BOSTON-- On Saturday afternoon the Boston Bruins were out to buck their most recent trend of losing and sub-par hockey when they hosted on of their most heated rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. On a warm St. Patrick’s Day afternoon, the day after losing the Northeast division lead to the surging Ottawa Senators, the B’s undoubtedly expected a strong effort out of a Philly club that had won seven of it’s previous ten contests.
The hatred was brewing early on as Flyers’ rookie Zac Rinaldo and Bruins’ enforcer Gregory Campbell dropped the gloves just two minutes into action, for round one of what many expect to become a ten-round joust between two of the NHL’s heavyweight squads.
Boston would jump out to a 1-0 lead at the 6:23 mark of the opening frame when Chris Kelly collected his 17th of the season off a Benoit Pouliot rebound. The goal marked the first time the Black and Gold have scored the first goal of a game since a home-ice matinee with the Islanders…..back on March 3.
Late in the period, the B’s would double their lead when Tyler Seguin slipped one through the five hole of Ilya Bryzgalov after a sweet little behind-the-net dish from Patrice Bergeron.
Boston would carry a 2-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to eleven saves from starting goaltender Tim Thomas.