After 59 minutes of back and forth action, the Canucks did just enough to steal game 1 thanks to a late goal from Raffi Torres.
It was a weird game that featured a ton of penalties, a bite, and superb goaltending from Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas.
The first few minutes were controlled by an aggressive Canucks team, ripping shot after shot at Thomas, who stood tall and kept the Bruins' relatively calm early on. The last thing we needed was another first minute goal.
The Bruins took over from there, playing their brand of physical, chippy hockey. Their intensity was matched by the surprisingly tough Canucks who didn't shy away from contact, save a few twins (more on that later).
The referees, perhaps motivated by Canucks journalists, blew their whistles left and right. The Bruins served seven penalties, and the Canucks served six, although the refs missed a few clear penalties throughout the game. All 13 whistles came in the first two periods, and none were called in the third. The worst thing a referee can do is be inconsistent, and to call absolutely everything in the first two periods while hiding the whistles in the third speaks to that inconsistency.
Heading into the third, it seemed as if we were headed to yet another photo finish. The Bruins defense bottled up the Canucks attack on one end, while Luongo was turning aside scoring chance after scoring chance.
The B's aggressive defense ended up being their undoing, as an overly eager Johnny Boychuk pinched up in the zone in an attempt to intercept a pass intended for Ryan Kesler. Kesler fed the puck to Jannik Hansen, who found a streaking Raffi Torres in the slot. By the time Thomas reacted, the puck was in the net and the game was essentially over.
Luongo and Thomas were the first two stars, respectively, and Torres got 3rd star honors. Thomas explained the goal, saying "I saw him (Hansen) skating down the slot and he got himself into a position where I started respecting the shot and started to cut down the angle. He was able to pass it to the guy (Torres) who was cutting to the net, who I didn't even see was there." This was the only instance in game 1 when Thomas' aggressive style victimized him. One could make the argument that he should have been the first star.
Daniel Sedin recognized how difficult beating Thomas was last night, saying "We needed an empty net to score, and we were able to do it."
Game Two is Saturday Night, and the B's will look to even the series at 1.
GAME NOTES
*Other than the final score, the story from game 1 will be Burrows' bite at the end of the first period. Patrice Bergeron and Burrows were in a scrum behind the net and Bergeron attempted the old face wash. Unamused, Burrows was clearly shown on camera biting Bergeron's finger. Both men received penalties, even after Bergeron showed the referees his bare hand. Bitegate will certainly be looked at by the league, and it will be interesting to see if Burrows earned himself a suspension, now that Colin Campbell is not on the case. Do I think he should get suspended? Yes. But I just don't think the league takes a player off the ice during the finals for this.
*Not only did the ref initially miss the bite, but they also missed Chris Kelly (who is still nursing a broken fucking face) take a haymaker from Raffi Torres after a whistle near the crease. The punch came after a bullshit kneeing call on Seidenberg in the second. The penalty was as shitty as its name makes it out to be. Just rewatching that sequence makes me sick. Im all for a good hockey fight, but when you pop a player in the face and don't even get a roughing minor, it just screams awful officiating.
*Chara was back down low on the Power Play, including a 1:30 5 on 3 in which they kept the pressure on the Canucks and using Chara as a screen down by Luongo. The only problem is when Chara had to clean up rebounds, he simply couldn't. He did a great job attracting attention, but he is just too big to use any finesse.
This is clearly something to work on, but I think it has been effective and the Power Play looks better.
*Julien complaint of the day. Recchi/Seguin playing time. Seguin was reduced to just over six minutes with only a minute on the Power Play? Why was he not out there on the 5 on 3? Who the fuck knows. Recchi, after playing only 6 minutes in game 7 against Tampa Bay, skated for over 15 minutes last night, including most of the time on the 5 on 3 in the 2nd. I don't know what happened between game 7 vs Tampa and last night, but it looks like Julien is back to his old ways. Bro, this is the Stanley Cup Finals. Coach like it.
*I was surprised with how physical the Canucks played. They clearly knew that they had to match the Bruins toughness, and they did on more than one occasion. Oh yea, except for when Daniel Sedin had the worst flop since PK Subban
It came after Andrew Ference grazed up against him after a whistle, giving Sedin a little nudge that sent the forward down to the ice as if he was shot. Just weasely, disgusting, Montreal like hockey.
*Did anyone see the cougar sitting behind the glass with the no Bruins shirt on. Id wear that shirt while banging her if given the chance. Just something about cougary hockey fans.
*Overall the loss was disappointing, but not the end of the world. Aside from a few coaching decisions, the Bruins played a pretty good hockey game for the first 50 minutes. They were clearly tired near the end of the game, which is perhaps why Julien broke up Chara and Seidenberg. The Bruins would have sent a message by stealing the game last night, but i'm positive that they will bounce back in game 2 and send the series back to Boston tied up.
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