The magic of the Stanley Cup, even without the Flyers

A sports moment to ponder as we wait for today's playlist for Chip Kelly's Eagles practice and the Phillies wonder where summer went:

Did anyone notice what happened in Boston last night?

It reminds me, once again, that there is nothing in sports that compares to the Stanley Cup playoffs when it comes to sheer drama.

Add in the final game of a seven-game playoff series, and sudden death overtime, and you have a level of drama rarely reached in sports.

And yet even that does not come close to capturing what took place in Beantown last night.

Ironically, for two and a half  periods,  the Game 7 finale between the Bruins and Leafs looked like a dud for the home folks, Wicked downer, you might say.

Toronto built a commanding 4-1 lead and looked set to advance to the next round. Even after the Bruins scored to cut the margin to 4-2 with 10 minutes left, Toronto looked pretty secure.

Then, as most desperate teams do in such situations, the Bruins pulled their goalie with a minut left for an extra skater.

That's when the magic of the Stanley Cup Playoffs added one more chapter.

With less than a minute to play in regulation, the Bruins scored twice in a span 31 seconds with the goalie pulled to send the game into overtime.

The shell-shocked Leafs then lasted just six minutes into the overtime period before giving up the game winner.

5-4 Bruins. Boston advances. Beantown is delirious. Canada mourns.

Once again, there is nothing that compares to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Absolutely nothing.

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