We’ve been playing along the last week or so as a comeback of epic and historic proportions was in the making, but that day has finally come on this, the 14th of May.
The Flyers spotted the Bruins a 3-0 series lead in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, but roared back to win the next three games to force a decisive game seven back in Boston on this date 10 years ago.
But the start was far from ideal as the Bruins raced out to a 3-0 lead until a late first period goal from James van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers some semblance of hope with 40 minutes left. JVR’s dribbler, which slowly crossed the goal line, turned out to be the turning point as the Flyers would catch their wind again and roar back into the game.
Scott Hartnell made it 3-2 early in the second and Daniel Briere added a tying goal just before the midway point in the second to even things up at 3-3. Feeling the confidence of erasing yet another 3-0 deficit, the Flyers wouldn’t be interested in facing any other deficits in this series.
Armed with a power play and less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, the Flyers got a clutch goal from a man they didn’t even expect to see in the series: Simon Gagne. The oft-injured sniper battled his way back from a foot injury to force his way into the lineup and deeper into Flyers lore with his lightning quick snap shot over the shoulder to Tuukka Rask with 7:08 remaining in regulation.
In true goal scorers fashion, the puck found Gagne’s blade after a Mike Richards shot was blocked and the rest was history.
Though Gagne was part of another memorable game winning goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs, this one no doubt wrote more history and will go down as perhaps his most important goal in his storied career in Orange and Black that included 264 goals along the way.
To that point only two other teams in NHL history —the 1942 Maple Leafs and 1975 Islanders— had ever won a best-of-seven playoff series after trailing 3-0. Since the Flyers’ comeback over the Bruins in 2010, only the Kings have completed the feat by vituperative of their 2014 comeback over the Sharks.
Loose pucks
Also on May 14th in franchise history…Bernie Parent stops 28 of 30 shots as the Flyers win game four by a final of 4-2 to take a 3-2 series lead in the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals over the Bruins…Rick Tocchet pots the game winner as the Flyers advance to the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals with a 4-3 road win in game six to close out the Canadiens…
*Stick taps to hockeyreference.com, nhl.com, and Flyers.nhl.com for help with this trip down memory lane*
