Canucks Eating More Than Fingers!

Today’s music video is Bed Of Nails by Wild Beasts. Could be too smooth for some of you…..maybe not.  The music on this site ranges from good old rock to inde/alternative.  New and old!  Hope you like this one.

A 3-2 overtime win over the Boston Bruins Saturday night in Vancouver now gives the Canucks a two games to none edge in the Stanley Cup Final, leaving them two victories away from ending their championship drought.  (That was a very tough sentence to write).  It was a game that seemed to be going absolutely no place for almost two periods.  Difficult to watch as the hockey being played here hasn’t been of Stanley Cup caliber in these first two games.  In this writer’s opinion anyway which out to get me a few nasty comments.  However, from what I’ve seen in other media outlets, including the Twitter universe, the sentiments are similar.  Just doesn’t seem to be a good brand of hockey.

The Bruins seemed to come out flat and looked slow to me all night.  They appeared to have no jump and no energy, and at some points looked as though they were afraid to take chances and force the play.  Nathan Horton (not to pick on him) seemed to have a below average night for himself.  Not nearly as aggressive and as willing as he may have been in past games, Horton seemed to be coasting.  I can say that, cause I’ve seen it.  The Bruins as a whole don’t look like a team that wants this bad enough.  For some moments they looked like a team that was being coached by a recent former Panther head coach, as they were playing not to lose.  You figure out that former head coach, but if you guess either of the last two, you’d be right.

Alex Burrows the hungry for flesh Canuck put Vancouver on the board first to open the scoring with his eighth goal of the playoffs.  All the talk (myself included) about the player that should have been suspended for this contest scoring a goal, gave the hockey world tons of ammo to share with each other.  The jokes and comments continued to fly throughout the night.  The goal was scored on the power play, which I mentioned yesterday would be a factor in this series for either team.  The Bruins I believe have only five power play goals this entire playoff season in about 1,346 chances.  Is Jim Hulton (Panther’s assistant) lurking in the room?

The Bruins however answered back on a goal by Milan Lucic, the Vancouver hometown boy, on a shot that trickled underneath the right pad of Roberto Luongo as Louie lay on his stomach.  A familiar pose of his this post season.  Two minutes later Mark Reechi gave Boston the lead with only his third goal of the playoffs.  It was at this point that I felt the Bruins had Vancouver on their heals and needed to take the opportunity to slam the door shut for this game.  The crowd was out of it, the Canucks looked out of it, and Boston just sat back and played prevent defence the rest of the way.  Sure they had some opportunities, but mostly looked as though the weren’t taking any chances.  With half a game to go, that was a dangerous plan.

Half way through the third period Daniel Sedin scored to tie the game, and the air went out of the Boston bench.  The crowd was back in it and the atmosphere changed.  While it was still anyone’s game to take, I had the unsettling feeling that the Bruins weren’t going to win it.  Not because Luongo was playing so well, he did have a decent game, but I never felt that Boston was “bringing it”.  Michael Ryder had a few chances, and so did David Kreci, but for the most part the momentum had already switched to the Canucks.

Then 11 seconds into the overtime period, Alex Burrows drove hard to the net, and picked up a Tim Thomas rebound and proceeded to skate around the net with Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara following him.  Might have well been Stephen Weiss as Chara made no attempt to stop Burrows, and with Thomas sprawled out on the ice, almost in row 2, Burrows wrapped around and put in the game winner.  Bedlam ensued.  Canucks win and now head to Boston with all the momentum and confidence they need.  Chara looks hurt, tired, out if it….something.  He did not look himself and could be playing with an undisclosed injury.  Or maybe the grind of the season has finally worn on him.  Regardless, on that play, just after resting for 15 minutes, he has to stop Burrows.  Has to, especially with his goalie out in no mans land.  Easy for me to say, but if you get a chance to watch the replay, you’ll see a very lethargic effort by him.

The Bruins will have to change their ways and change them fast if they have any intention of coming back.  Home ice advantage might not mean anything if they continue to play safe hockey.  Monday night will be here before they know it and losing that game will only leave the inevitable to happen.  That will not be a good night for me when it does.

Thanks for reading.   We welcome your comments and opinions.

Please visit our NHL main page: Too Many Men On The Site.

Follow the Rat Pack onTwitter: me @TheRatTrick David Lasseter @davidlasseter , Josh Luecht @joshluecht, Adam Reid @AdamReid,  and Patrick McLaughlin @patrckmclaughln. Also, please join our Facebook Fan Page and hit the like button, send us photos, and make some comments.

Want The Rat Trick on your smartphone? Download the app and get the best in Florida Panthers coverage