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By Mitch Cole (@DirtyWaterBuzz)

It appeared to be the end of the road for the Bruins. With 11 minutes remaining in the third period of Game Seven against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins trailed 4-1 and looked hopeless. The obituaries were all but completed, and the finishing touches were likely being put on Puck Daddy’s Bruins Eulogy. Their offense was worse than anemic, their power play even worse. Defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Andrew Ference were both missing from the game, Seidenberg having left after just 37 seconds of ice time with a lower body injury, and Ference having not dressed with at all after a lower body injury in Game Five, and the Bruins were playing with a five defensemen cycle. They looked done.

With 10:42 left in the game, Nathan Horton scored to cut the Bruins’ deficit to two goals. It appeared, however, that it was once again too little too late. The Bruins had done this in both Game Five and Game Six, and to no avail either time. And for the next eight minutes, it seemed as if it would be another game in which the Bruins decided to show up too late and simply ran out of time to do anything. It seemed as if the Bruins were going to complete the collapse.

“At 4-1 with the clock winding down and half a period left, you start thinking to yourself, ‘Is this the end of this group here?’ Because it probably would’ve been if we didn’t win this game”, Bruins forward Milan Lucic said after the game. “But you have to have bounces, you have to have luck, you basically have to have everything go your way, and that’s basically what happened in the third period.”

“To be honest, I thought we were done”, said Bruins rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who played a much more significant role in Game Seven due to the early injury to Seidenberg.

Something happened, though. After Horton’s goal, Lucic skated by the Bruins’ bench and said to his teammates, “That’s one.”  The Bruins then pulled goalie Tuukka Rask with two minutes left to play in the game, and then Lucic scored off of a rebound from a Zdeno Chara shot with just 1:22 left in the game. It was then that Bruins fans really began to believe, and it was then that the TD Garden started getting loud. Head coach Claude Julien, whose job was and may still be on the line in the eyes of many, called a timeout in order to get the players he wanted out on the ice and to go over the strategy they would use in the offensive zone. Many still didn’t believe they could pull it off, though. It seemed impossible for the Bruins to score two unanswered goals inside of 1:22 to tie the game. But with just 50.2 seconds left, the face of the Bruins franchise, Patrice Bergeron, put a wrist shot past Leafs goalie James Reimer to tie the game. The TD Garden was rocking. It hadn’t been that loud the entire series. The crowd was going insane. The concrete floors of the “Gahden” were vibrating underneath people. The press box on the ninth floor was shaking. TD Garden was louder than it had been after Phil Kessel’s go ahead goal in Game Six against Montreal in 2008, and louder than it had been after Marco Sturm’s game winning goal in the same Game Six against Montreal. It turned into a massive karaoke bar during the OT intermission, with fans singing along to every word of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”.

But the Bruins weren’t done yet. They still had to win the game in overtime. But there was no losing this game for this Bruins team. The emotional high they were riding, combined with the enormous surge from the crowd and the momentum they had garnered in the final minute and a half of regulation. And who else but the franchise icon, Patrice Bergeron, to cap off the comeback. Brad Marchand took a shot, and Reimer couldn’t control the rebound (how many times did that happen throughout the entire series?). Tyler Seguin, who had originally been demoted to the third line but was sent back out with his original line-mates due to Jaromir Jagr’s equipment issue, provided a great net front presence, and kicked the puck loose. Bergeron found it loose in the slot, and made sure he didn’t miss. He put the puck over Reimer for the win, sparking a crazy celebration with his teammates, and insanity in and around the TD Garden, and in the homes of every Bruins fan watching. Even in the NESN broadcast booth, Jack Edwards went insane.

“At first, we’re on the bench and Claude said Bergy, March, and Pevs”, Seguin said in reference to his reuniting with Bergeron and Brad Marchand in overtime on the shift that produced the game winning goal. “I don’t know why, but I looked over and he said ‘Siggy’. We ended up going out as a line, and that’s what happened.”

“Our guys did a great job”, Julien said. “Tyler, who has been criticized a lot this series, if you watched the winning goal, did one heck of a job in front of that net.”

“It’s do or die”, Tuukka Rask said after the improbable comback. “You’re either a hero or an asshole.”

According to Seguin, veteran Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton called him out during the OT intermission.

“Before overtime, Thorty let me know that he was expecting something”, Seguin said.

“There was a little bit of a conversation, not much, but he was better in overtime”, Thornton said. “He knew that there was a couple of plays where he could’ve been a little bit quicker and a little better, but I think he responded the right way with that shift in overtime. He was a big reason why we got that goal in overtime, so credit to him for stepping up.”

The Bruins had completed one of the greatest comebacks in NHL history. There are no words to describe the emotions felt as a fan while watching this. No matter how old you are, this is the kind of game that instantly turns you into a little kid again, and brings out the diehard fan that lives inside of you.

There are no words to describe the magic that happened on Monday night. It is something that you would have to see to believe, and something that you would have had to see live, in person or on television, to feel the utter elation it caused. In the span of just one half hour, the Bruins made history.

However, the Bruins must now put all of that emotion behind them, as they face a much better team in the semifinals in John Tortorella’s New York Rangers. This series should prove to be an excellent one, as both teams love to throw their weight around, which could cause tensions to reach a boiling point.

The Blueshirts are led by the outstanding play of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, and are also riding high after soundly beating the Washington Capitals in their own Game Seven by a score of 5-0.

Goals won’t be easy to come by in this series. Both sides play a very sound defensive game, and both goalies are playing very well right now. Goals will have to be earned by working hard and winning puck battles in front of and around the net. For the Bruins, this is where Jaromir Jagr can help tremendously. The future Hall Of Famer hasn’t produced very much in terms of points on the scoresheet for Boston, but his ability to shield the puck, box out defenders, and battle for possession along the boards shone greatly in the first round against Toronto. His ability to do the aforementioned things could very well play a vital role in this series.

For the Rangers, the line of Derek Dorsett, Brian Boyle, and Taylor Pyatt will be key in this series. The were highly effective on the forecheck against the Capitals, and helped create havoc for Washington’s defense in their own end. Additionally, they will need Derrick Brassard to continue playing the way he has been. Brassard has two goals and seven assists for New York in the first round against the Caps, and if he continues this, the Bruins may have trouble shutting him down.

Defense will be key for both teams in this series. For the Bruins, Zdeno Chara will likely be matched up against either Rick Nash or Derrick Brassard, and he will need to shut down whichever of the two he faces. The absence of Dennis Seidenberg could create a large hole in the Bruins’ defense, and if he is out for an extended period of time during this series, Chara will have to step up again like he did in Game Seven against the Leafs where he logged an astounding 35:46 TOI. Mid-season acquisition Wade Redden may also be out with an injury, creating an even bigger issue with Andrew Ference already out for an unknown period of time. Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski, who played phenomenally in Game Seven against Toronto, and recently called up Torey Krug will need to step up big in order to help fill the void left by injuries.

For the Rangers, players like Michael del Zotto, Ryan McDonagh, Anton Stralman, and Dan Girardi will need to step up in the likely absence of top dog Marc Staal, who has only played one game since a deflected puck hit him square in the eye. In Game Seven against the Caps, del Zotto logged 20:40 TOI, McDonagh logged 23:15 TOI, Stralman logged 21:48 TOI, and Girardi logged 21:08 TOI. New York will need those guys to step up big time in order to win this series.

Goaltending is likely what the series will boil down to. Henrik Lundqvist was dominant against the Caps, giving up just eight goals in the last five games of the series, and finishing it with a 1.65 GAA and a .947% save percentage. Tuukka Rask finished the first round with a 2.49 GAA and a .923% save percentage. Something has to give in this matchup. Whichever goalie plays the best, even if it’s just by a little, will give his team a better chance to win.

The puck drops tonight at the TD Garden at 7:30. We will then begin to find out who is the better team.

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