So far, so good.

The peculiar balancing act the Bruins have been doing all season continued in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Flyers Saturday. They scored first (for only the second time in their seven playoff games) and took three separate two-goal leads … only to lose focus and find themselves in another overtime.

Marc Savard saved the day with his storybook ending, but such fairy tales are not what win Stanley Cup titles. Yes, any Cup team will have its fair share of storylines and dramatic endings. But grit, determination, talent and luck play far bigger roles in the playoffs then does a single overtime in Game 1 of a series.

So, how do the Bruins keep the pressure on the Flyers and continue this wild ride? Let’s take a look.

BUCKLE DOWN ON THE KILL

Boston let Philadelphia have two power-play goals on Saturday, and that’s unacceptable for a team known for its penalty kill. The first goal was on Tuukka Rask — he said he saw Chris Pronger’s shot from the point and there was nobody in the lane, but the goaltender just let it right through his pads. The second came courtesy of Mike Richards, when the Bruins broke down and found themselves scrambling in their own zone.

“The first was a great shot by Pronger. There is not much you can do with it. The second goal, we found ourselves running around a little bit,” Daniel Paille said.  “Something like that, us as penalty killers, we try not to give up stuff like that.”

The two power-play goals were the first the Bruins had allowed in the playoffs through 21 chances. Boston had been beaten a lot this year in even-strength efficiency — they were 19th in the league — but that trend has been reversing itself of late. Where the Bruins had been leading the charge was in penalty scoring with a plus-six goal differential through the quarterfinals.

The Bruins cannot let Philadelphia’s special teams gain traction because, even sans Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, the Flyers probably have the advantage 5-on-5. Considering Boston is also missing two prominent defenders in Mark Stuart and Dennis Seidenberg, and it looks a lot more even than you would think.

ADJUST THE UNITS WITHOUT MARCO

So, Marco Sturm is done. He will not be back until at least December.

Boston has done just fine since March 13, without Sturm. Yes, he was on the ice but he did not show up on the score sheet, registering two points and then being shutout in the first seven games of the playoffs. It is difficult to say that a player’s misfortune (Sturm tore both his ACL and MCL) is ever a good thing, but Sturm has been stale of late, even when he has been doing well. The injury will probably move Blake Wheeler back up and off the fourth line to take Sturm’s spot in the top-nine forward rotation, while Shawn Thornton comes back down from the press box to take his customary spot on the fourth line.

Perhaps Wheeler can come back and be a productive member of the team, though the Bruins should not count on it. Through the playoffs, Wheeler has two assists and a plus/minus of -5, worst on the team. Even though Sturm was point-less in the playoffs, at least he had a neutral zero in the plus/minus column and was not specifically detrimental to the team.

Look for Paille to take a larger role than Wheeler, because it seems that coach Claude Julien trusts him a lot more right now, and his versatility as a speedster and defensive forward fits well in the Bruins scheme.

“I think that is what we have got from him all year. He has done a great job stepping into areas where we have asked him to go,” Julien said of Paille. “He has played with [Patrice Bergeron] as a centerman, he has played with [Savard] as a centerman. He has played with almost everybody — Begin, Sobotka.

“He has been pretty versatile on different lines. Some lines are a little more defensive minded, some you have to create a little more offensively. His skating skill and forecheck certainly helps in either situation.”

BALANCE THE FORECHECK

This series looks like it is going to boil down (no pun intended, Boston water customers) to which team wins the battle of the forecheck. The Bruins won for the first 40 minutes on Saturday and then again through overtime, but let Philadelphia back in the game in the third period when coach Peter Laviolette’s aggressive two-man forecheck began paying dividends.

“You send one man in against two defensemen, they are going to pick that one guy apart. You have to be aggressive with it,” Laviolettle said. “I thought we did a better job in the second period, third period and that is why we gained some zone time offensively.”

Boston dominated the first period to the tune of 15 shots to seven, and a plethora of scoring chances. Laviolette is known for an aggressive style of which the Bruins will have to neutralize throughout the series. The reason Boston was able to do that in the first period was because a team cannot employ an effective forecheck when the opponent is holding the puck in its offensive zone all period. The Red Wings have employed the puck possession game for a long time and at times the Bruins do it well. The key will be for Boston to use its own forecheck to create in imbalance in time of puck possession, thus taking away the threat of the Flyers aggression and putting pressure on Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher and the Flyers’ defensemen.