He was surprised to find it back on the ice when he went back out for a postgame curtain call.
“I thought maybe my head—something’s wrong here,” said the Boston Bruins forward, who missed the last 18 games of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs because of a concussion. “I thought it was a treat for somebody. So, thanks for giving it back.”
In his first game in almost two months, Savard scored on a delayed penalty 13:52 into overtime on Saturday to give the Bruins a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“It’s been a whirlwind for me. Obviously, I went through a lot of tough days,” said Savard, who received a big cheer for his first shift. “When I got out there, there was a little water in my eyes at first. The crowd treated me great. My teammates were great with me all day. And I just wanted to fit in. … I guess you can’t script it any better.”
Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots for Boston, Dennis Wideman had three assists, and Miroslav Satan and Patrice Bergeron each had a goal and an assist. Brian Boucher stopped 41 shots, and Mike Richards had a goal and two assists for the Flyers.
But the star was Savard.
“Any time a guy steps into your lineup and hasn’t played in two months and scores the game-winner you’ve got to take it with a smile,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “I guess it makes for some good writing, doesn’t it?”
Game 2 is Monday night in Boston.
Savard was injured March 7 on an unpenalized hit from Pittsburgh’s Matt Cookethat prompted the NHL to ban blindside hits to the head. The Bruins forward, who was cleared to return this week, skated just six abbreviated shifts in the first period, but Julien threw him out there more as the game went on.
In overtime, with the Flyers due to receive a penalty in their own end, he outraced a defender to a loose puck at the right circle and slapped it past Boucher and under the crossbar.
Boston took a 2-0 lead in the first 13 minutes and still led 4-2 with under 8 minutes left. Richards cut the deficit to one goal with 7:23 to play, then Danny Briere outmuscled two defenders to go in alone on Rask and tie it with 3:22 left.
Boston had several good chances early in overtime, and Philadelphia had one with 15:33 left when Rask stopped Daniel Carcilloon a breakaway.
The game was a rematch of the New Year’s Day Winter Classic, and a rare second-round matchup of teams that needed to win on the final weekend just to reach the playoffs. Boston beat the third-seeded Buffalo Sabres in the first round in six games, and Philadelphia upset the second-seeded New Jersey Devils in five.
“We’ve been in a tough grind all year trying to get into this thing,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “We need to be better, and we will be better.”
Sixth-seeded Boston inherited home-ice advantage against seventh-seeded Philadelphia when the top-seeded Washington Capitals lost their first-round series to Montreal.
And they got back Savard, their leading scorer last season.
The Flyers never led in the game, but they never let it get away from them, either.
They fell behind 2-0 in the first on goals by Steve Beginand Bergeron. Ryan Parentscored for Philadelphia to cut the deficit to one in the second and, after Miroslav Satan made it 3-1 for Boston, Pronger got it back to a one-goal game with 4:12 left in the period.
It stayed that way until David Krejcidug a puck out of the corner, leaving it for Milan Lucic before heading to the slot. Lucic got him the puck, Krejci did a little stick handling to force Boucher to commit and then beat him with 12:35 left in the third.
With 7:23 remaining in regulation, Richards scored a power-play goal to make it 4-3 a few seconds after Rask was knocked down in the crease by Scott Hartnell.
With 3:12 to play in the third, Briere split through Wideman and Matt Hunwick to go straight in on Rask, who stopped the first shot but left it there for Briere to score on the rebound.
Canucks 5 Blackhawks 1: In Chicago, Roberto Luongo made 36 saves and Vancouver showed why it was the Western Conference’s top scoring team this season, routing Chicago in the second-round series opener.
Luongo was sharp throughout, especially in the first period when he made 17 saves.
The Canucks stunned the Blackhawks with two goals in less than a minute— Mason Raymond scored with 10.5 seconds left in the first period and Henrik Sedin made it 3-0 just 32 seconds into the second.
Christian Ehrhoff, Kyle Wellwood and Michael Grabner also scored for the Canucks against rookie goalie Antti Niemi, who faced 25 shots and was pulled after two periods with Chicago trailing 5-0.
Patrick Kane ended Luongo’s shutout bid by scoring during a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period.
Game 2 is Monday night in Chicago.
