Well well well, the big bad Bruins are at home against the league-wide beloved Vancouver Canucks. A re-match of last year’s Stanley Cup final. Wait. 10am? Regional Sportsnet broadcast? That doesn’t make any sense. Maybe all the player’s “just another game” comments were taken seriously.
It starts like this: Saturday, January 7 at 1:00 pm local time the boys in blue took to the ice at the TD Bank Gardens against a foe they saw all too much of during last year’s final instalment of the playoffs. However if you spoke with any of the Canuck players beforehand you would not assume this game to be any different than October 20th against the Predators.
Fortunately I have the gift of foresight and saw through the mass quantity of verbal manure being spewed in a mix of cliches. Today’s match-up quickly proved me correct as both teams had clearly not forgotten their previous June rendezvous.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t see the Canucks coming out of this one on the winning side of things. The Bruins were on a serious roll, winning something like 116% of their last 24 games. Ya, they’re that hot. But do not fear, the Canucks are also chalking up wins at a steady pace.
In a game that started Canucks backup goalie Cory Schneider over Roberto Luongo, the opening period saw the same amount of emotion and physicality as the first battle scene of Gladiator. Fortunately no one lost the use of a limb – that came in the next period.
The Bruins did what they do best. They took to the body hard and jumped in on any opportunity to punch someone in the face. Lucic tried not to appear as though he was coming off the bench to attack Hamuis from behind during the first of many melees. Just one of his many talents.
Penalty minutes in the first period were being handed out in such frequency that official Don VanMassenhoven was forced to whip out his trusty little black book – something I thought was reserved for Saturday nights, not afternoons.
Both teams scored in the first, then came a rare refereeing gaffe as a standard icing call was missed. To make matters worse, Canucks goalie Schneider had his arm raised as well as one of the on-ice linesmen. When the Canuck defenseman lazily touched the puck and turned up ice, he was quickly stripped by Boston’s Rich Peverley who wristed a quickie passed Schneider. 2-1. Lame.
The frustration is only compounded when a refereeing error results in a sudden goal against. I was feeling the same as coach V at that moment. I’m just glad there were no cameras in my living room as a profanity laden string of verbal assaults bounced off my TV screen.
The second period was about as bi-polar as they come for the Canucks. The missed drop passes continued early in the second frame and even earned Boston a penalty shot in the first minute. Thankfully Schneider had other plans and stopped it handedly.
However after missing most of the first period while stationed in the penalty box, Burrows made his presence felt by tipping a five-hole shot by Hodgson to knot the game up at two aside. The game did not go long before another heated incident occurred.
Late in the second period the puck was shot around Boston’s net. As Canuck defenseman Sami Salo skated in preparing himself for impact, Boston’s rodent-like Brad Marchand ducked low, avoiding the puck entirely, clipping Salo with a knee-level hip check sending Salo over backwards onto his right shoulder. YouTube it. It’s gross.
I instantly wanted blood. I wanted Marchand’s head on a stick a la Robert Downey Jr. in Natural Born Killers. Some light pushing ensued as Canucks trainer assisted Salo off the ice. What made matters worse was Marchand yelling at the officials as he was heading off the ice. Are you trying to defend yourself? You feel that was legal? C’mon, cut me some slack, Brad.
The difficulty I have with Marchand is he’s a skilled player with good wheels and soft hands who so proudly represented Canada at the World Junior’s tournament only a few years ago. Why has he decided cheap, dirty plays are now necessary? They don’t help him one bit when it comes to putting the puck in the net. Moreover he has clearly made a difficult NHL roster based solely on his offensive playing abilities. He needs to give his head a shake and learn to play the game with integrity. Can someone forward this blog masterpiece to him?
After heated emotion had evaporated, I realized that dog piling on top of Marchand would not dissuade the Bruins from their antics; it would have to be done on the powerplay. I could only hope the Canucks clicked on this particular powerplay and send a message that was unfortunately returned to sender last June.
During Marchand’s five minute major and with only 13 seconds left on the clock, Henrik potted his eleventh goal of the season putting the Canucks up 3-2 heading into intermission. Hank’s rare stick-in-hand fist pump after scoring was clear visual proof this was no “one game out of 82” as they so previously suggested.
Picking up where they left off, the Canucks started the third period adding to their lead just over one minute in. 4-2 Canucks looked so good on my TV I was tempted to take a photo and hang it on the fridge. Two goals-for during Marchand’s five minute major was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Despite rallying for 19 shots in the final period and getting a goal from David Krejci, Boston ultimately lost by a final of 4-3. The Canucks walked out of Boston handing the Bruins a rare loss. But at what cost? The Bruins still managed to run their physical game against the Canucks and throw in a couple extras for good measure.
A main criticism for last year’s loss to Boston was the lack of efficiency on the powerplay. Despite scoring all four goals tonight with the man advantage it’s difficult to acertain they would be able to continue that pace given the rate of attrition by the hands of the Bruins.
It seems a touch out of balance when a kid can take out a top tier defenseman and only be penalized five minutes plus a game. This is where my attrition theory comes into play. If this was game one of a series, Marchand is back by game three fully rejuvenated while Salo is most likely out for the series. Fair? I should say not.
Strolling out of Boston with two points has been one of the hardest tasks in the NHL this season, unless you’re the Bruins of course. However I don’t feel completely confident the Canucks could deal with the Bruins if given another chance at a seven game series. But boy oh boy would I love another shot and to be proven wrong in a big way.
Written by Chris Heavenor of Coach Blogbay
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