...so when the "Big Bad Bruins" invaded the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, there was every chance that the "Broad Street Bullies" were going to be less-than-hospitable hosts - and they were, coming out looking to nail anything in white, black and gold that moved, delivering shot after shot on the newly crowned Atlantic Division champs.
And to have the kings down is one thing, but to put them away is quite another - and if there is anything that the other 29 teams in the National Hockey League should have learned by now, it is if you don't put the Bruins away while delivering your best shot early, chances are the Bruins are probably going to put you away late...
...and it took a bit of free hockey and both Boston's Tuukka Rask and Philadelphia's Steve Mason engaging in three-ring acrobatics between the pipes, but Riley Smith ended it as the fifth option in the shootout to give the Bruins their ninth consecutive road victory by a score of 4-3.
Trailing 2-1 coming out of the room for the second period, the Bruins took control of the pace of the game when Brad Marchand almost single-handedly disrupted and killed a Flyers power play and nearly built on his league-leading short-handed goal total, but left the scoring up to his linemates...
...the top defensive pairing of Andrej Meszaros and Zdeno Chara each potting goals and top line centerman Patrice Bergeron continued his hot scoring streak as the Bruins followed their season-long script of absorbing their opponent's best shot, but the Flyers final relentless desperation assault paid off for them as Vincent Lacavalier scored with 24.1 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Rask was in full condor mode - by necessity, as the Flyers used him for target practice early then desperately threw everything on net late - stoning all but three of the 52 Philadelphia tries, Lacavalier driving one off off the stick of Bruins' defenseman Johnny Boychuk for the 400th of his career, then the open-net equalizer in the third for number 401 - and blue liner Kimmo Timonen logging his 4th of the season.
Mason wasn't nearly as busy as his counterpart for the Bruins, facing "only" thirty shots in regulation and overtime, but gave up shootout goals to Bergeron and Smith to take the loss. The point earned for taking the Bruins to overtime forged a tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division with the New York Rangers, the Flyers with the advantage by having a game in hand over their bitter rivals.
Lacavalier gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead just five minutes in, Adam Hall picking the pocket of Bruins' centerman Gregory Campbell in the neutral zone and feeding Lacavalier in the high slot, Boychuk's attempt at blocking the shot causing the puck to dive on Rask, who was handcuffed by the redirection - but Meszaros got it back midway through the period to tie the score...
...Marchand's centering feed and Smith's shielding work in the crease key elements of the scoring play, though the Flyers would retake the lead with 42 seconds remaining in the period, Jakub Voracek dropping a pass to Timonen from the right wing on a 3-2 break, Timonen needing no redirection on his blistering wrister from the high slot.
The first power play opportunity of the game went to the Flyers, but Marchand was masterful in leading a penalty kill effort that nearly netted his sixth short-handed goal of the season - but the Bruins had to settle for the shift in momentum gained by the kill, then embarking on a man-advantage of their own, Chara potting his tally just eleven seconds into the power play to level the score at 2-2...
...Jarome Iginla easily finding Chara uncovered to Mason's blocker side, the gigantic blue liner using his incredible wingspan to elevate the puck on the backhand over Mason's trapper - then Bergeron gave Boston the lead on a fantastic individual effort, putting a shot on Mason from the top of the right circle and then beating Timonen to the rebound and negaotiating the trapezoid before turning and spinning to the forehand in the bottom of the left circle to beat Mason stick-side.
The Bruins dominated play from that point, making up a huge deficit in hits while keeping the Flyers out of the slot, but two errors on one play allowed Philadelphia to send the game into overtime.
With just over 30 seconds to play and Philadelphia with the extra skater after Mason was pulled from net, Loui Eriksson tried to escort the puck out of the Bruins' zone but it was poked back in by Timonen right to Boychuk who whiffed on a clearing attempt in the high slot, the puck gliding to Voracek on the left post who found Lacavalier streaking in from the opposite side to knot the score.
After a furiously paced overtime period, Bergeron and Flyers' captain Claude Giroux tallied in the shootout to send that to extra frames as well, Rask stoning Matt Read and Voracek while Mason got the best of Boston's David Krejci before Smith got Mason sprawled on his backside with a shoulder feign and easily deposited the puck on the backhand.
Hockey may be one of the few sports where statistics tell a compelling story of a game, as evidenced by Philadelphia's 20-6 hits advantage in the first period, the Flyers' seemingly looking to intimidate a Bruins' squad who come into each contest expecting to get their opponent's best shot - and though the Flyers
Philadelphia had their best shot at taking the game back from the Bruins early in the final frame, but the Bruins killed off a long-term, five-on-three man advantage and the Flyers never seriously threatened after that - though the defensive lapse in the final seconds of regulation could have spoiled what was a gritty effort by Boston.
The Bruins set the franchise record for consecutive road wins with nine, but more importantly extended their lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference to 11 points with seven games to play, and by three points over the St. Louis Blues in the race for the President's Cup, given to the team with the best record in the league.
Boston's remaining seven games are less-than-imposing, though all but one are against teams fighting for playoff spots or better seeding and five of the seven are on the road, but all are important games as the Bruins try for home ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a huge advantage for a team that anything less than hoisting the cup would be a huge disappointment.
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