The year was 1991-92: Glen Murray played in his first NHL game after being drafted by the Boston Bruins with their first-round pick -- 18th overall -- and Vladimir Ruzicka topped all Bruins' forwards with 75 points. Backstopped by Andy Moog, the Bruins finished in second-place in the Adams Division that season with 84 points, and made it all the way to the Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins (who won the Stanley Cup that year with relative ease).
Fast-forward 18 years and the Black-and-Gold have yet to reach a Conference Finals series since then. But with a commanding three games to none lead, the B's have a strangle-hold on the Broad Street Bullies.
The Flyers host the Bruins in Game 4 of the Semifinals tonight inside the Wachovia Center at 7:00 p.m. Boston is lookiing to make quick work of the Flyers tonight -- a sweep and an early advancement into their first Conference Finals in nearly two decades.
- The B's hold a 16-0 all-time series record when leading a best-of-seven series, 3-0 -- while the Flyers are 0-6 lifetime when trailing 3-0
- Miroslav Satan is the team's hottest forward riding a six-game point-streak, 5-4-9 totals over that span, and is the team's leading point scorer with 5-5-10 totals in seven of his last eight
- Patrice Bergeron has 2-3-5 in his last four-straight; and 4-5-9 totals in seven of his last eight playoff games
- Milan Lucic also has a four-game point-streak with 1-4-5 totals -- including the GWG in game 2
- Blake Wheeler is riding a two-game point-streak with1-2-3 totals.
- Mark Recchi has 2-2-4 totals in three of his last four
- Dennis Wideman has 1-7-8 totals in five of his last seven contests
Tuukka Rask was superb in round one versus the Buffalo Sabres, posting a 4-2 record with a .921 save-percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. Since shutting down the Flyers in the last three games, the 23-year-old has bettered his stats to a .928 save-percentage (3rd in the league) and an astounding 2.18 goals-against average (1st overall). Rask has stopped 90-of-97 shots thus far in this series.
David Krejci's season has ended too early after dislocating his wrist in the early stages of the first period of Game 3. Krejci was decked on an open-ice hit during his third shift -- 2:25 TOI -- by Mike Richards; receiving a "buddy pass" from Zdeno Chara into the neutral zone. No. 46 will be replaced by either forward Brad Marchand, or 32-year-old veteran center Trent Whitfield.
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PLAYOFF STATS | .png) |
| 3.11 (7th) | GOALS-FOR | 2.75 (10th) |
| 2.44 (1st) | GOALS-AGAINST | 2.67 (2nd) |
| 25% (4th) | POWER PLAY | 23.8% (5th) |
| 93.8% (1st) | PENALTY KILL | 85.7% (3rd) |
| 33.1 (5th) | SHOTS ON GOAL/GAME | 27.9 (11th) |
| 32.3 (11th) | SHOTS-AGAINST/GAME | 28.5 (6th) |
| 133 (15th) | PENALTY MINUTES | 106 (8th) |
Down 3-0. at home, there's no question the Flyers are going to throw everything they've got at the Bruins tonight. For Boston, if they continue what they've been doing all series long -- remaining poised and out of the penalty box, strong forecheck, tight defense -- and this one could be over tonight.
Puck drops at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on Versus (HD) and heard on 98.5 FM The Sports Hub.
Follow Mark on Twitter, The Hub of Hockey, and over at WGAM Radio.
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