The PuckUps Podcast with Brian DeFelice, Ep. 29: Ranking the BEST Bruins playoff games since 2000

Brian reacts to the Boston Bruins drawing the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals, ranks the top 15 Bruins playoff games since 2000, and much more!

Join Brian DeFelice every Monday and Friday as he discusses all things Boston Bruins, NHL, and the world of hockey. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and be a part the show by submitting comments, and questions via X (@briandefelice_ / @thepuckups), email: info@thepuckups.com, or voicemail (617)-539-6958.

Follow us on X: @thepuckups | @briandefelice_

Follow us on Instagram:  ⁨@thepuckups⁩

Follow us on TikTok:  ⁨@thepuckups⁩

Follow us on Substack: https://briandefelice.substack.com/?u...

Visit our website: https://www.thepuckups.com

#NHLBruins #BostonBruins #NHL #Hockey

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to the Puck Up Podcast. It's time to hit the ice with Brian DFelice. Welcome into episode 29 of the Puck Ups Podcast. I am Brian D Felice and thank you all for joining me. The Boston Bruins' regular season has come to an end. So today, we'll recap the year that was, touch on game 82, and briefly look ahead to their first round matchup against the Buffalo Sabres. Although next episode, we'll be doing a full series preview and prediction, not just for the Bruins and the Sabres, but for all matchups across the NHL. But today, as promised last episode, and in honor of the Bruins being back in the postseason after a brief one-year absence, we'll be ranking the top 15 Boston Bruins playoff games since the year 2000. But first things first, if you haven't done so already, please go ahead and subscribe to the pucks on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else that you get your podcast. And to get in touch with me or be a part of the show, you can email me infothepups.com. You can tweet at me on X at Brian Dflees underscore. You can tweet at the show at the puck ups, or you can leave a comment on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, anywhere the show has a social media account and post content. Now entering game 82, we knew the Bruins were a playoff team. What we didn't know was their final seeding or who they would play in round one. Destiny was in their own hands. They had a one-point lead on the Senders, each team with one game remaining: Boston being wild card one, Ottawa being wild card two. So simply put, if the Bruins beat New Jersey, they would have a date with the Buffalo Sabres in round one. If the Bruins lost to New Jersey, they'd have to wait a night, see how Ottawa did against Toronto, and possibly have to play Carolina. Now, thank God, thank the hockey gods, the Boston Bruins are not playing the Carolina Hurricanes in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yes, I think Carolina is a bad matchup for Boston. So that's first and foremost. Stylistically, I don't like Boston's chances in a series against Carolina compared to their chances in a series against Buffalo. But beyond that, from an entertainment perspective, from an atmosphere perspective, from an aesthetics perspective, I hate everything about the prospect of a Boston Bruins Carolina Hurricane series because Carolina to me is one of, if not the most boring franchise in all of professional sports. There is nothing redeeming about that team. They have no superstars, their uniforms suck, their goal horns brutal, their head coach, Rod the Bod, bitches and complains non-stop, even more so than any other head coach I've seen. Anything that goes against his team constantly, he's he's yapping at the refs. So the fact that we got saved from seven games of that, now maybe we see it later on in the postseason, but we're only guaranteed one round. So thank God we don't have to witness a Bruins Hurricanes round one, thankfully. On the flip side, a Bruins Sabres first round matchup, for all the reasons that a Carolina series would be boring, it's the opposite with Buffalo. And it would be an amazing series, and it's going to be, I think, an amazing series. From an entertainment perspective, I think Buffalo plays a very fun style of hockey, fun brand of hockey, and they have some superstars. From an atmosphere perspective, they haven't been to the postseason in 14 years. And Buffalo is an amazing hockey market that has had shit teams the last decade plus. But that arena is gonna be as loud as any in the NHL. From an aesthetics perspective, Buffalo has some of the best uniforms in all of hockey. From a history perspective, the Bruins and the Sabres go way back to the Adams Division rivalry between the two teams. And so I think it's gonna be an awesome first round series against Buffalo. I also think that because they're inexperienced, I think that the Bruins could possibly exploit that. But again, we'll get to that next episode when we break down that series and predict it as well as the other series in the NHL. But in order to do that, in order to get their first round matchup against Buffalo, the Bruins had to take care of business against New Jersey. And that's exactly what they did by getting off to a 4-0 lead after the first period. Right then and there, it's game 82. Carolina's or New Jersey's packing their bags. They're done. They're heading to the golf course. Boston did what they had to do. They blitzed the Devils. And it started off with a great opening shift by the Fraser Minton, Marat Husna Dinoff, and James Hagens line. Fraser Minton, by the way, won the Nesson Seventh Player Award for a player going above and beyond expectations as voted on by the Bruins fans. So not bad accolades for Fraser Minton in his first full season in the NHL. But the Minton, Husnadinoff, Hagen's line, first shift of the game. All three guys had touches. They hemmed New Jersey in their defensive zone. Boston was able to get a line change. The Pasternak, Geeky, Lindholm line came on. Although I don't think Lindholm got on the ice yet because Minton had a second assist in the goal. And Pasternak finds Morgan Geeky in front of the net for his 39th goal of the year. 71st assists for David Pasternak this year. It was his 100th point. It was his fourth consecutive 100-point season. So good for David on that. 1-0 in Boston. And then it was the fourth line who had a great game in Columbus, even though it was Alex Steves instead of Tanner Janot on that line. But Corale and Cassick had multi-point games in Columbus, and they had multi-point games against New Jersey. Mark Castlick had two first period goals, his 11th and 12th goals of the year. Janot had an assist on the first goal. Corale had an assist on the first goal. Corale had an assist on Cassick's second goal of the period. So the fact that Morgan Geeky now has five goals in his last three games after going 17 games without a goal. And the fact that the Bruins fourth line has had back-to-back multi-point efforts, multi-goal efforts after going about a month plus without a point by any of the players in their fourth line. The fact that they're getting some offensive generation from up and down their lineup heading into the postseason, that's a great sign. And then it was Victor Arvidson with time ticking down in the first period, an offensive zone draw for Boston, and Pavel Zaka was able to find Arvidson across the crease for a tapping goal 4-0. Zaka would leave the game after that, after getting his 35th assist of the season, because what is assumed that his wife had a child. So congratulations to the Zaka family if that indeed was the case. I also believe Casey Middlestaad and his wife had a kid or are expecting a kid in the last few days here. So the Bruins deservedly so were up four goals after the first period. And the game after that was just kind of wasn't much going on. The game was over after 20 minutes. And so the Bruins, in doing so, they get 100 points on the year after having 76 points last year. And they set up a date with the Buffalo Sabres in round one. Now I will spare the Sabres, Bruins preview, and predictions for next episode. For now, I'll just leave it at. I think it's going to be a very, very entertaining series. I can see it going either way for different reasons. I definitely think that on paper, the Sabres have a little bit more firepower. But I think the Bruins have a little bit more experience. And I do think the Bruins are a heavier lineup. Buffalo did go out and add some beef to their lineup at the deadline. They brought in Luke Shen. They brought in Logan Stanley. They brought in Sam Carrick. They have some guys at a bend there that can play that way too. Jordan Greenway, Alex Tuck, Tage Thompson. Obviously he's a superstar scorer, but he can be physical too. Rasmus Dalin, he can get physical back there. Zach Benson, he's a player, Bruins fans. If you aren't too familiar with him, he's kind of cut from the same cloth as Brad Marshand. I'm not saying that Zach Benson's going to be a Hall of Fame player, but he's a small, skilled forward that is an agitator. So you'll get used to seeing him too. Peyton Krebs, similar type player, where he's a smaller skill guy. Came over from uh Las Vegas. Vegas traded Krebs to Buffalo, I think in a Jack Eichel trade, actually. So he's another guy that's got some skill and some grit. Um Jason Zucker is a guy that's having a great year for the Sabres. So they got a lot of good things happening in Buffalo, and they have a great energy, a great vibe about them right now. So listen, I I think it's a pick'em. I think it's kind of a pick'em. Boston played them well this year, but Buffalo did win a division. And there's pros and cons for both teams in the series. We'll see which team can get to their game more often. And as I said, we'll talk about that series a little bit more next episode. But for now, oh, also, so I mentioned if the Bruins had lost to New Jersey, then we'd have to wait and see what Ottawa did against Toronto. Well, Ottawa played Toronto tonight and they beat them. So in theory, had the Bruins lost to New Jersey, they would now be playing Carolina because Ottawa did beat Toronto, and in that scenario, Ottawa would have leapfrogged Boston into wild card one. Obviously, that wasn't the case. Boston beat Buffalo. Uh Boston beat New Jersey, so they play Buffalo. But I wanted to make a note about the Senators' Maple Leafs game because that loss for Toronto has them finishing fifth last in the NHL, which is where Boston finished last year. So Toronto has the fifth highest odds of winning the draft lottery, which is important because if they draft one, two through five, which I don't think they can technically draft three or four, but if Toronto's pick remains top five, the Bruins don't get their pick. We all know that Boston acquired Toronto's 2026 first round pick in exchange for Brandon Cl Brandon Carlo. Of course, Fraser Minton was part of that deal too, but it was top five protected. Now don't fear too much because all it takes is for one team behind Toronto to jump into the top five in a draft lottery, and they will move down automatically, at least to six. So Boston would get their pick. The Bruins have a 58.2% chance of getting Toronto's first round pick right now. They would have had a 70 something percent chance of having Toronto's pick if Toronto had the sixth best odds, but it wasn't meant to be. Now, last year, the Islanders had the 10th best odds and they went from 10 to 1, and Utah went from 14 to 4. We don't need two teams to jump up, we just need one. In fact, one would be one would be best because it would put Toronto to six, not seven, which means the Bruins have the sixth overall pick, not the seventh. But I digress. So that's something worth noting in the back of your mind. Boston's pick in the first round this year is Toronto's, uh, unless it leaves the top five. All right, let us get to head coach Marco Sturm after the Devils game. And he was asked about if he was surprised or how he feels about the Bruins reaching the 100-point plateau this season in Marco's first year as an NHL head coach. And just one season after the Bruins finished fifth worst in the NHL with 76 points. Here's what Marco Sturm had to say after the game.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Pretty amazing. I gotta say, I never no, I never really thought, to be honest with you, getting 100 points. Because I know how hard it is to get that amount in this league. It's a hard league. Um, and uh again, that just says it all. The way they we played, the way the guys performed every day, the ups and downs we had early on, but you know, uh I said it before, after Christmas, they really took off. So proud of them. Uh proud of my coaching staff, the whole staff to accomplish again 100 points. It's it's it's it's incredible. So I'm very, very happy and very excited to reach that goal and and share it with uh our great fans of Boston.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I mean, it's an amazing accomplishment. When you when you realize where the Bruins were this time last year and all the work they had to do in the offseason to get this group to be a competitive bunch again, again, you you you did lose some leadership last year, right? Brad Marshane went to Florida, Brandon Carlo to Toronto, Charlie Coyle to Columbus. Now, listen, I certainly was not the biggest fan of Brandon Carlo the last couple of years. I've made that very, very known uh on any forum I was on the last few years. I was I want wanted them to trade Carlo long before they did, or get, you know, but I'm glad they traded him when they did because the return has been unbelievable. So everything happens for a reason. And Charlie Coyle, good player, but wasn't long for Boston. He only had a year left on his deal after you know Boston traded him. So you get middle stad for Coyle, you get Will Zellers in a second. Like that's that was a great trade, but still you had to replace the leadership. And they did that. They did that, they brought in a Sean Corale, a guy who is in his second stint as a Bruin, but this time around, he's a grizzled vet. He's the oldest Bruin on the team, and he's only 33 years old. They did bring in a Victor Arvidson, who's been around the block, they did bring in a Tanner Janot, who's an ultimate locker room guy, and will stick up for his teammates without even thinking twice about it. You add to that Charlie McAvoy stepping up, David Pasternak stepping up, um, you know, Nikita Zodoroff stepping up. A lot of guys had to step up in a leadership perspective, and the Bruins just have built a culture this year where effort is not an option. It's a prerequisite. It's a must-have. And I think that these Bruins, a lot of these guys, they have a ton of character, and it's it's it's hard to to see the guy next to you working his ass off and not do the same. And so I just think that this lineup for the Bruins is littered with guys who work really hard, and that has been noticeable from the jump this year. But work ethic alone doesn't get the job done. You need the skill, you need the execution. So, where else did this Bruins team improve this year? Well, from a coaching perspective, I just think Marco Sturm's details and the way he demands from his players that they have to bring their best effort every single night. Not that Jim Montgomery didn't, I just think that there's a style to the way Marco communicates. He he he's a he's a fair coach, he's a no-nonsense coach, but he's also not too far removed from playing in the in the NHL. I mean, he's only a decade or so removed, maybe a little bit more. So he can relate to the young guys, he can relate to the older guys. He was a successful player in the NHL for a long time, and I think Marco's done a great job uh in his first year as head coach. I don't know how he's not higher in the Jack Adams odds, but Vegas had the Bruins finishing 28th in the NHL before the year started with an over-under point total of 80.4. Boston finished eighth in the NHL with 100 points. And Marcos nowhere near the top five in Jack Adams odds, and it makes no sense to me. Somebody else behind the Bruins bench made a big difference for Boston, and that was Steve Spott. The hiring of Steve Spott was massive for Boston, specifically with regards to the power play. Last year, the Bruins power play was clicking at 15.2%, which was 29th in the National Hockey League. This year, they converted at 23.4%, which was ninth in the NHL. Now, Boston's power play of the last month and a half has been a bottom five power play in the league. For much of the year, they were a top five power play. So, you know, for five months, you're a top five power play. For one month, you're a bottom five. Add it all together, and you're ninth overall. And the reason that the power play was more successful this year was because of their zone entries. I think their zone entries were much, much better than they were last year. I think Charlie McAvoy took a step uh in his development at the top of the umbrella. But mainly I just feel like the Bruins really they struggled last year gaining zone entries, and this year they they they did a much better job of it because last year they would have McAvoy or Laura or Lindholm, whoever was in the lineup at the time, they'd get the puck behind the Bruins net, skate it up to center ice, turn their back, drop it to Pasternak, and he would try to go one on four uh to gain zone entry. And then you'd have Geeky and Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zaka, they'd be flat foot stationary at you know their own at the offensive blue line, and there was no speed. So it was way too easy for the penalty killers to just kind of hold their ground. And if Pasternak tried to do it himself, they'd clog the middle. If Pasternak wanted to go to one of the flanks, they had no speed. So the PKers would just close on them, and it was too predictable. If the Bruins wanted to dump it in, well, nobody had enough speed going to retrieve the puck. This year, they came up the ice more as a unit with speed, and that is something that Steve Spott did with Dallas. It's something he did with Vegas, and it's what he's done with Boston, and it hasn't been perfect all year. Like I said, the last month they've been struggling, but um the power play is one of the biggest reasons why Boston uh is a playoff team this year and had much more success than last year. Jeremy Swayman had a much better year this year than last year. Overall, the Bruins is a team, they're plus-minus. Last year they were minus 50. This year they were plus 22. That's quite the delta there. Last year, Boston scored 2.71 goals per game. This year they scored 3.27. Last year, Boston gave up 3.3 goals per game. This year they gave up 3.01 goals a game, goals against per game. Penalty kill kind of stayed the same. Last year, the penalty kill was 76.3%, which was 24th in the NHL. This year they were slightly better at 77%, but still 24th in the NHL. And then the record difference, last year, Boston was 33, 39, and 10 with 76 points, 28th in the NHL. This year, they were 45, 27, and 10 with 100 points. So they had 12 more wins and they had 24 more points in last year. And it all adds up to the Bruins being wild card one, and they have a date with the Buffalo Sabres in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I, for one, cannot wait. I gotta tell you, Gary Bettman had a home run. Some of these, some of these matchups in the first round of the playoffs, especially in the East, because Right now, the West they're still kind of figuring out what the final positions will be for some teams. We know some some series, like you're gonna have Minnesota versus Dallas, you're gonna have, but beyond that, I think the wild cards and the Pacific are still being ironed out. But in the east, you have Boston, Buffalo, you have Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. Those four teams right there were, I believe, the four worst teams in the East last year. Just like people picked Boston to finish near the bottom of the league, everybody had Pittsburgh finishing near the bottom of the league again this year, too. Same with Philly. But with Pittsburgh, the big preseason story was which team is Sid going to be traded to at the deadline to go chase a cup. Who will Sidney Crosby accept a trade to? Well, clearly Sid and the Penguins did not take well to that chatter because from start to finish they were a great team this year. Got to give them credit. And then you have Montreal, Tampa Bay. That's a series that I'm very much curious about because Montreal, if they weren't playing Tampa Bay in round one, I could see them going all the way to the finals. And I still could. But similar to Dallas, Minnesota, Tampa, Montreal, a damn good team is going home early. A damn good team. And Montreal has a ton of speed and skill and youth. Let's see how they do. Let's see how they do in the postseason against a team that's been there before, done that, and a team that has a little bit more size and grit. I'm uh we'll see how easy it is for Cole Caulfield, 50 goal scorer, to find time and space in a playoff matchup against Tampa when they're strategizing for him all series. Same with Lane Hudson, uh Nick Suzuki, others, right? Like there's a lot of talent there. Ivan Demonov, uh, Uri Slavkovski. I think Montreal's they are so fun, and it's it's it's great for the league that they're good again. And it's good for the Bruins Canadians rivalry that they're good again. While the Bruins are good as well. So that's a series that's gonna be a lot of fun to cover and and watch. And then Carolina, Ottawa, I think that'll be a you know a drag out series. I think those are two teams that are gonna beat the shit out of each other. And whoever advances from that series will be will be uh they won't be feeling great, but I don't think anybody will be feeling great after round one. It's gonna be a great Eastern Conference race, I think. But Boston, Buffalo, cannot wait for it. Buffalo's gonna be electric. I was I was joking online that uh all year I was pulling for Buffalo to make the playoffs because it's been so long and their fan base is so great. They've been uh the best hockey market for national TV games for the last decade plus, and and their team's been out of the playoffs the whole time. So they they love their hockey in Buffalo, and I was happy for the Sabres uh watching them trend towards the playoffs, and then when I realized it was gonna be against the Bruins, all of a sudden you gotta start to put your game face on a little bit. But um, you know what's also funny is Buffalo's playoff drop has been so long. Do you remember when the Bruins played the Sabres in the 2010 playoffs? That was two playoff series ago for the Buffalo Sabres. They played the Bruins in 2010, Philly in 2011, and that's been it. That's been it. So since the Bruins and the Sabres last played in the playoffs, the Bruins have won a Stanley Cup, they've been to two other finals. We won't talk about the results. Um yeah, I mean, the Bruins have been in the playoffs every year since uh no, that's not true. The Bruins missed the playoffs in in 15, 16, and 23 or 24. But it's been a long time since Buffalo's been in the postseason. That's that's how you know it's been that long. With that said, that is a good time to transition to the last part and the bulk of this episode. I mentioned last episode, I wanted to do a ranking for the the best Bruins playoff games since the year 2000. Now, Boston has played probably the most playoff games in the NHL since that time frame. If not the most, they're right up there. I would say Boston, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh. I would say Chicago, but Chicago has missed the playoffs a lot the last six years. So Washington, if did I say Washington? Yeah, I feel like Washington, Boston, Tampa Bay, and Pittsburgh. I feel like those teams have can have have more or less been in the playoffs pretty consistently over the last 25 years. There's a lot of games to choose from. There's three cup runs for the Bruins. Obviously, one of them they won, two they lost. Um so I I I I made this the top 15. I could have done top 30, I could have done top 20, but I I I know your time is precious. So I tried to condense this list, and I know, I know there's some great games missing. I know there are. And and I have an honorable mention list that we can do another time because it took me a while to chop this list down to 15. I will just say this: if a game is on this list, for me, it's a combination of things. It was either a fantastic game, start to finish, or it was a uh a huge game, like a big game seven, where maybe the maybe the start to finish, it wasn't the best game, but it was a big moment. And then moment is the other key word. If there was a game that had a very memorable moment, because moments are what make sports special. There's a lot of good Bruins playoff games over the years. Uh, you know, they were they were good Stanley Cup finals games that I had to omit from this list because yeah, it was a good game, but it just didn't have that moment that some of the other games on this list have. Um, and then I would say significance too. Some of these games had significance in terms of uh organizational trajectory, and so for that they made this list too. So without any further ado, let's start off with number 15. And this one is a bit surprising that it's on my list because it wasn't a huge rival, it wasn't a game seven, but it was uh instrumental game in an important very hard-fought series and route to a Stanley Cup final that Boston ultimately lost. But I'm talking about game five of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals the Boston Bruins versus the Columbus Blue Jackets, four to three Boston. Now, earlier on in the series, the Bruins had an overtime win against Columbus. I think it was game one, but there was something about this game to this point in the series, it was 2-2. Both teams had been playing really physical, it was a really strong brand of hockey, really tough brand of hockey. And Columbus was a very good roster. I think Columbus, I know the Blues won the cup that year, but go back and look at that 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets roster. That may have been, it may have been. That spring. And I I know I know that's crazy because the Blues won the cup. But that Blue Jackets team, go back and look at their roster. They were they were pretty loaded. That was the year they had Artemis Panarin, you had Zach Orensky, you had Seth Jones, you had um Pierre-Louc Dubois, who at the time was you know uh a young emerging star. He he his his career has kind of faded since then. Um Josh Anderson was playing for that team. You had uh Boone Jenner, Brandon Dobinsky. Um, yeah, I mean they they they they had a they had a good roster. You know, I'm blanking on all the guys, but I remember at the time it was it was a damn good team. Nick Felino was on that team. And this game is on the list because it was a back and forth affair, it was a 2-2 series. Boston had a 3-1 lead in the third period, a great goal by David Pasternak. Actually, David Pashtenak and Brad Marshan both scored in the third period to make it 3-1. Uh Sergei Babrowski is another name that was on that Columbus team, and he point blank robbed um Brad Marshan with a glove save on an empty net, and then Marshan got his own rebound. A little bit later on, David Pashnak made it three to one. This is the Columbus Blue Jackets team, by the way, that upset the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. They swept him 4-0. And at the time, Tampa Bay had the best record in NHL history that was gonna be eclipsed by the 22-23 Bruins uh a few years later. But the Columbus team, they were coached by John Tortorella. He was a he was a soundbite machine all playoffs, and the Blue Jackets fought back in the third period to make it 3-3, and then it was David Pasnak again to make it 4-3 Boston late in regulation to give them the 4-3 lead and a 3-2 lead in the series that Boston would then win in Game 6 in Columbus. They would sweep Carolina in the conference finals and then go on to lose to uh St. Louis in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals in 2019. But if the Bruins win that cup, right, I uh I guarantee you that if the Bruins win Game 7 of that finals, that's one of the top games on this list, probably the top game. Um, but of course they lost. But had they won, you'd have to look back at that game five against Columbus and say, man, that could have been a turning point. That could have been what propelled the Bruins to this cup finals uh run. And I just think that that series, start to finish, it was only a six-game series, but that's one of the more underrated Bruins series, I think, since the year 2000. That Bruins Columbus series was very good. All right, moving on to number 14 on this list. We have game three of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals, the Bruins over the Pittsburgh Penguins, two to one in double overtime. Now, this was an awesome series for the Bruins because you went into this one very, very high underdogs, despite the fact that the Bruins won the Stanley Cup only two years prior. Uh, this Pittsburgh Penguins team was stacked. You had prime Sidney Crosby, prime Evgeny Malkin, Chris, prime Chris Letang, you had Jerome McGinla, you had Brendan Morrow, you had James Neal, you had uh I mean there were there was a ton of guys on this team. Uh Matt Cook was on that team. Um Pascal Dupuy was on that team. Um I mean there was a there was a ton of guys. This Penguins team was stacked, and of course, that trade deadline, Jerome Aginla was rumored to go to the Bruins, but he he allegedly chose Pittsburgh over Boston. So, and I I I don't think Nathan Horton was going the other way, but it was kind of between the lines that Aginla was you know gonna be like Horton's replacement if he came to Boston, which ultimately he was uh the following season, but I digress. So Boston swept this series, and uh game three was a big, big point in doing so. Obviously, going up 2-0 on Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh was huge, but the Penguins played great in that game three. Tuka Rass kind of stood on his head, and if the Penguins find a way to get that goal in overtime, now it's 2-1 Boston in the series, and maybe Pittsburgh finds a way to get the next one, and who knows where the series goes after that. But Boston clamped down, and Yahweh Yaaker got away with a bit of a hook on Evgeny Malkin and then Marshantebergeron, double overtime, Boston win. So that series was great. It was a good FU um to Pittsburgh because the Bruins, in my opinion, going into that series, did not get enough respect around the league. They were, uh, like I said, they were two seasons removed from winning a Stanley Cup, and everybody was acting like the Penguins were, you know, the Harlem Globetrotters, and that the Bruins were the Charlestown Chiefs and had no chance. So um that Bruins team was very good and did not get the credit they deserved, and they showed the hockey world why they were the best team in the East that year. Number 13 on this list. Ironically enough, against the Buffalo Sabres, game four of the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, Eastern Conference quarterfinals, I take that back, Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Boston three, Buffalo two, double overtime. This was the Miro the Hero game, if you recall. I think this series, Bruins Sabres 2010, I think is the most underrated Boston Bruins playoff series since the year 2000. I think this series was electric, and I can't wait for the atmospheres to mirror that, hopefully, um in the coming weeks here. But that series had animosity, it had talent, it had skill, it had history, had atmosphere, entertainment, all that stuff, bad blood, and a lot of drama, a lot of extra overtime sessions here and games that went down the wire. So Boston and Buffalo split the games in Buffalo to start the series, and then it goes back to Boston for game three. Uh Boston gets the win in game three, and in game four, it's Mirzlav Satan against his former team in double overtime. Uh a game that the Bruins entered the third period down two goals. So David Craichy got Boston within one on a power play goal, and then Patrice Bergeron tied it with about 13 minutes to go in the game. And then so this is a this game makes the list for me because Boston entered the third, down two goals. It's a double overtime game, and I just feel like that Marishlov Chitan goal and that that that whole series for him, he kind of put his stamp on it. And I just feel like that game stands out in a lot of people's minds. Um, and so that that's 13 on my list. That was a that was a fun series and a fun game. Number 12 on my list, game seven of the 2018 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Boston 7, Toronto 4. Now you might hear that score and say, well, that's not that close of a game, but it was. It was back and forth, back and forth the first 40 minutes of play. And at the time, Toronto was this was the this was the near beginning of the Austin Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nealander era. They had just come off of their first playoff appearance the year before, where they were big underdogs against the Washington Capitals, a Capitals team went on to win a cup that year, and they brought them the seven games. So at this point in time, there was no Toronto Maple Leafs uh voodoo with this core core three, core four era. This is pre-John Tavares. So they didn't have that stigma. This this core group of Maple Leafs did not have a stigma of being choke artists yet. The the Maple Leafs franchise hadn't won a playoff series since 04 and hadn't won a cups in '67, which that last part still stands to today. But this Maple Leafs core got a bad rap uh as time went on for never getting the job done in the playoffs. At this time, they didn't have that yet. This was one of the first times that they did choke. Or not choke, but they didn't get the job done because the year before they were underdogs. This year against Boston, they were they were they weren't the favorites necessarily because they weren't they didn't have home ice, but a lot of people liked Toronto in this series over Boston. And they had a 4-3 lead on the Bruins heading into the third period, and Tory Krug would tie the game in a four-and-four situation, not too far into the third period, to tie it, and then Jake Debrusque, who I I thought Jake Debrusque was awesome in his first year or two with the Bruins, and I thought he had a really good year in 22-23, but outside of that, he was too Jekyll and Hyde for me. But earlier in his career, I thought he was great, and it was because of plays like this in Game 7 against Toronto, where he takes the puck to inside ice, hards of the net, knows he's gonna get hit by Jake Gardner, and still finishes the play, gives Boston a 5-4 lead. He tugs on the crest, heading back to the the bench with the with his players, his teammates high-fiving him. And and that was a great, great goal, great moment for Jake Debrusque. 5-4 Bruins. David Pasnak made it 6-4 not too long afterwards, and then Brad Marshall with an empty netter to make it 7-4. So it's a three-goal delta, but it was Boston was down a goal heading into the third. And so that was a fun game seven. And it was a year kind of, you know, I'm not it was kind of similar to this year for the Bruins in terms of expectations going into the playoffs. I don't think the Bruins had a ton of expectations that year. I mean, the year before, they certainly didn't when they they lost to Ottawa and they had a bunch of injuries, and they hadn't made the playoffs in a couple of years. So this was their second consecutive playoffs at that time. And their expectations were a little bit higher, but they ran into a buzzsaw in Tampa Bay in round two. But this was the start of something because the following year they obviously went to the went to the finals, and then they had a couple of presidents' trophy years after that, too. Number 11 on this list, game three of the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Boston two, Montreal 1 in overtime. You'll remember this series fondly because of a game that I'm gonna get to a little bit later on this list. But at the time, the Bruins had made the playoffs for the first time since 2004 because in 04-05 the NHL had a lockout, so no season. 05-06 and 06-07, the Bruins were 13th in the Eastern Conference both years. They were not a playoff team. So by the time 07-08 came around, it had been four calendar years, which felt like an eternity at the time in Boston for the Bruins, that they had not played a playoff game in Boston. And to do so against their arch rival, Montreal Canadiens, who they lost eight out of eight games that regular season to, and then they dropped the first two games of the series in Montreal. So by the time Game Three came around, Boston had lost ten consecutive games to Montreal in this season. At this time, it was the Northeast division and division opponents played each other eight times a year. It's not like today where you play each other three times. So Boston lost eight times in the regular season to Montreal, then they lost twice in games one and two. So when they came back to Boston for game three, for the first time in four years, having a playoff game in Boston and being as underdog as underdog gets, the garden was ready to explode and do all that they could to support this Bruins team that was kind of in over their skis. And Mark Savard hit Milan Lucic from the right-wing boards into the slot to give Boston a 1-0 lead early, and the place just erupted. And Lucich was like a dog on raw meat on the four check on Komisarek, and the the garden was going crazy. Montreal tied the game eventually, and then it goes to overtime, where Boston is on the verge of being put in a stranglehold in the series, going down to a three. And Mark Savard, and again, also keep in mind Patrice Bergeron was not playing, he was out most. Most of that season from mid-October on, after getting a massive concussion from a hit from behind by um Randy Jones against Philadelphia earlier in the year. So this whole season was up was without Patrice Berger on. Shane Knighty, Sean Thornton, like Jeremy Reach, Petteri Nokalainen, Vladimir Sabodka. And then like you know, your top players were Chara, Savard, a rookie Lucich, Chuck Kobisu got hurt too. Chuck Kobisu was a big player for the Bruins in that regular season, and he got hurt for that playoff run, too. So the Bruins were down Kobusu, they were down Bergeron. Um, and they had to ride on a rookie Lucich, an aging Glenn Murray, a sophomore Phil Kessel, a rookie David Crachie, a veteran, Marco Sturm, right? And anyway, Peter Schaefer uh found Dennis Weidman at the top of the blue line. Weideman kind of walked in and did a nice fake backhand pass to Mark Savard at the top of the right circle, who did a nice drag one timer to give Boston the win and bring him back into the series to make it two to one. Montreal would make the series three to one before Boston battled back in game five in Montreal, forced game six back in Boston, which hold the phone, we'll get to that in a little bit. But this game three to me was the first Bruins home game of what would eventually become their championship era. And I just think that this game holds a lot of significance. And it was a great game, too. It was it was entertaining overtime. Again, the the it's tough if you don't remember, if you're too young to remember, or if you just forget, the the underdog nature of that Bruins team against that Canadians team, it was like a true David versus Goliath situation. Montreal was the top team in the East. They beat you 10 straight times prior to this game. So this game had a lot of significance to me, and that's why it's on my list. But it's just outside the top 10, and we are gonna get to the top 10 now. So number 10, game six, 2011, Stanley Cup Finals, Bruins five, Vancouver two. Um, you know, this one kind of explains itself. I I think it's properly slotted. I wouldn't have a huge stink if somebody wanted it higher, but to me, there's just too many games that are above it. But I do think it's a top 10 game. And again, you talk about significance. What was at stake this game? Well, what was at stake here was that if the Bruins lost, you'd be watching the Vancouver Canucks parade around your home ice with the Stanley Cup, which listen, we saw it happen two times after this with Chicago and St. Louis, but there was something about that Vancouver team, and there was something about how the Bruins had not won the cup yet. Where say what you want, I mean, Chicago and St. Louis, I mean, those those losses, they they hurt more than anything. But I do remember saying, like, at least we had 2011, right? In 2011, we couldn't have said that. You know, we had the scars of losing to the Flyers after having a 3-0 series lead and 3-0 lead in Game 7 the year before. We had the scars of Scott Walker in double overtime in 2009, and you know, obviously scars that go way back years and years and years and decades with this Bruins team. So the last thing that anybody wanted was for the Bruins to lose to Vancouver in Boston and watch that Canucks team that was very hateable, and I'm sure they'd say the same thing about the Bruins, um, and their fans would too. But that was a big game for Boston, obviously, to extend that series and give themselves a chance to win the cup in game seven, which they did. And Brad Marshan with an electric goal to put the Bruins on the board in this one with a snapshot top right from the right-wing boards as a left shot, right where there was no room over uh Roberto Luango's right uh left shoulder, and the place went crazy. And then Boston would just erupt for three more goals in the first period. They chased Luango after he had the comments about Timmy Thomas wandering outside of his crease and how he would never do that, and that's how he gets into trouble. And so there was just so much drama at this point in the series, and you know, the Bruins just took care of business, they they just refused to let anybody beat them on home ice that year and and and skate around with the Stanley Cup uh uh on Boston Ice. So game six, 2011 is number 10 on this list. Number nine, game seven of the 2023 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Boston 2, Toronto 1 in overtime. This game to me is one of those games where I don't think from start to finish it was the greatest game in the world. In fact, the Bruins kind of played, yeah, and Toronto, I think honestly was the better team throughout most of regulation. And Toronto had a 1-0 lead uh midway through the third period. But Hampus Lindholm somehow, somehow found a way to sneak one past. Um, who was it? Was it was it Anderson? No, uh I forget who it was, but he I forget who it was for Toronto in that in that series, but uh was it Joseph Wall? I don't know. Anyway, the Bruins, you know, they didn't bring their best effort, and that Bruins team was, you know, they were that centennial team was yeah, I mean, I think they I think they were better. I think their record was better than what they actually were. You had no Bergeron, no Creechy, you had Coyle and Zaka stepping up into the into those roles. I just felt like that team was kind of over, you know, they're they were overachieving, but this game, it started slow for Boston, but they tied it, and then you talk about moments. I said it a little bit while a little while ago, games will make this list if there are moments. And I, you know, David Pasternak just he hadn't had that overtime, that big game seven moment, that big game seven overtime moment yet in his career that not all players get, but I feel like despite the Bruins, you know, going to the Cup at 19, despite David being, you know, a point per game guy his whole career in the playoffs, even even more than a point per game, that game seven moment we were all just waiting for to happen for him. And it happened in overtime here, uh, a minute and a half in when Hempis had home with a beautiful indirect pass off the end boards from two zones away. And David's come he comes crashing down at the right angle, flawlessly picks the puck up off the end boards and does a uh you know forehand backhand deke and uh or backhand forehand deke. And yeah, so that series ends with that goal, and to me, it was a big enough moment in Boston, game seven overtime, where it's gonna merit being a top ten uh playoff game for me. So that's at number nine, even though I don't think the whole game was that great, but that moment it's tough to keep it off the list. Number eight for me is game one of the 2010 Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Boston Bruins five, the Philadelphia Flyers four in overtime. Okay, obviously, this series did not end well for Boston. They had a 3-0 series lead and a 3-0 lead in Game 7 in Boston, and they lost. I also can tell you that it's oftentimes forgot how banged up that Bruins team was. The Bruins were without Dennis Seidenberg, they lost Marco Sturm on the first shift of the series, and they lost David Craichy after at some point during game three. So I know the Bruins choked that series away, and there's no excuse for it. But if that Bruins team was completely healthy, I don't think we're ever talking about the Bruins choking that series away, and they end up playing the Canadians in the conference finals instead of the Flyers and the Canadiens. Either way, the Blackhawks would have won the cup that year anyway, probably. And if the Bruins win that series against Philadelphia in 2010, you know, who knows if they win the cup the following year? They probably don't, because they probably don't have that sour taste in their mouth, and maybe they don't go out and trade for Nathan Horton or Gregory Campbell, you know, or so you you never know how things work out. Everything works out for a reason, but this game in particular is on this list because this was Mark Savard's first game back since that blind side hit from Matt Cook that concussed him and more or less ended his career. Um he obviously would play this game and and a couple of you know he played the rest of the series and he played some games the following year, and then it was a it was a hit from Matt Hunwick in Colorado that uh who was a teammate of Mark Savard in 2010 and this game against Philly, um that kind of really ended Mark's career. But the fact that Mark Savard came back into the lineup um, you know, after months of missing time, and he gets uh an overtime goal against Philly, which was it was a great back-and-forth game regulation. Don't want to take the regulation part out of this, but you know, Boston Philly, round two, Mark Savard comes back and just has a really cool moment where the guarding just erupted. Um, for Mark Savard to come back from from you know a career-threatening and eventually um career contributing ending injury against that Matt Cook hit, to have that moment against Philadelphia, to me, that game is one for the books. And I think the game regulation was entertaining as hell, but that moment to me, that's a top 10 moment, uh, in my opinion, for Bruins playoff game since 2000. So not this, not the end to that series that the Bruins wanted at the time, but I still stand by maybe they don't win, I don't think they win the cup next year if they win that series. But either way, game one was was one for the record books, and uh it's good for number eight on my list. Number seven, game five of the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Boston two, Montreal one, double overtime. This was Nathan Horton with a goal against the Montreal Canadiens in game five, the rubber match at that point in the series. Boston went down two games to mill against the Canadians, losing both in Boston, and they had to go into Montreal and win two games at the Bell Center to make that series even, which they did. And then they came back to Boston, had a classic game against the Canadians. It was a low-scoring game. Martian gave the Bruins a one-on-th lead in the third period. I think it was Jeff Halpern who tied it for Montreal a little bit later on, and then over time just had no shortage of all-time moments. You had uh Tim Thomas's unbelievable, unbelievable um save on Brian Gianta on a two-on-one and double overtime. That also may have been the Michael Ryder save game with the glove hand. I I think that may have been that game too. But Andrew Ference gets the puck on net and double overtime, and Nathan Horton just parks his ass in front and up muscles the Canadians defenseman and allows the puck to come through his legs before he puts a pass of sprawling carry price. Boston wins the game two to one. They would lose game six in Montreal. What happened to game seven? I don't know. Maybe we'll get to it. Number six on this list, game three, 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, Boston eight, Vancouver 1. So again, similar to the 7-4 game against Toronto that I had on this list earlier on, you look at the score and you say, ah, that's a blowout. Why is that on this list? Well, I'll tell you why. You have to remember what was going on at the time. At the time, the Bruins were down 2-0. They lost both games in Vancouver, and they were coming back to Boston for their first Stanley Cup final game on home ice in 21 years. It's a long time. It's a long time. So it was their first home Stanley Cup Finals game since 1990, and the Boston crowd was ready to explode. Ready to explode. You had you had a blue-collar American team from the Northeast against, you know, a more flashy skill Canadian team from the Pacific Northwest. These two teams couldn't have been as far from each other. Uh, you know, it was it was the perfect East versus West Stanley Cup final in that sense. Opposite kind of teams uh on opposite sides of the continent. And to make matters more dramatic, Aaron Rome had that late hit on Nathan Horton in the first period that knocked him out of the series. So the Garden was, you know, in a frenzy. And also you just went, you just lost, you know, you're one of your top forwards, and you're already down two games in the series. And it at that moment, I remember where I was, I was at a graduation party, and I remember thinking to myself, well, fuck, I mean, they're down two games and and they just lost Horton. I mean, how are you gonna come back in this series and and and win without you know your top guy, one of your top guys? And I I don't think I was alone. I think a lot of people probably thought that. And that wasn't me being pessimistic. I I truly was just like, well, you're already down two games, and and like it just I mean, the the odds of of overcoming that were were insurmountable. But the Bruins came out in the second period, and they were men on a mission. Andrew Ferrand scored right away. Bruins built up a four-nothing lead. Brad Marshand had the um highlight reel, short-handed goal to make it 3-0 Bruins that you know is going to be on every Bruins highlight reel for the rest of time. And you know, that goal was you know a signature moment in Brad Marshand's career early on, and still to this day is you know one of, if not probably, the greatest goals of his career in terms of just you know the moment and how he went about it. Um and then yeah, the Bruins just kind of poured it on in the third period, made it eight to one, and there was a lot of fights and animosity in this game, and and you know, you had uh Maxim Lapierre, you know, sticking his finger in Patrice Bergeron's face in Vancouver after Alex in game two, after Alex Burroughs bit Bergeron in game that this this series was crazy. Alex Burrows, who was a very hateable player, by the way, um, he bit Patrice Bergeron's finger. It was on camera in a scrum in game one, and he didn't get suspended for it, and in return, scores the overtime winner in game two. So, you know, and then you have Max LaPierre kind of taunting Bergeron, who didn't do anything wrong. And then when the Bruins had their moment to kind of let Vancouver know how they felt about that after having a huge lead in game three, you know, tempers got high and the Bruins really started to dictate the series physically, and it all kind of started in game three. So game three is when that series turned uh between the Bruins and the Canucks, and obviously that series ended in Bruins hoisting the Stanley Cup. So that was a huge game, and that is number six on my list. To the top five we go. Game six, 2008, Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Boston five, Montreal four. Boston Bruins current head coach, Marco Sturm, had his fingerprints all over this game. Now, this is later on in the series I talked about earlier, at number 11 on our list was game three of 2008 against Montreal. And later on in that series, we have game six. So I've written about this game, I've talked about this game. You guys have to remember that four-year absence from the playoffs for Boston, and it was only two seasons, but it was four calendar years because, like I said, you had the you know, you lost to Montreal in the spring of 04 after having a 3-1 series lead, but then you had the lockout, and then you had two years of being a bottom team in the East, and then you had to play the following year where you you made the playoffs in 08, but you still had to you know play that year. So, you know, time ticked away, and it had been four years at that point. You know, you had the you know, okay, so when the Bruins lost the Canadians in 04, after that, you had the Red Sox win the World Series in 04 for the first time in 86 years. Um, you had you had the you had the Patriots winning the Super Bowl in 02. Uh, you know, well, I think it was the 01 season, but it was February of 02. And then, you know, they won two more Super Bowls in 03 and 04. You had the Red Sox win the World Series again in 07. You had the Celtics win the win the NBA championship uh you know that spring in 08, which hadn't happened yet during this Marco Sturm game, but it was about to happen. You know, so the Bruins just they were they were on an island of irrelevancy at this point in the city of Boston in terms of sports uh hierarchy. And that all changed. You know, uh it's not to say that the Bruins went to number one in the city after this game, but you know, it put them on par with you know this with the other teams. Um it started it started to put the city on notice. Not not right away, but this game against Montreal, this series as a whole, but this game, the way this game went back and forth, the the the roof literally was coming off of the garden. And hockey and the Boston Bruins were back in the city of Boston in a big way. The diehards were always there, sure, but you know, you had you had a lot of hardcore hockey fans that just didn't like the way that the team was going after the uh the Joe Thornton trade, and casual fans were completely gone. And this game, this game just put the it put the Bruins back on the map in the city of Boston. So Marco Stern, uh, you know, he had that that go-ahead goal to make it 5-4. Again, it was a it was a crazy back and forth game. I think it was 2-1 Montreal heading into the third period. Vladimir Sabotka tied it 2-2, and then Montreal took a 3-2 lead. Lucic tied it 3-3 on a tip-in goal with like 10 minutes to go, and then uh Phil Kessel had a goal to make it 4-3 Boston on a pass by Marco Sturm, and then Montreal tied it 10 seconds later, and then Marco Sturm again gives Boston. It was back and forth, back and forth. And and and the Marco Sturm goal in this game was so perfect because it was one of the rare goals in hockey where everybody could see the play developing, like the anticipation of Sturm having the puck and going around Carrie Price, like the whole the whole building was was like rumbling, getting ready to let loose. A lot of times in hockey goals just kind of happen quick and the crowd pops, but this one there was a build. There was there was a there was a there was a there was a rumble that turned into a roar and uh a growl that turned into a roar. And yeah, so this game to me, it you know, the Bruins ended up losing this series in game seven. But this game, this series, it not only put the Bruins back on the map in the city of Boston, but it it set the tone for what was to come in ensuing years. The following year, the Bruins, you know, they added around, you know, they they they had a good young core in place, but then they added some pieces around them. And that following year, the Bruins are the top team in the Eastern Conference. Now, there was heartache along the way, right? They swept Montreal the following year, but then they lost to Carolina in game seven in double overtime, Scott Walker. I mentioned it earlier. That Bruins team, they could have gone to the finals, but they weren't ready. But they were trending. And then the following year, you beat Buffalo, right? That that underrated series, I say you beat Buffalo, and then I think you beat Philly if you're healthy, but you were down three key guys. You're down Marco Sturm, you're down David Creechi, you're down Dennis Seidenberg, right? And so Philly comes back and and and they win that series. But if you don't lose that series, you might not win the Cup in 11 because the person. Probably doesn't change the way that it did. And then in 2011, you win the cup. And then, you know, you obviously go back to the cup in 13, you're a president's trophy winner in 14, and eventually you had to kind of reset for a couple of years. But that that 08 team, that 07-08 team, put the Bruins on the map in the city, and it set that team forward, and they built the fabric for what would turn into a championship team three seasons later. So that's why that game is number five on my list. We're getting down to the end here. Number four, game seven of the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Boston four, Montreal three in overtime. I mean, Boston, Montreal, game seven in Boston, Bruins winning overtime. Of course, this was the game where Nathan Horton um had his second overtime winner of the series. Again, a great back and forth game in regulation. You had Mark Recce and Johnny Boychuk at the Bruins off to a 2-0 lead early. Um, you know, Montreal battled back. Chris Kelly would give the Bruins a 3-2 lead in the third period, midway through, when Hammerlick went down as if shot, like Jack Edwards uh famously said. And um, and then PK Suban, who was you know uh a villain who just hit the NHL scene at the time. It was his rookie year, ties the game for Montreal. Of course, because you know Montreal had a power play. It was it was a phantom hook on Patreon Spurgeon, too. I remember that call. It was a brutal call, but Montreal's on the power play. PK and Suban ties the game and uh sends it to overtime, and and then you know, Nathan Horton obviously buries it. A great pinch by Adam McQuaid, and then Lu Chich finds Horton in the high slot. Horton winds up slap shot game series, and we all know how that year ended for Boston. They went on the sweep uh Philadelphia, they beat Tampa Bay uh in a great seven-game series, and then obviously, you know, in my opinion, one of the best in the cup finals um of all time, Bruins Vancouver. I'm not just saying that because I'm I'm biased. I think that series had so much hate and animosity and entertainment that that that series was unbelievable. So that's number three on the list for sure, or number four on the list. Number three, this is where it might get controversial for some people, but I have my reasons, so bear with me here. Number three, I'm going game seven of the 2013 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Boston five, Toronto four overtime. Now, this game is one for the history books. I was lucky enough to be at this game with my brother, and I remember looking at him when it was four to one Toronto in the third period, and I said to my brother, I said, if they can get a goal before the 10-minute mark, they have a chance. You need to get a goal before the 10-minute mark. Give yourself a chance to score, make it 4-2 with 10 minutes to go, get one goal and then pull the goalie. Now, I didn't think that was gonna happen, but I was hopeful that maybe because at this point in the game, the Bruins played like shit. And this is kind of why this game is at number three for me, not number two, and there's more reasons too. But this game for 50 minutes was terrible. It was it was one of the worst games I've ever seen the Bruins play for 50 minutes, and they're down four to one. Nathan Horton makes it 4-2 with I want to say like 11 minutes to go or something like that. And then Milan Luciz makes it 4-3 with about a minute and change to go. And at that point, you're just kind of like, you gotta be kidding me. You now you're like, oh great, you guys waited this late to finally wake up. Now it's gonna be too little too late. And then Patrice Bergeron with with people filing back into the arena, uh, you know, you're down four to one with halfway, you know, halfway through the third period. And now it's four three. Patrice Bergeron with a great deceptive play from the point, shot through a screen, four-four. The place is going crazy. I mean, a a true comeback for the for the record books. Um, and then Bergeron wins the game in overtime for Boston to make it you know uh five to four, and just one of the greatest comebacks in NHL playoff history when you consider the the magnitude of a game seven and just how deflated the Bruins were midway through the third period. Toronto entered the third up three to one. They made it four to one in the third, and it was just lifeless. And I to this day, it's I still can't believe that that happened. Um that the Bruins came back and won that game. But that is number three on my list, and I'll I'll explain a little bit more. So, so the reason why it's not number two is because while the moments in the third in the end of the third period and overtime are some of my favorite memories that will last a lifetime with when it comes to the Boston Bruins, I just when it comes to the next game on this list, I just can't shake the fact that the first 50 minutes of that game was some of the worst hockey the Bruins played in that era. So the last 10 minutes and overtime were otherworldly, but when it comes to the next game on this list, I just can't forgive those first 50 minutes to put it over the next game. The next game on this list also has another reason why it's on this list at number two, and that is game seven of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, Boston 1, Tampa Bay Zero. Okay, so I just mentioned why 2013 is number three. I felt like the first 50 minutes were boring. Game seven, 2011 conference finals against Tampa Bay, start to finish, is the greatest hockey game I've ever seen in my life. I've ever seen in my life. That said, that's not the only reason why it's number two on this list. The other reason why I have this over 2013 Game 7 is because in 20, and you and listen, I understand that this is probably controversial, and I I have no issue if somebody says that 2013 is above this one because you know it's like choosing your favorite kid. I I truly get it. I'm just explaining my my rationale here in 2013 when the Bruins came back against the Leafs. At that point in time, you have to remember that we had just seen the Bruins win the cup in 2011. And there were a lot of firsts in that 2011 run that hadn't been done in a long, long time. One of those firsts was clinching the Eastern Conference. So in 2011, when the Bruins beat the Lightning in game seven, not only was it the greatest start-to-finish hockey game I've ever seen, in terms of just how well it was played, how tight it was played, and how competitive it was, and how how dramatic it was. Not a single penalty call the whole game. But as a Bruins fan, seeing that team win that game after years and years of heartache and heartbreak in that moment to see the Bruins be the team to score the goal to find a way to win was euphoric. And I will never forget David Craichy and Andrew Ferrens and Nathan Horton breaking down that Tampa Bay 1-3-1 and how that place erupted when Nathan Horton scored that goal, and you couldn't hear yourself think after that. That garden crowd didn't sit down and they didn't shut up. And when the clocks hit triple zeros, I go back and watch it on YouTube or whatever. I honestly thought that the glass panels were gonna fall onto the ice because the Bruins Faithful were standing on the glass and banging it and it was going back and forth. You you don't see that atmosphere at the garden right now. And I'm not saying that to put people down, I just think that when you haven't won in decades and decades, um, there's a desperation and there's like an animalistic nature that comes out in a fan base that makes them rabid. And when you start to win, when you start to have success, I think fan bases they don't lose it on purpose, but when you become accustomed to something, I just think it becomes that. It kind of becomes maybe taken for granted. And that 2011 run, that Eastern Conference Final, to to to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 21 years, and to do so on home ice in front of the Garden Faithful. And I remember they were playing Journeys, Don't Stop Believing as they were um celebrating after the game, and then that that turned into Black Betty, and the place was just going crazy. So the combination of how perfectly played that game was and the fact that it was a conference final game seven, and the first one that the Bruins won, um and and you know, send them back to the finals for the first time in two decades. I just think that the moment as a whole, I just think that game meant so much to the to Boston. Whereas in 2013, the comeback was amazing against Toronto, but we didn't need that series like we needed the win against Tampa Bay, like we needed that Sydney Cup in 2011. We needed that cup, and that game seven against Tampa Bay, that perfect game seven, was it's it's what got us there. Whereas 2013, at least we tasted it. We tasted it a couple years before, and if we lost that game to Toronto, it would have sucked, it would have sucked. And the fact that we won it was incredible, and it's why it's on this list in the top three with two games that it's hard to beat. But that's my reasoning. So it's okay if you disagree with me, but I've been watching the Bruins my whole life, and uh I've missed too many homework assignments, and and uh, you know, I I've put off studying too much when I was a kid to watch these games. And in my heart of hearts as a Bruins fan, I I believe that Game 7, 2011 was just overall the better experience. I know that's crazy, but there was there's more at play than just the comeback in the last 10 minutes, like the whole experience and the history and all the years of heartache that came before that. If if the Bruins didn't win a cup in 2011, and you know, say say the Bruins lost to Vancouver in 2011. I mean, maybe 2013's above this game then, because at that point we hadn't won the cup and stuff. But I yeah, that's that's my logic, and that's what I believe in my heart of hearts. And you can all, you know, um feel free to agree or disagree. That's the beauty of this list. And last but not least, number one for me is game seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, the Boston Bruins four, the Vancouver Canucks zero. And I'll be the first to admit, start to finish, this game uh isn't number one because the the the quality of play was the most entertaining game. The Bruins, I mean, I was nervous until it was I was nervous until it was four-nothing Bruins with a minute or two to go, because that's the Bruins fan in me. But start to finish, this there there are there are other games on this list that are that were better competitive games start to finish than this game. Um, of course, that goes without saying when it's when it's four-nothing. But at the end of the day, the Boston Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in nearly 50 years, and they did so to cap off an amazing series, one of the best Stanley Cup Finals series I think the league's ever seen. You were down 2-0 in the series, and you were down one of your top players, and you found a way to come back and will your way to a Stanley Cup championship. And um, you know, we've seen in years since we we knew how hard it was to win a cup before then, because the last cup they won was the days of Bobby Orr. But even since this game, the Bruins went back to a finals against Chicago, they won a president's trophy in 14, they lost in the second round, they went to the finals in 2019, they lost to St. Louis on home ice in game seven, they won a president's trophy um in 2020 in that COVID shortened season, and they lost in that bubble. They won a president's trophy in 22-23, they got upset in the first round. So, you know, not ha having great teams in the regular season does not equate to championship success. And um the longer, you know, we really appreciated that 2011 championship because of the near five decade drought that preceded it. But, you know, even in the 15 years since then, you you you gained a great appreciation for what that team accomplished. And I think that that team, that moment deserves to be number one on this list, even if the game start to finish wasn't the best on this list. So there you have it. There's my top 15 Boston Bruins games, uh, playoff games since the year 2000. I know there's a lot of games on this list that or that aren't on this list that could have been. Believe me, I went through all of them. Um, you're not gonna mention a game in the comments that I that I didn't consider. Um and because I wanted to make it a 15 uh game list, I had to omit some. But if this list was bigger, they'd all be there, I promise you. There's not a game that I don't I don't remember. So um, you know, if if if you want to bring up a game against the Blackhawks, you know, maybe the Daniel Paye overtime winner. If you want to bring up an overtime winner against the Rangers in 2013, I thought of those two. Um, you know, you want to bring up any games against any other games against Toronto or Carolina, um, you know, St. Louis. It was a great game in Boston. I think game one, game, games one and two, or game one in Boston against St. Louis is a great one. Um, the only home game that the Bruins won that series. Um, you know, there's a lot. Uh Patrice Berger on back in 2004 in game two against Montreal as a rookie getting the overtime winner. That's a kind of a throwback in terms of the millennium. Um, you know, there's a lot of them. There's a lot of them. Uh 2011 against Philly had no representation in this list. Uh, you know, great series, great sweep, but none of those four individual games I think could have cracked this list. But anyway, let me know what you think. And I wanted to have some fun with this and kind of get us excited for a postseason run. You know, last year when the Bruins missed out, it was their first time missing out since 2016. Um, they've only missed the playoffs three times, I think, you know, in the last like nearly 20 years. So um, it's not often, and hopefully it you you gain the pre appreciation for when you know they do make the playoffs, and hopefully you guys can get can get excited. So um next episode, I'll be breaking down the Bruins and Sabres. I'll be breaking down all of the other NHL first round matchups and giving my my previews and predictions. Don't hold me to them. Um, and it'll be fun. So thank you all very much for listening, and I'll talk to you soon.