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BOSTON - BOSTON — A seven-game series of bounces, wide twists, turns and weird momentum shifts came down to an old Boston nemesis.
Too many men on the ice.
The last time it was this important, way back in the Don Cherry years, it meant the Bruins couldn’t beat the Montreal Canadiens. This time, it meant Boston won’t play Montreal in the Eastern Conference final. Either way, it hurt — especially considering the way the Bruins led and then lost this series.
And the way the remarkable Philadelphia Flyers made history.
This series, this game, this crowd at the TD Garden, was both hysterical and historical. With the Flyers becoming the third team in National Hockey League history to win a playoff round after losing the first three games of the series. Only the Flyers did it the more difficult way. They came back from three games down, three goals down. An impossible and improbable climb.
Nobody has ever done that before.
Nobody is likely to ever do that again.
“I’m still trying to make some sense of this,” Philadelphia captain Mike Richards said. “I’m speechless right now. Obviously, we’re excited by this. But what are we supposed to say? I don’t know what to say.”
The Flyers were a shootout goal away from being eliminated from the playoffs before the playoffs began. Now they are one series away from playing for the Stanley Cup.
The winning goal by Simon Gagne, his fourth in four playoff games, came after a Bruins line change mishap — Milan Lucic looked to be coming off the ice and Vladimir Sobotka jumped on and that all but ended the Bruins’ season.
“I looked up and saw two centres out there,” said Lucic, who some thought should have come off. “That was a miscue. I knew that wasn’t good.”
It ended badly for the Bruins and the night began so well, which was a mini-version of the entire unpredictable series.
Boston won the first three games. Philadelphia won the past three games.
The Bruins scored the first three goals Friday night. The Flyers came back and tied the game at 3-3 almost halfway through the second period.
“It shows how relentless this team is,” Chris Pronger said. “No matter what thrown in front of us, we didn’t quit, we just kept on going.”
Then came the too many men on the ice penalty — the 33rd of the Stanley Cup playoffs — and Gagne’s goal to provide the Flyers with a 4-3 lead, an eventual win, and an advancement to the Eastern Conference final against the Montreal Canadiens.
In this series, though, this Bruins team clearly couldn’t stand whatever success came its way. The Bruins couldn’t finish with a three-game lead and couldn’t finish with a three-goal lead: At least through the first two periods they couldn’t.
Michael Ryder and two goals by Lucic made the score 3-0 Boston in the first period. Some life came to the Flyers when young James van Riemsdyk scored late in the first period to make it 3-1.
“For the first half the game, we were carried by a 20-year-old,” Richards said. “He kept us in there.”
And a wisely called timeout by Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette settled his team down just enough to climb back into the game. It was a tough night for Laviolette, whose team came out slow and undisciplined, and had some trouble in goal with Michael Leighton, but he found a way to will the Flyers back into the game.
Now the Flyers have home ice advantage for the Eastern Conference final.
And just like the Canadiens, they have beaten two teams that finished ahead of them in the standings to advance.
“Funny how that worked out,” Pronger said with a smile. “A seventh seed getting home ice. How about that?”
It has never happened before.
History made.
Nothing like this ever has.
But then, no team has ever come back from three games down, three goals down before.
And this much we know for certain today: Somebody who wasn’t expected to be there will be playing for the Stanley Cup.