Canucks Postgame: Unlucky Thirteen

Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin/USA TODAY Sports

Well, that certainly stung. I really liked Ryan (Always 90 Four)’s description of this rivalry, declaring tonight the thirteenth game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Even as players have shuffled around, the bitterness between these two clubs when they take each other on is pretty amazing and hard to duplicate, which we saw particularly towards the end of the game. Unfortunately, tonight’s rendition of Vancouver vs. Boston didn’t go as swimmingly as hoped, as the Bruins handily won 4-0.

As far as the scoresheet goes, the Canucks fell out of this game rather quickly. Brand Marchand opened up the scoring three minutes into the first period, thanks to the Canucks leaving him wide open after a failed breakout. Patrice Bergeron made no mistake in setting him up and Marchand easily roofed his one-timer top shelf. Torey Krug joined him on the board just a few minutes later with a blast from the point, and to ensure that the game was out of reach, Landon Ferraro added a mid-game goal from a bad angle on the right wing.

The Canucks clawed their way back into control of the game, but unfortunately, they couldn’t get much rubber to the net. Tuukka Rask faced just 17 shots in this low-event game, and to add insult to injury, Tyler Randall added a dagger with eight and a half minutes to go in the game.

Things got a little chippy in the final minutes. Brandon Prust, unhappy with Marchand’s existence, speared him in open ice, leading to many exchanged words for both teams, Derek Dorsett and Zac Rinaldo had been at each other’s throats all game, and after Rinaldo hit Bo Horvat from behind, Dorsett grabbed his enemy, got him to drop the mitts, and knocked him down before the gloves hit the ground.

There were moments where this was fun, but at the end of the day, 4-0 losses to the Bruins at Rogers Arena will never sit well with anybody.

Truth be told, the Canucks kept the momentum of this game surprisingly close, though they only seemed to begin paying attention as the third goal was approaching at the midway point in the second. All but three players (the Higgints-McCann-Vrbata line) had at least even offensive zone starts throughout the game, showing that the Canucks were finishing shifts in the right spots, though not many players were successful at turning positioning into meaningful possession.

I’m going to give this one to Derek Dorsett for a couple of reasons. He co-lead the team in shots, taking three of them that landed into Tuukka Rask’s pad-covered body. He was Vancouver’s co-best possession player tonight with a 66.7% shot attempts for ratio at even strength, and most importantly, he fought Zach Rinaldo twice. The second time was the best of the bunch, taking easy care of the pest shortly after he went for the numbers on Bo Horvat. Dorsett won so quickly that it caused more trouble, as the Bruins thought it was non-consensual rather than very spontaneous. 

Trust me, I like Brad Marchand as little as anybody here. Maybe even less; thanks to my dual hockey citizenship, playoff matchups against the modern Bruins give me two types of PTSD.

But Brandon Prust absolutely can’t do that. No matter what Marchand may have said or done prior, spearing is absolutely unacceptable in any situation. It being so late in the game acts only as insult to injury (well, roll for several minutes and then non-injury, in this case).

For more on the topic, check out Thomas Drance’s article covering the spear as it happened.

So, with all of this considered, the Bruins have cut Vancouver’s lead in this best-of-infinity series to 7-6. The Canucks will get a chance to bring back the gap in late January, but for now, their focus heads to the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo beat them 3-2 in a nailbiter on November 7th, but this game is a great opportunity to get some revenge. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM on Monday Night.