Bruins blowout Flyers 7-3 in Game 1

The Bruins were able to take advantage of some defensive lapses and shaky goaltending by the Philadelphia Flyers to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals by a score of 7-3 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.

David Krejci gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 1:52 into the game. Nathan Horton's slapper from the right wing boards missed wide right and was knocked out of mid-air by the stick of David Krejci. Krejci controlled the puck, took one stride across the front of the crease and tucked a backhander under the stick of Brian Boucher.

Danny Briere pulled the Flyers to even with a 4-on-4 goal at 11:02 of the first period. Braydon Coburn sent the puck toward the front of the net. Briere received the pass on the backhand, moved it to the forehand and put it past Tim Thomas from point-blank range for his playoff-leading 7th goal of the postseason.

The B's regained the league with 36 seconds left in the opening period via a goal from Nathan Horton. Dennis Seidenberg jumped up into the play and had possession of the puck behind the goal line before feeding a backhand pass to David Krejci out front. Krejci put a shot on goal that was stopped by Brian Boucher. Boucher could not hang on to the rebound and Horton jammed at the puck and popped it over the flailing glove of Boucher. The goal was Horton's 4th tally of the playoffs.

Mark Recchi extended the Boston lead to 3-1 at 2:33 of the second period. Recchi's own shot from the right circle rebounded right back to him before he quickly sent another shot on net. Boucher got a piece of Recchi's second bid, but the puck trickled between his left pad and glove for a 2-goal Bruins lead.

The Bruins made it 4-1 with 4:34 left in the middle period. Adam McQuaid's wrister from the right point off of an offensive zone face-off win by David Krejci deflected off of Krejci near the right face-off dot and made it's way past Brian Boucher.

Brad Marchand increased the Bruins' lead to 5-1 and chased Brian Boucher from the game after roofing a rebound from the doorstep at 17:14 of the second period. Andrew Ference's drive from the left point was delflected on goal by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand was staked out in front of Boucher for the rebound. After seeing Boucher give up 5 goals on 23 shots, Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette pulled his starter and replaced him with rookie netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.

The Flyers answered right back just 16 seconds later on a goal from James van Riemsdyk. Van Riemsdyk set up at the shooter's spot at the top of the left circle on an attacking zone face-off. Claude Giroux won the draw to Sean O'Donnell, who quickly moved the puck to van Riemsdyk at the top of the circle. The UNH product threw a hard wrist shot on goal that beat Tim Thomas up high on the glove side to make it 5-2 with 2:30 remaining the second frame.

With the Flyers on a power play after a tripping call on Brad Marchand, Mike Richards' wrister from the right circle beat Tim Thomas high on the near side to pull within two at 5-3 with 6:58 left in the third period.

The Bruins regained their 3-goal edge with 4:01 to play in the third period on a goal from Brad Marchand Patrice Bergeron pokechecked the puck off of Matt Carle's stick and the puck squirted to Marchand in front, who jammed it through the pads of Sergei Bobrovsky for his 2nd goal of the game.

The Bruins extended the lead to 7-3 with a goal from Gregory Campbell with 2:21 left on the clock in the third period. David Krejci set things up inside the Flyers trapezoid and fed pass to Gregory Campbell, who was all alone at the left post after beating Braydon Coburn to the spot.

Notes:

- David Krejci (4 points, 2 goals, 2 assists) and Brad Marchand (3 points, 2 goals, assist) led the way for the Bruins offensively.

- Milan Lucic and Zac Rinaldo were each given misconducts late in the third period stemming from an after the whistle altercation. Rinaldo shoved Lucic from behind after the whistle, a scrum ensued, and Lucic hit Rinaldo with an elbow/forearm to the face.

- Tim Thomas made 31 saves.

- The Bruins still cannot find a way to put the puck in the net on the power play. After going 0 for 5 today, they are 0 for 26 in the playoffs.

- The Bruins need to play more disciplined. The B's were whistled for 8 penalties (7 minors and a misconduct). Fortunately for the Bruins, the Flyers were equally as undisciplined and luckily for the Flyers, the Bruins' power play is inept.

- Dennis Seidenberg did a great job today of picking his spots to jump up into the play. Seidenberg was on the ice for 5 of the Bruins' 7 goals, had 2 assists, and finished +4.

- Patrice Bergeron picked up 3 helpers.

- Say what you want about Chris Pronger, but he showed some real leadership late in the game. With his team down 5-2 with just over 12 minutes to play, Pronger was a hauled down by Brad Marchand. After the whistle James van Riemsdyk went after Marchand. Pronger alertly got between Marchand and van Riemsdyk and had a talk with eager young teammate.

- Krejci, Marchand, and Bergeron were the game's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Stars respectively.

- Johnny Boychuck took 7 shots. None of them reached the net (6 attempts blocked and 1 missed shot).

- You can really see difference in speed between the Montreal Canadiens lineup and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins seemed to have a lot more time to make plays today.

- No one on the Flyers finished with a positive +/-.

- The Flyer have had to make goalie changes in 4 of their 8 playoff games.

- Apparently, members of the Flyers chirped at David Krejci about the wrist injury that resulted from a Mike Richards' hit and kept him out of part of last year's playoff series against the Flyers.

- The Bruins and Flyers will run this one back on Monday in Game 2 in Philly

- For more on Game 1, check out Broad Street Hockey