Milan Lucic (second of the series) tipped home a Aaron Ward shot from the point off a B's face-off win. Kessel put the Bruins up 4-3 with a one-timer from Sturm. 11 seconds later, Chris Higgins banged home a Saku Koivu pass right on the crease. The game looked destined for overtime but Sturm had other ideas. He checked Roman Hamrlik twice on the same shift, took a shot that was stopped by Price, gathered his rebound, then waited for Price to lay out before flipping a forehand over him.
Montreal pressured the B's for the last two minutes but couldn't equalize. Tim Thomas made a few huge saves to seal the win. The vocal Garden crowd erupted when the final horn sounded.
You couldn't have scripted a better win for the Bruins; the quality of the goals and overcoming multiple Montreal leads in an elimination game made for some high drama.
The only thing that could top last night would be if the Bruins can go up to Montreal tomorrow night and knock off the reeling Canadiens.
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