All Even! B’s Blank Vancouver 4-0 In Game 4

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

New ballgame!

Okay, new hockey game.

What was once a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals series with Vancouver in control up 2 games to none is now all even at two. The Canucks and Bruins will now play a best-of-three series to decide which team gets to hoist the Cup.

While the Canucks won the opening two games in Vancouver, they did so in very close fashion. In Boston, the Bruins dominated their opponent to the tune of 12-1 in games 3 & 4. Last night’s final was Boston 4 Vancouver 0.

While play was much less chippy than it was Monday night, there was still plenty of physical play by both teams. But the difference in game 4 was the goaltenders and the battles for loose pucks. In both instances, the Bruins won.

Tim Thomas stopped all 37 shots he faced in registering his 4th career playoff shutout and his 3rd this postseason.

Meanwhile, his counterpart Roberto Luongo gave up a soft 5-hole goal to Rich Peverly in the first (his 3rd of the payoffs). Michael Ryder’s (7th) wrist shot in the second beat Luongo glove-side to make it 2-0 Boston. Brad Marchand (8th) also lifted a backhander over Louongo’s glove to make it 3-0 in the second.

In the third, Peverly scored his second of the night off a deflection from Milan Lucic. Lucic made a great individual play on the right boards to set up the 2-on-1 break. Peverly’s goal (4th) sent Luongo to the Vancouver bench in favor of back-up goaltender Cory Schneider with over 16 minutes remaining in the third.

The ice conditions at the Garden weren’t the greatest because of the unusual heat in Boston (temperatures in the 90’s). Even though the TD Garden is air conditioned unlike the old Garden, the warm temperatures made for a softer than usual ice surface and some bouncing pucks. In most cases, Boston won the battle for those bouncing pucks. Marchand’s goal in the second period was a perfect example as Zdeno Chara won the race for a loose puck twice on that possession allowing the Bruins to keep the puck in the Vancouver zone for the score.

With the series all even, some wonder who the favorite is at this point.

The Canucks still have the home-ice advantage but in the four games played thus far, two were evenly played and two were dominated by Boston.

Game 5 will be played Friday night in Vancouver at 8pm on NBC.

NOTES:

-The greatest Bruin of all - Bobby Orr was on hand Wednesday night. Orr really got the crowd going when he waived a big #18 Nathan Horton flag for the fallen Bruin.

-Thomas took a big swipe at Vancouver bad boy Alex Burrows. Burrows intentionally knocked Thomas' stick out of his hands while stationed in front of the crease. Thomas then picked up his stick and slashed Burrows with it. Burrows reacted to the slash by shoving Thomas who shoved him back. Bruins coach Claude Julien said of Thomas, "he's taken the real bumby road to the NHL and he's had so many obstacles to overcome so that makes him the perfect battler, the perfect goaltender for our organization because that's what we are, we're a blue collar team that goes out and works hard and earns every inch of the ice that you can get."

-While the rest of the series will be televised on NBC, Boston fans might prefer Versus to get back in the mix. The B’s are 0-2 in Stanley Cup games televised on NBA and 2-0 in games televised on Versus this series.

-While the NHL’s Vezina Trophy is given to the top goalie in the regular season, this series has shown us that Thomas is, indeed, the clear favorite. Thomas and Luongo are two of the favorites for the award and the Bruins’ net minder has clearly outplayed Luongo through four games. Thomas set a new NHL record for save percentage this season finishing the regular season at .9381. The previous record was held by Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek who finished the 1998-1999 season with a .937 save percentage. Hasek won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender that year.

-Meanwhile in the Bronx, the Red Sox continued their dominance of the New York Yankees. David Ortiz belted a 2-run HR (15th) off of AJ Burnett in a 3-run Boston first to help Tim Wakefield and the Sox beat New York 11-6. Boston has won 7 of the 8 meetings with the Yankees this season including all 5 in N ew York. The win lifted Boston into first place in the AL East by 1 game over New York. Tonight’s series finale features a great pitching match-up with CC Sabathia facing Josh Beckett.