David Krejci scored 14:01 into overtime as the Boston Bruins skated to a 3-2 road triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Chris Kelly and Brad Marchand scored 85 seconds apart in the first period for third-seeded Boston, which secured a 2-0 advantage in the series. The Bruins will attempt to push the Flyers to the brink of elimination when the teams reconvene in Beantown for Game 3 on Wednesday.
Last season, Philadelphia erased a 3-0 series deficit in the conference semifinals to win the next four games.
Vezina Trophy finalist Tim Thomas stopped a career-high 52 shots - including 32 after the second period - to improve to 8-0 in the City of Brotherly Love.
After Flyers captain Mike Richards hit the crossbar and Boston's Rich Peverley rang the post earlier in overtime, Krejci finally ended the game. Philadelphia failed to clear its defensive zone and Nathan Horton alertly fed Krejci, who wired a shot from just inside the right faceoff circle past Brian Boucher.
Play continued briefly as the officials originally did not signal a goal, but the tally was quickly confirmed after the next whistle.
James van Riemsdyk scored twice in nearly a nine-minute span and All-Star Claude Giroux notched his ninth assist in five games for second-seeded Philadelphia, which registered a franchise-best 54 shots on goal in a playoff game.
Boucher made 21 saves before exiting the game with an injury to his left side midway through the second period. Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside all six shots he faced before Boucher returned to make 11 more saves.
Veteran defenseman Chris Pronger, who missed five of the Flyers' seven games in the conference quarterfinal series, sat out Game 2 with an undisclosed injury.
The Flyers raced out of the gate in a hurry as van Riemsdyk converted a 2-on-1 to open the scoring just 29 seconds into the game. Two days shy of his 22nd birthday, van Riemsdyk recorded his first career two-goal postseason game after banking the puck off the leg of Bruins captain Zdeno Chara at 9:31 of the first period.
Kelly put the Bruins on the scoreboard 3:19 later after cleaning up a loose puck on the doorstep and Marchand leveled the contest with a wrist shot from the high slot with 5:45 left in the first period.
Boston | Philadelphia | |
Chris Kelly 1 | Points | James Van Riemsdyk 2 |
Chris Kelly 1 | Goals | James Van Riemsdyk 2 |
Patrice Bergeron 1 | Assists | Daniel Briere 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | James Van Riemsdyk 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Tim Thomas .963 | Save Percentage | Sergei Bobrovsky 1.000 |
Tim Thomas 52 | Saves | Brian Boucher 32 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Boston | 41 | 3 | 0-2 | 3-4 | 10 | 28 |
Philadelphia | 54 | 2 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 6 | 33 |