Game 23: Bruins 3, Flyers 0

The Good

• Thomas is a brick wall again This one got off to an ominous start: Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara had a botched exchange behind the net in the game's first 20 seconds, leading to a sterling Philly scoring chance. Fortunately for Thomas and the B's, the Flyers failed to capitalize; unfortunately for the Flyers, that's about as close as they would get. Thomas was excellent tonight, and I think it was his strongest outing of the season. He made plenty of grade-A saves, controlled his rebounds well and bailed his teammates out when they made mistakes. Also, he got two penalty minutes to punching Scott Hartnell in the head. An all around great night for Thomas.
• Nice hands from Seguin Tyler Seguin's goal in the second period was a thing of beauty. A great pass from Michael Ryder followed by a sublime wrister from Seguin, who roofed the puck in the blink of an eye. I didn't think Seguin would have enough time/space to get the shot off, but that just goes to show why he's the second-overall pick and I'm a lowly blogger, right?
• Big game from Big Z Thought it might not show up on the stat sheet, Zdeno Chara had a great game last night. He was physical and had an active stick, poking the puck away from Flyer players with regularity. He also had a couple of key blocked shots, including one that left the big man hunched over in pain. Great display from the Captain last night.

The Bad

• Roller-coaster ride Yes, the Bruins won, but the Flyers really took it to them for portions of the second and third periods. One had to expect that the Flyers would turn up the intensity, but there were parts of the game where the B's struggled mightily to make a play out of their own zone. If it wasn't for the excellent play of Thomas, this game may have had a different result.
• 3-0 leads The team could hold onto one now, but not last May? Come on, guys...

The Rest

• Where's that Phamous Philly crowd? I missed the beginning of the game on TV (caught it on radio), but I didn't hear many chants or derision from the crowd. A 3-0 collapse in the playoffs is perfect fodder for chants, taunts and heckles, but I didn't hear any of that from the crowd last night. It could have been that it just wasn't audible on TV, but it was a bit disappointing. I expected better from the Philly fans.
• The B's are right back in action on Thursday against Tampa. The Lightning really took it to the B's last time, so I hope the B's show up ready to play this time.