This is rarely, if ever, a space for black and gold butt-kissing. The power play stinks. The Kaberle trade was a bad deal. See? Now, for a dose of unbiased truth.

The Bruins lead the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, three games to none. Big deal, right? Wrong. Huge deal. Mammoth deal.  

First let’s get one thing out of the way. Last year’s 3-0 series and Game 7 collapse was the disaster of all disasters and needed a number of things in order to happen: David Krejci breaking his wrist, Simon Gagne coming back, Tuukka Rask fading, the too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty with less than 10 minutes remaining in the series. You name it, it happened, and it was good for the Flyers and bad for the Bruins. It was a perfect storm that left an embarrassing mess in Boston for quite a while, and fans have promised not to forget it until the B’s could make up for it.

Which brings us to the present day, and the Bruins’ current series with the Flyers. It’s over. Tremendously over. As over as Steve Carell’s tenure on The Office (and, not coincidentally, the show’s days of being any good). As over as over gets. The Bruins will win this series, possibly Friday, and they’ll stay at home to host Tampa Bay (not looking too far ahead, but a very beatable opponent – what’s the West like this time of year?) for the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals. It will be their first appearance there since 1992, and whether or not the Celtics are still in contention, all eyes will be on the Bruins, because they’ll finally deserve the attention that many in Boston have reserved for championship runs.

Claude Julien will keep his job. Peter Chiarelli, if there was any question of it, will keep his job. The new fans that jump on board will catch wind that these Bruins also hold a top 10 pick in the draft, as well as one of the most talented young players in the league waiting to make an impact, and they simply won’t know what to do with themselves. This is what Boston will be in for when (not “if”) the Bruins win this series. 

Is this a case of the Bruins clearly being the best team in the league? No. It’s a combination of the Bruins being the team that’s playing better and the fact that they’re going up against a team that for two of three games this series has been incapable of playing winning hockey.

Philadelphia’s goaltending has been suspect (seriously, it isn’t the only reason the Flyers are down, 3-0), the defense has been downright bad and – here’s where the Bruins finally get some credit – their better scorers haven’t been given enough from either Tim Thomas or the physical Bruins to let them take over a game any more than James van Riemsdyk did in Game 2. That was the best performance the Flyers have gotten from any player this series, and though it was enough to net Philadelphia two quick goals and wow those watching, it wasn’t enough to deliver a victory. 

More? The Bruins showed Wednesday that they won’t let such a performance happen twice. JVR still fired eight shots off, six of which got on net Wednesday, but while that mark led the Flyers, his actual scoring chances weren’t anywhere near what they were Monday night. 

As for the goaltending: Again, it isn’t the only issue with which the Flyers are dealing, though it’s a big one, as evidenced by Brian Boucher’s exit in Game 3 Wednesday. As Peter Laviolette summoned him to the bench in favor of Sergei Bobrovsky, and as Boucher understandably couldn’t wait to get to the bench before trying to break his stick, which one of these goalies were you watching thinking, “That’s the guy the Bruins won’t be able to beat once in the next four games” between the Philadelphia netminders? 

Maybe Bobrovsky will start Game 4, but even in the bits and pieces of the three games he’s played against the B’s thus far in the series, he has allowed three goals over 55:15. That’s respectable if he can do it for a whole 60 minutes, but if the defense plays the way it has in front of Boucher, it would be surprising to see him hold the B’s to one or two goals in a game, which is just about the most you can allow if you’re expecting to beat a team that’s countering with Tim Thomas. 

Then, there’s the fact that the Bruins have refused to relent, even in the classic spots in which one would expect them to do so. Game 2 looked like it was going to be a long night when van Riemsdyk put two quick ones on the board, but rather than planning how they could get their second win in Game 3, they took care of business and battled back. Wednesday night, one would think that all signs would point to lethargy and that the Flyers, desperate to avoid an 0-3 hole, would come out strong. Instead, the Bruins kicked the crud out of Philadelphia for a full 60 minutes. 

This was a team that was going to have trouble getting past the Canadiens, and it was easy to see that going into the first round. From there, it seemed the matchups could favor the Bruins. Teams like the Penguins, Rangers and Sabres, who were all regular-season thorns in the Bruins’ sides, were knocked off; teams the Bruins could beat, such as the Flyers and Lightning, stuck around. The B’s are proving that, and after Tampa Bay swept the Capitals on Wednesday, the B’s have their next opponent waiting for them. 

Looking at things now, how much longer could this Flyers series actually go? Historically speaking, we know the technical answer around these parts, but this Bruins team doesn’t look like a squad that’s curious to see what would happen if they let up, and this Flyers team doesn’t look like it could take more than two games against the B’s. Not unless a lengthy list of things begin going horribly wrong for the Bruins. This year, don’t count on it happening again.

It’s over.