It was a monumental night at Rogers Arena. Players, coaches, and fans had this game circled on their calendars. It delivered as expected and turned in to a rout for the Vancouver Canucks.
The game was chippy the whole way through. Ryan Kesler and Jarome Iginla continued their historic rivalry with a scrap early in the game. Rivalries amongst rivalries were presented to the fans attention as the game went along. Brad Marchand was the center of attention all night as he kissed his finger repeatedly and made cup hoisting gestures at various Canuck players and fans. This drew boos from the Canuck faithful every time he touched the puck.
Jannik Hansen scored a fluky goal near the end of the 1st period gave the Canucks some jump heading into the 2nd period. The Canucks, however, came out flat in the first five minutes of the 2nd period and the Bruins were able to capitalize on a defensive mishap as Reilly Smith used his speed and buried the puck past Luongo.
Here comes a Canucks timeout followed by a Torts tirade - @#!%
The Torts tirade changed the game and fired the Canuck troops up. About a minute later, Brad Richardson made a nice pass to a streaking David Booth who fired a laser past Rask.
Chris Higgins found the back of the net about four minutes later which gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd period.
The onslaught continued over a minute into the third as the Canucks got an unlikely contribution from Yannick Weber. The Bruins decided to give goaltender Tuukka Rask a courtesy yank to try and spark the team. It made no difference for the Bruins as Henrik Sedin would capitalize on the powerplay and Chris Tanev would score shorthanded as the Canucks built a comfortable lead in the 3rd period. Bruins' Reilly Smith would tally his second goal of the night late, but it made no difference in the outcome.
The Canucks were outshot 19-8 in the third period, but the Bruins did not have many quality scoring chances. Both teams showed high levels of fatigue late in the game as this rout came to a close. Roberto Luongo stopped 39 of 41 Bruins shots in this contest.
Canucks Three Stars (against Boston):
1. Roberto Luongo
2. Mike Santorelli
3. Chris Tanev
Central Roadtrip Preview
The Canucks hit the road this week for a Central Division roadtrip. The roadtrip begins in Minnesota on Tuesday as the Canucks renew acquaintances with old division foe Wild. The Canucks will then travel to Dallas on Thursday and face playoff rival and defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago on Friday.
The points are becoming critcal in the tough Western Conference. Minnesota has always been a house of horrors for the Canucks, but I feel they should take care of the Wild if they play a full 60 minutes. The back to back with Dallas and Chicago will be tough ones, but I expect the Canucks to play good defensive games against those teams.
I am sure Torts will continue to stress the "one game at a time" approach. A good goal for the Canucks on this roadtrip is to get 4 out of a possible 6 points.
Until next time, stay classy! -George
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