BOSTON, Mass – Look out “Sudden Death” Mel Hill you’ve got company in the overtime heroes wing of the Boston Bruins Hall of Memories.
Nathan Horton scored his second overtime winning goal (Hill had three overtime winners in a 1939 series against the New York Rangers) at the 5:43 mark of overtime when his slap shot eluded Carey Price. The goal clinched the series for the Bruins by giving them a 4-3 win in game seven. Horton had earlier turned the trick on Montreal in double overtime to end gave five.
Initially an overtime session was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind as the Bruins held a 2-0 lead on goals by Johnny Boychuk and Mark Recchi a little more than five and a half minutes into the contest.
Yet in a scenario all too familiar to Bruins fans Boston blew a game seven lead and allowed the Canadiens back into the contest. Montreal spare part Yannick Weber halved the lead when he fired a wrist shot from the face-off dot to the left of Boston netminder Tim Thomas to register a power play marker. Montreal’s first comeback was completed when Tomas Plekanec picked up a Recchi miscue and scored on a shorthanded breakaway. Since Boston became the first club to win a Stanley Cup playoff series without a power play goal, Plekanec’s effort gave the Canadiens more points on the Bruins power play than Boston had during the series.
Unsung Bruins forward Chris Kelly keyed the game’s next goal. Kelly ran over Montreal defender Roman Hamrlik which led to a turnover. Kelly crashed the net and was in position to convert a rebound of Andrew Ference’s shot to give his club a 3-2 lead.
Yet once again a Boston lead would be ill-fated as the Canadiens rallied back once again. With just over two minutes left in the contest Boston forward Patrice Bergeron was caught for hi-sticking James Wisniewski. Montreal capitalized on Bergeron’s gaffe by scoring on the power play courtesy of a hard slap shot by P.K Subban.
The two teams battled the rest of the third period and the overtime before Horton’s heroics pushed the Bruins into a playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers.
One hardly needs to be reminded of the Bruins historic melt-down as they blew a 3-0 lead to the Flyers in this same round last season. The mantra in Boston this year has been how much better prepared for the playoffs this version of the Bruins are both, mentally and physically.
Now the club has an opportunity to prove it.
Contact Tom.Schettino@prohockeynews.com
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