David currently plays FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth on the FOX drama Bones. Though he was born in Buffalo, David will be following his Philadelphia Flyers throughout Stanley Cup Playoffs.


So I was a little upset after Game 6, I won’t lie. It was a let-down big time.


Up 2-0 looking good, I thought we had no problems, I figured we would continue to press and, with the home crowd on their side, the Flyers would finish the pesky Caps off in six games.


But then in the second period we fell short, we sat back a bit and stopped skating and all of a sudden, Wash took advantage. And I have to give it to Cristobal Huet, the Flyers had their chances to possibly put a third goal in, but he made great saves.


In that game too, I was taken aback by the crowd noise. Philadelphia is a real passionate hard-nosed sports town, but when our team gets down, we have the tendency to let our emotions get the better of us and lose our energy along with the team.


We have to keep our team in this, home ice advantage is an advantage for a reason, because your building can lift you up when you stumble a little. As Philly fans, we have to be there with our team even, leading, or losing.


Part of that might have had something to do with the fact that Ovechkin woke up in Game 6. He was ripping the puck on net, and when you have a sniper like that who is all over the ice and dominating like he can, it’s intimidating.


So anyway, I was a little deflated after Game 6. It could’ve been a downfall, losing to Wash and heading back to Washington, because I figured if you have Kate Smith and Lauren Hart, that’s pretty much enough for the victory right there.


(For those fans of other buildings who are reading this blog, Philadelphia plays a Kate Smith video of her singing God Bless America, back in the Cup years for Philly. It’s her video and they go back and forth with Lauren Hart singing it live. Lauren’s father was Gene Heart, who was one of the greatest announcers who ever lived in my opinion. It gets the orange and black ready to roll.)


But, in Washington, we had to go up against the Sea of Red. Like I said, I was nervous.


And it’s funny how Washington mirrored the first goal of Briere’s in Game 6. The game itself even followed a little of the same script. The Caps got up, and we came back and tied it up, and went on to eventually win.


On just a beautiful goal by a guy who hadn’t scored yet in this series.


That’s the most important thing for any Game 7. Having the other players step up – for us that meant Lupul, Kapanen, who was just in the right place at the right time for the second time in this series.


And here, I have to say – the goal that some fans have been grumbling about, the one that Thoresen checked a player who unfortunately fell into his goaltender: that’s a legal hockey play. The way the league describes it in the rule book, that’s the right call and we were in the right place at the right time. Sometimes they go your way, and sometimes they don’t. This time, we got lucky.


Then, Smith bites on a play, Ovechkin buries, and we lose our advantage.


That almost killed me. That ledge I was talking about? I definitely had to get talked down off of it.


I mean, we had our chances to put this thing away – we had Game 1 won, we had leads that we gave up, and we had Game 6 until the Caps came storming back. I was worried we had given up our luck.


But Biron held the fort for us in the third. So did Huet, as a matter of fact. There was great goaltending, in this series in all the games. Huet and Biron both played great, Biron especially when he needed to, in the third period. He was standing on his head.


Ovechkin had some great opportunities; it was great to see the back-and-forth hockey, and of course, it was great to win. Don’t get me wrong: I probably wouldn’t be here lauding this game if we had lost.


All in all, I have to commend the Capitals. Both teams played great, had great opportunities, and the series could’ve gone either way. A lot of people thought Philly could’ve finished it off earlier, and I congratulate the Caps for the way they came back.


Ovechkin was something else, and our young guns were great – and one of the beauty things to come out of all of this is that the Eastern Conference is going to be very exciting to watch for a long time. With guys like Malkin, Ovechkin and Semin, Crosby, the Rangers’ young players and Lundqvist, and of course Briere, Carter, Richards and the rest of these guys…and you’re going to have these rivalries for the next 5 years.


You think Ovechkin and Richards are going to forget one another next season?


I don’t.


So the series is over, and now we travel to Montreal. Man, that crowd itself is intimidating. It’s going to be a whole other series with Montreal and the flying Frenchman, and they have a great goaltender in Price; he’s outstanding, and he’s going to be tops in this league one day. When I watch him, I see Roy, Brodeur… I see the great ones.


No rest. We’re right back in action. Biron will have to regroup quickly, because there’s no rest in this playoff system.


And when the puck drops in Montreal, for Games 1 and 2, with the smoked meats and the Canadian beer, we’ll be looking to steal one or both so we can head back to the land of Cheesecakes with the upper hand.


Go Flyers!