Vancouver Canucks vs. Boston Bruins Post Game Wrap – Bo Goes Loco

In a game that could have been a waxing for the Vancouver Canucks, they held their own just fine against a red-hot Boston Bruins club. The Canucks took the lead early in the first and held on dearly until overtime when Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser connected for a goal that got the fans out of their seats and celebrating in the streets.

Beating the Bruins is always a good feeling and considering Vancouver has been without their new star Elias Pettersson (seriously, him again?), they are proving to be a team that might be a chore to beat this season. It’s early, I know, but did anyone think the Canucks would play games like they did tonight?

I didn’t.

For a Canucks/Bruins tilt, the first period didn’t fit the bill of “melee” but it had a bit of everything to start off. First things first, this:

Digging away like he has this season, Brandon Sutter is given a chance in front of Halak and somehow gets it through. Erik Gudbranson would take a hooking penalty around the 9:00 mark of the first and thankfully the Canucks have a PK unit that is lights out so far. They would kill off that one and keep the game in their favour.

Nikolay Goldobin had himself a game. He was in this writer’s opinion, the Canucks unsung hero of the evening. Pettersson has clearly rubbed off on Goldobin and his creativity and skill seem to grow game by game.

Kid’s got moves.

Jacob Markstrom was back in the net tonight after sitting the last four. He wasn’t tested a whole lot tonight but the saves he did make were done cleanly. Positioning was crucial and when called upon, Markstrom was a rock. In Roberto Luongo’s best years, he played the puck so square, most of his best games were pretty dull. Tonight, Markstrom looked boring.

Brandon Sutter would get a late steal and almost put the Canucks up 2-0 but Halak would again stay sharp and keep it to a one-goal game.

With 10 seconds left in the period, Brock Boeser does this:

Thanks for GIF’ing this one Darryl, it didn’t go in but you can see Brock is getting his chances.

SCORE AFTER THE FIRST: VAN 1 – BOS 0

Bo Horvat also had himself a game to remember for a few reasons, the first one was this little diddy:

Bo fights? Bo fights.

Horvat was all over the place tonight. He hit the scoresheet, he fought Noel Acciari (who?), threw down the hits and drove the net. It wasn’t Bo’s best game as a Canuck but years from now when he’s inducted into the Ring of Honour, this game will be referenced.

Jacob Markstrom continued to deny the Bruins through the second frame and had a goal-line stand that he probably would have lost to start the season. It was a different Markstrom tonight and that could bode well for the Canucks in games they don’t get scoring from the usual suspects.

The season has been pretty exciting so far if you watch these Canucks play and even the Canucks are buying into the hype, so much so that they all want to get in on the action at once. Thankfully, the Canucks would kill off a too many men penalty and would follow it up with a shift a bit later that is reminiscent of the Sedins famous “Shift” and “Shift Part 2”. There were no GIF’s of said shift but you gotta believe it happened, I mean, why would I lie to you?

Jake Virtanen had a few impressive plays this evening with one being a butt-check on Steven Kampfer. There was no retaliation play, just a solid hit. Jake is coming along.

Nothing on the scoresheet in the second.

SCORE AFTER TWO: VAN 1 – BOS 0

There was a part of all of us that thought the Canucks might be on their way to their first shutout of the season, that thought ended in the third:

Great shot. It wasn’t going to be all roses for the Canucks tonight even though Markstrom was a man possessed most of the evening. Vancouver still had their chances but really couldn’t anything else behind Halak. The Bruins did their best as well but after 60 minutes, we would need…

OVERTIME!

Plain and simple, this was worth the wait:

The Canucks go on to pick up their fifth win of the season, beat the Boston Bruins, and put themselves a point behind Anaheim for first in the Pacific Division. It just doesn’t make any sense.

 

Both the Canucks and Bruins were shutout on the powerplay this evening; Vancouver killing three penalties and the Bruins just one. The Canucks out-hit the Bruins 26-11, and surprise surprise, the Canucks also out-blocked the Bruins 14-9.

The Bruins outshot the Canucks 31-22, no surprises there.

Vancouver will host the Washington Capitals on Monday. What can we expect from that one, hopefully more of this.