That was a first period that had a little bit of everything.
First, the pre-game rendition of "God Bless America" by Kate Smith and Lauren Hart was something that had to be witnessed; words just won't do it justice.
The Flyers kept the fans rolling, getting the game's first goal just 29 seconds in. Nikolay Zherdev chipped the puck past a Boston player at the Philadelphia blue line to Claude Giroux to start a 2-on-1 break with James van Riemsdyk. Giroux centered a pass under Bruins center Patrice Bergeron to van Riemsdyk, who tipped it under Bruins goalie Tim Thomas for his sixth of the postseason.
Van Riemsdyk made it 2-0 with his League-leading seventh of the postseason. With the Bruins' Gregory Campbell off for holding, Kimmo Timonen fired a shot from the middle of the blue line that Thomas stopped, but couldn't control the rebound. Danny Briere had a few whacks at it, but the puck rolled to van Riemsdyk, who scored at 9:31.
It's the fifth straight game van Riemsdyk has a goal, and ties him with Briere for the League lead.
The Bruins tied the game with a pair of goals in a 1:25 span.
Chris Kelly got the Bruins on the board with his fourth of the playoffs. Rich Peverley curled around the top of the Philadelphia zone and dropped a pass for Tomas Kaberle. Brian Boucher stopped Kaberle's shot, and Michael Ryder's attempt on the rebound from the crease, but Kelly crashed in to bang in the rebound at 12:50.
Moments later, Brad Marchand made great plays at both ends and was rewarded with the game-tying goal. First, he stepped in front of a Flyers player in front of the Boston net to break up a scoring chance. As the play went up the ice, Marchand followed and was in the perfect spot, above the right circle, to take a Patrice Bergeron shot and fire a shot that beat Boucher past his glove at 14:15 to tie the game.
Boucher kept the score tied with a save on a Daniel Paille breakaway attempt with three minutes left in the period.
The second period is about to start, so we'll be back with more in a bit.
Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK