The Bruins have been getting a lot of monkeys off their backs in the first two rounds of these Stanley Cup Playoffs. The trend continued in the first period Friday night at TD Garden as Milan Lucic - the team's lone 30-goal scorer who was yet to notch a marker in 10 playoff games - gathered a bad Sergei Bobrovsky rebound off a Nathan Horton shot and promptly deposited it in the back of the net.
The Bruins power play, which had come up empty save for a garbage 5-on-3 goal in the waning minutes of Wednesday's 5-1 domination of the Flyers, gave the team its first real lift with that goal. After another unsuccessful power play later in the period, the Bruins are now 2-for-34 with the man advantage this postseason.
Lucic's goal pushed the Black and Gold to the next level that they'd struggled to find in the first ten minutes of the game, as the Bruins dominated the pace of play the rest of the period.
Peter LaViolette has made a name for himself switching goaltenders mid-game in this series, but don't expect Brian Boucher in the second for the Flyers; Bobrovsky turned away 13 other Bruins offerings and looked pretty comfortable between the pipes. His team was unable to find any offensive rhythm, however, generating only 6 shots in the frame.
The last of those shots generated some fireworks, however, as Scott Hartnell went to the net and wouldn't let up. He was removed forcibly by Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who threw one punch at Hartnell before the Flyer turtled. Hartnell got two minutes for roughing, and Chara received a double-minor for roughing.
The physicality is something that Bruins fans have clamored for from Number 33, and he was rewarded for his efforts by chants of "Cha-ra!" ringing down from the rafters.
The Flyers will start the second period with 1:53 of man-advantage time, as Shawn Thornton serves Chara's second minor.