Booshrangers

Every team that Chris Pronger has played on over the past 13 seasons has made the playoffs. Make that 14.

Despite out-playing, out-hitting, and out-shooting the New York Rangers for the first two periods, the Flyers found themselves in a 1-0 hole entering the third period. They had only come back to win twice all year when trailing into the third. Unlike many Flyers games we have seen this year, they continued pressuring the sluggish Rangers. Matt Carle finally beat Henrik Lundqvist on a backhand shot to tie the game with 13:06 left in the third, which rejuvenated the entire Wachovia Center.

The Flyers continued their relentless approach through the remainder of the third and overtime, but could not put the rubber behind Lundqvist again. I think it was pretty obvious that the Rangers were playing for the shootout. Lundqvist is one of the best shootout goalies in the NHL, where Boucher is, well..not one of the best. Every Flyers fan had to be concerned going into it. Could CSN have gotten any more shots of fans biting their nails?

Briere used his patented backhand-forehand move to give the Flyers a 1-0 SO lead, and followed it up with his traditional uppercut goal celebration. PA Parenteau (a no-name now a perfect 3 for 3 in career shootout attempts) tied the shootout on the Rangers' second attempt with a weak shot that rolled up Boucher's stick and into the net. Giroux responded with a shot through a stunned Lundqvist's 5-hole to give the Flyers the advantage again. Boucher sealed the deal with a HUGE pad save on Olli Jokinen to lock up the 7-seed for the Flyers, who will open the playoffs on Wednesday in the beautiful city of…Newark, New Jersey!

The Flyers stand a chance to upset the #2 seed Devils in the quarterfinals, whom they went 5-1 against in the regular season. Expect a preview early this work week.

Flyers Files:

-Did anyone notice how excited Boucher was after the final save? He tripped over his own feet skating to his teammates coming off the bench. Although he doesn't have the best talent and often times looks out of place, he is dedicated and hard-working and gives it his all.

-I love Peter Laviolette's emotion behind the bench; I think it was something the Flyers were lacking with John Stevens as coach. While he is very emotional, he isn't the a-hole that John Tortorella is, which I also like. Could that guy whine and complain any more?

-Carcillo had a big game for the Flyers. While he didn't show up on the score sheet, he had several shots on net, generated energy, and played emotionally without drawing any stupid penalties. (Let's leave that to Hartnell.) The Flyers need Carcillo to play this way throughout the postseason.

-Who the hell is Jody Shelley? He scored the Rangers' lone goal in today's pivotal game, and found twine on Friday night against the Flyers at MSG.