Flyers complete two comebacks to eliminate Bruins

BOSTON - What if? Two words, small words, usually uttered by the losers. But on this night, a night of history, the winners could not help but ask themselves.

"What if the Flyers didn't fly tonight?" Scott Hartnell said.

What if the Flyers rolled over in Game 4, 8 days ago, after giving up a backbreaking, overtime-forcing goal with just 35.1 seconds left in regulation? What if they capitulated after falling in a three-games-to-none series hole?

What if the Flyers actually looked up at the scoreboard last night at TD Garden and realized they were in a 3-0 hole after clawing their way back to Game 7?

Last night, the Flyers made history. And the way they did it - in a 60-minute, time-warped replay that encompassed their entire Eastern Conference semifinal victory - would have been hard to dream up.

Somehow, someway, they pulled it off.

Before 15 minutes could tick off the clock, the Flyers, like they were in the series just a a few days ago, were in a 3-0 hole. After an arduous march back to level ground, Simon Gagne delivered the knockout punch, giving the Flyers a 4-3 triumph in Game 7 and a 4-3 series victory.

Four unanswered goals. Four straight wins. Four elimination games later, the Flyers were the ultimate eliminators.

"At some point, I just started thinking that it's meant to be," Danny Briere said. "I don't know. I can't explain it. I have been down 3-0 in a series before but I have never had this feeling before."

Call it a miracle. Call it a reverse sweep. Call it history. Call it destiny. Amazingly, the Flyers will host the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference final tomorrow night at the Wachovia Center, with an opportunity to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1997.

This is the Flyers' fourth appearance in the Eastern Conference final since 2000. They have lost to New Jersey (2000), Tampa Bay (2004) and Pittsburgh (2008) in their last three trips.

"We have been resilient all year," captain Mike Richards said. "Whether it was injuries, or putting ourselves in a bad position in the standings. We have been through a lot together this year. Our mindset was, if you are going to go down, you are going to go down swinging.

"We took it one goal at a time."

They withstood three goals in the first 15 minutes, including two power-play tallies and a weak goal allowed by Michael Leighton, and then regrouped. Peter Laviolette called a timeout with 5 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the first period to rally his troops.

"The timeout was just to try and slow things down, to get us back in there," Laviolette said. "We fought. Guys fought. I think the biggest message there was just to score one goal."

Hartnell admitted that the nerves of a Game 7, the pressure to complete the comeback of all comebacks, initially got to the Flyers.

"In the first period, I think the nerves got to us a little bit," he said. "The message before the game was to stay out of the penalty box. We didn't do that.

"We looked up at the clock. It said we were down 3-0 with [7] minutes to go in the first period. That's not the same as 10 minutes to go in the third period. We just needed to get one before we went in the [locker room] for the first period."

James van Riemsdyk, the most unlikely of heroes, gave the Flyers that one goal they needed before the first 20 minutes expired, enabling them to salvage a rough first period. It was van Riemsdyk's first career playoff goal in 12 games.

"It felt good to score that goal," van Riemsdyk said, "but it would not have felt as good if we didn't win the game."

From there, trailing 3-1 after the first period, Laviolette said the plan was just to win the second period. It wasn't about winning the game or the series.

And as the Flyers settled into the game, with Hartnell atoning for his first-period penalty that gave the Bruins their first goal with a goal of his own that cut it to 3-2 just 2:49 into the second period, so did Leighton, who looked more in the first period like the career minor leaguer he was than the Flyers' season savior.

The Flyers held Boston without a shot for the first 10:13 of the second period, outshooting the Bruins 7-0 in that span.

"It was not a goaltenders' game," Leighton said. "I felt good the whole game. Even though I was down 3-0, I didn't feel like I played badly. In my head, I wasn't thinking I was playing bad, [but] I thought they bailed me out the whole game."

Hartnell's goal put the once boisterous fans at TD Garden on pins and needles. Less than 7 minutes later, Briere put the Bruins on death watch. Briere created his own scoring chance, wheeling around the net and banking in a shot off Tuukka Rask's pads and into the net. It was his seventh goal in 12 playoff games.

"[This game] was about relaxing," Briere said. "We had to relax and play the game. I think it was [initially] emotion, trying too hard and crossing the line. Peter's words were to relax and play the game.

"Guys laughed at me when I said I thought we had a great playoff team. Guys that responded when the game was on the line, even though we put ourselves in a lot of trouble throughout the year."

After six games and two periods, both teams were on even ground.

To start the third period, the Flyers and Bruins traded punches like two punch-drunk heavyweights. Heading into the third - and series and possibly season deciding - period, the Flyers responded as they have all series, as they had all season.

Gagne threw the knockout, crippling the Bruins with a top-shelf, wrist shot for a power-play goal, cementing Boston's gag within the choke of the series.

"It's tough to ask for better," Gagne said. "To be able to help the team win some hockey games, it's a plus. But we needed everybody. It's not because you scored a goal that you're the hero. It was definitely a team win tonight. A team wins."

Chris Pronger, the Flyers' only player with a Stanley Cup ring, picked one word to describe the Flyers.

"Relentless," Pronger said. "Isn't that our slogan? It defines a lot of things. We're never going to give up. We're never going to count ourselves out. Relentless in our belief of what we can do if we set our minds to it."

Three games down. Three goals down. It's all so hard to believe.

"It's great," Laviolette said. "We get to wake up today as a team and a group and go to the rink. We're still here. We're still standing."

"We believe. Belief in our system, belief in the way we play, belief in ourselves as players," Hartnell said. "Now, there's no telling what we can do."

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.