FLYERS NEWS

The Flyers and Bruins met for game 5 of their conference semifinal series tonight. Once again the Orange and Black had to win to keep their season alive and boy did they. I mean what a difference a Gagne makes, as Simon led the charge in his 2nd game back from injury. Boston again had awful night and just look like a different team right now, nothing like the team that went ahead 3-0 in this series and suddenly very vulnerable to blowing this series all together. I don't know what has happened to them but I am glad it did because we actually have a chance now. You just can't be much more dominant than the Flyers were tonight out shooting the Bruins 31-23 and totally shutting down all their scoring chances. Boston also got undisciplined for one night at least, committing 8 penalties and even with their playoff best penalty kill that isn't a smart thing to do.

Early on things didn't look so promising for the Orange and Black. Ville Leino did score early in the 1st period for a 1-0 lead, but just 4 minutes into the 2nd period Brian Boucher went down with a knee injury which will sideline him likely for the remainder of the postseason. That left Micheal Leighton, fresh off the DL and having not played in a month, to protect the goal for the rest of the night. Usually rusty goalies don't do so well in the postseason, but as they had in the regular season , the Flyers played well in front of him and he responded saving all 14 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Scott Hartnell actually scored a goal midway through the 2nd and then Gagne singlehandedly put Boston away with a power play goal late in the 2nd and a breakaway early in the 3rd period to ice a 4-0 win. So there will be a game 6 back at the Wachovia center on Wednesday and I can't wait. You gotta believe.