The Flyers stuck with Brian Boucher as their starting netminder but were missing Pronger and Carter from their lineup. Jody Shelley was in.
It took the Flyers 29 seconds to start to exorcise the demons of game 1 as Van Riemsdyk and Giroux went in 2 on 1 on Thomas. Giroux got the pass through the defenceman and Van Riemsdyk tipped it under the goalie to score.
48 seconds in and Thomas took a 2 minute penalty as the Flyers attacked again and he batted the puck out of the air and straight over the boards. Philadelphia failed to convert but had dominated the first 3 minutes of play.
Shelley took a bording call at 3.37 to give Boston a chance to get some momentum going in this game but they were still looking for their 1st powerplay goal of the playoffs as it was killed off by the Flyers.
The Flyers got their 2nd powerplay at 8.49 as Campbell went for Holding. Van Riemsdyk took advantage of this as he got his 2nd goal of the game. Timonen took a shot from the point which Thomas saved with his pads and first Briere jammed at it and then Van Riemsdyk who got it into the net off a defenders leg.
he Bruins had it back t 2-1 at 12.50 as Peverly skated into the zone and made a drop pass between the circles to Kaberle. He fired in a shot which Boucher saved but first Ryder had the rebound attempt and then Kelly put it in the net with the wrister.
It was 2-2 only 1.25 later as Marchand took a feed from Bergeron and he fired a wrist shot low glove side from between the circles that beat Boucher and levelled the game.
The game went to 4 on 4 for 2 minutes at 15.04 as Krejci was called for roughing and Versteeg was called for holding.
Thomas made a big save on Timonen as he came to the edge of his crease to get his pads on a blast and the rebound bounced out and sent Paille clear 1 on 1 with Boucher but he stood firm and made a save with his leg.
Mcquaid took a nasty run into the boards which left him prone on the ice for a few minutes and having to be helped off the ice by team mates. He was trying to make a hit on Richards at the side of the net but the Flyers player made a move away from the hit and he went crashing head first into the boards. He was later sent to hospital to be checked out.
It was an entertaining 1st period which ended tied 2-2 but the Flyers had thrown away their good start and early advantage and let the Bruins right back into this one.
The 2nd period didn't quite have the electrifying start that the 1st period did as both teams battled to try and get themselves a lead. It was an even start as both teams went end to end with the netminders seeing off what was thrown at them.
Boucher seemed to pull something in his leg when making a routine pad save around the halfway mark of the period. This lead to a netminding change for a different reason this time as Bobrovsy entered the game between the pipes.
Thomas robbed Zherdev with just over 7 minutes left as Van Riemsdyk made a pass across the crease as he was falling to the ice and as Zherdev tried to sweep the puck in Thomas got his pad across left to right to make the save.
Kerjci then had a chance infront of the Flyers net as he turned and fired a puck backhanded against the post. Bobrovsky had left the net wide open and was nowhere near the shot as he tried diving back over to save it.
Van Riemsdyk then got in behind the Bruins defence and took the puck to his forehand and shot it back against the grain but just wide of Thomas' net.
With just over 2 minutes left the Bruins set up inside the Flyers zone almost like a powerplay and were firing shot after shot on net, Bobrovsky pulling off 3 decent saves to keep the game tied at 2.
Hartnell took a slashing penalty with 1.33 left on the period but despite getting good possesion in the Flyers zone they couldn't create the clear cut chance to take the lead. They would go into the 3rd period with 27 seconds of the man advantage remaining.
Boucher returned to the Flyers net at the start of the 3rd period, the injury he suffered in the 2nd obviously not as bad as first thought and him coming off must have just been a precaution whilst he was checked out.
Van Riemsdyk was close to his hat trick again at the start of the period as he got in behind the Bruins defence again. This time he pulled a similar move to the one he put wide earlier but with the backhand and Thomas made the pad save.
Marchand went for a cross check at 3.21 to give the Flyers their first powerplay chance of the period. Briere had a great chance right at the end of it as Briere skated in alone from the blue line but he didn't get a good shot away and Thomas smothered the puck and covered it up.
The 3rd period was much the same as the 2nd as both teams were still going end to end without getting that real big chance to stick the puck away and get the ever so important 3-2 lead. Van Reimsdyk was playing superb and was being double shifted as everytime he was on the ice the Flyers were creating something.
It was Lucic for the Bruins who had the next big chance as he forced Boucher into a good pad save close in from a Horton feed and the game was still tied going into the final 5 minutes.
With 2.39 left on the period Chara was called for roughing with a hit on the 5ft 10 Briere. The Flyers couldn't take full advantage of the chance though.
With 4 seconds left Van Riemsdyk shot the puck straight after a face off win was pulled back to him and Thomas made a toe end save, the rebound just going underneath Briere's stick as the net was wide open and the game headed into overtime. The Flyers had taken 22 shots in the period but not found a way past Thomas.
It was the Flyers who were doing all the pressing at the start of the overtime period as they were continuing to lay seige on Thomas in the Bruins net. Richards clipped the top of the bar with a backhand shot and Thomas was fighting everything else off any which way he could.
Peverly hit the post from just past the Stanley Cup logo as the Bruins put a rare shot on net in this overtime period, nearly stunning the Flyers crowd.
Krejci hammered a one timer up over the blocker shoulder of Boucher right on the hash mark and won the game with 6 minutes of overtime left. The shot was the hard and fast it flew in and out of the net and play continued as the ref behind the net didn't call the goal. However, as soon as there was a whistle the goal was called and the Bruins took a 2-0 series lead.
A fantastic game and a much better effort from the Flyers. They would have won comfortably if it wasn't for the efforts of Thomas and the Bruins defence. The netminder made save after save, 52 in total and the defence just didn't give the Flyers a sniff when it came to 2nd chances on rebounds. It's an uphill task now for the Flyers as they head to Boston looking to get back into the series but if they play like they did tonight for the remainder of this series they will be in with a good chance of pulling this back.
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