Eager. Angry. Excited. Scared. Nervous. Overjoyed. Amazed. That is the range of emotion that I felt during 80+ minutes of hockey last night at the Garden. Game 4 was simply amazing and one of the best games that I have been to. Game 6 of the 2008 playoffs against Montreal still may be the best game I have experienced but this one is close behind.
Game 4 started out just like any other Bruins playoff game at the Garden. The giant B’s banner made its way around the lower level and watching tons of people rushing to get a chance to touch was entertaining even before the game started! The noise level was pretty high but not the loudest I have experienced in the Garden but seeing the yellow rally towels making the whole arena yellow is a sight that always gives me chills. That is something that you do not truly understand how cool it is until you have seen it in person. I recommend that everyone gets to a Bruins playoff game even if you have to spend a little money. It’s worth it!
Now back to the game action. Game 4 also started out like any Bruins game when they play flat in the first two periods and make the fans wonder why we spent so much money to watch them play this bad. For every time I wondered about the money I spent or the Finance quiz I had the next day, there was also that hope deep down that no Bruins fan ever loses. We all always hope that somehow, someway, our Boston Bruins are going to pull out the win. It just has to happen.
The Black and Gold went down 2-0 after two periods and it looked like the series was going to be tied at two games a piece. Thank goodness the Bruins never gave up and game out hard in the third. When Krejci scored the first goal, I’m pretty sure I jumped a couple of feet in the air and clapped so hard that my hands turned red but I wasn’t alone, there was 17,565 (minus a few Buffalo fans) who were doing the exact same thing. It was the same reaction with Bergeron’s goal. Then came the dreaded rest of the third. Whoever scores now is probably going to win. The only thing was that no one scored. Oh boy. Here it comes, sudden-death overtime.
Overtime is exciting to watch but also wicked nerve-wracking at the same time. I can barely handle OT games in the regular season and the last time I went to an OT game in the playoffs, it did not end well. I think we all know what happened in Game 7 against the Hurricanes last. Yuck! Let’s not go back to that but unfortunately that was the vision that filled my head. I did not want to see that again! Overtime cannot be good for the heart. Every time a Sabre touched the puck in the Bruins defensive end, my heart would stop. When Bergeron got called for “tripping” in the first OT period, I don’t think Bruins fans breathed for two minutes. So we survived the first OT but the second OT was staring us in the face.
When I have heart problems at age 30, it will be because of Boston sports teams and games just like this one. Then came the break that the Bruins needed. The Sabres were called for too-many men on the ice despite the valiant attempt by the offending skater to jump back over the boards to the bench. Power play in double OT. The time is now! The first power play unit had looked great all night scoring one PP goal but the second unit of Lucic/Ryder, Sturm, and Satan (a center-less line) looked dismal, absolutely horrible. What’s one way to make up for that? Score the game-winning goal in double overtime! It takes only one play to forget the rest of the game and Satan’s goal was just that.
It didn’t matter what had happened the rest of the night no one cared. With 7:41 gone in the second OT, the Garden went berserk along with the Bruins bench! We had all been standing for the last 28 minutes and now everyone was screaming, clapping, and giving high-fives to anyone within reach. It was amazing and writing about it now is giving me chills. For all you that were not at the game, I am truly sorry that you could not experience the awesomeness that was Game 4 at the TD Garden. Simply amazing. The place was so insane that when they announced the goal, Tuukka Rask, who got an assist on the goal, thought they were announcing the stars of the game so he came out giving away a stick to a fan.
Last night was truly bedlam at the Garden. People were trying to touch the Bruins who had mobbed Satan by the glass. The “Tuu-ka” chants continued all the way down the stairs to the exits. On the streets, cars were beeping in excitement for once and not because someone was in the way. The high-fives continued outside and everyone seemed to be in a state of ecstasy after the game. No one wanted to go home except the Sabres.
Let’s hope Game 5 is a great game but with no overtime please. A win in regulation to take the series would be just fine. Wow. I still cannot believe that hockey game I witnessed last night. It was simply amazing and let’s hope the Bruins continue to stay strong and fight hard for the rest of the playoffs. The ice is not ready to melt on Causeway yet. Now I need to go take some deep breaths because I am still recovering from the game last night but least it is a recovery after a win, nothing better than that except maybe the Stanley Cup.
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