Milan Lucic scored twice and the Boston Bruins thoroughly dominated play from start to finish, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 with a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. They advance to face the Tampa Bay Lightning in that round.
Not only are they victorious in the series, though. They've also avenged their blown 3-0 lead in last year's second round to the Flyers. There was no doubt placed in their minds with a Philadelphia victory. There is no flight to the City of Brotherly Love in their future. Instead, they'll stay home and prepare for a tough Tampa team.
The reasons for the loss are plentiful for Philadelphia. Horrible defense is at the top of the list, followed by less-than-ideal goaltending throughout the postseason. But really, the sole reason for the outcome in this series and Game 4 is at the feet of the Bruins and their goaltender, Tim Thomas.
After just squeaking by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, they seem to have new life as they advance. Backed by Thomas, they have a dominant defensive pairing in Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, which covers up for the lack of quality they have in the bottom two pairings.
On offense, the top line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton has turned around the horrible first round they produced, and now they're rightfully leading their team in the scoring department. The Bruins will be a dangerous team in the Conference Finals and perhaps beyond, and the Flyers will stumble home with a whole lot to think about in front of a long, brutal summer.
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