"Without that play right there, there is no Stanley Cup in 2011." Who better to describe what Michael Ryder's glove save meant to the Boston Bruins than someone who was there, the Bruins Director of Health, Fitness & Wellness, John Whitesides. Most people look at that playoff run and think of Nathan Horton's heroics or Tim Thomas' stellar play, but none of that likely happens if Ryder hadn't been in the right place at the right time.
One of Horton's heroics actually took place later in that Game 5, as he scored his first of two overtime winning goals at TD Garden against the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens had won the first two games of the series on the road, and it would've likely been series over if that had done it a third time in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead. However, clutch plays like this one changed alot of legacies in Boston.
Officially Michael Ryder (73) days away from regular season puck drop for the #NHLBruins
— Something’s Bruin Podcast (@BruinSomethin) July 28, 2024
A short lived tenure in Boston but filled with clutch moments like this on a run to a Cup clinching 2011.
“GLOVE SAVE BY RYDER!!!”
73 days #NHLBruins | @PrimetimeProds pic.twitter.com/mV38F3F4yZ
It's funny to think about the butterfly effect that one little play like this one has created, and it starts with the Bruins as a whole. I'm not afraid to say that even though the Bruins have been successful for the last two decades, it's a bit of a disappointment that they weren't able to win more than one Stanley Cup. The 2011 run gives alot of players from that core some leeway, and if they hadn't gotten the job done that year, people might have different views on some players.
One massive player that stands out is Brad Marchand. He was a bottom-six guy when Ryder made that save in Game 5. As the playoffs wore on, Marchand started to become a fan and team favorite, and his place in the lineup became more important. He became a league-wide phenomenon in the Stanley Cup Final when he started to bully the Sedin twins, and he cemented that legacy with his two-goal performance alongside Patrice Bergeron in Game 7 of the finals.
That partnership kickstarted a run that lasted until the 2022-23 season. It's one of the greatest duos in Bruins history and also one of the best of this generation for the entire league. If that 2011 run didn't continue into the finals, Marchand doesn't have some of his memorable moments, and maybe his career doesn't pan out as it did.
The run also cemented Zdeno Chara as one of the best captains of his generation and turned Tim Thomas into a household name. The Stanley Cup win changed so many lives, and we would have been remiss not to mention that it likely wouldn't have happened if some NHL player from Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, hadn't decided to spend his summers playing ball hockey as a goalie to break up the monotony of scoring goals.