B’s Lose A Heartbreaker In Game One 1-0

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

We all wondered when their ineptitude on the power play would catch up to them. I think we have our answer.

It’s something close to amazing that the Boston Bruins have made it this far with a powerless power play. Last night in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, that lack of production with the man advantage cost them a golden opportunity to grab the series opener on Vancouver’s ice. The Canucks grabbed what turned out to be a classic game one 1-0.

Coming into the Stanley Cup Finals, Boston had cashed in on only 8% of their power play opportunities (5 goals in 61 chances). Last night the B’s went 0-5 on the power play in the first 23 minutes of the game. They finished the contest 0-6 on the man-up. Ouch!

Both teams had ample opportunities on the power play (Vancouver was also 0-6) which was an indication of how chippy the play was.

Unlike Boston’s game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Lightning where neither team committed a penalty, both the Bruins and Canucks were aggressive in laying hits on the opposition and pushing the envelope on many occasions.

The craziest occurrence took place at the end of the first period when the Canuck’s Alex Burrows committed a crime that would have made Mike Tyson proud. While Burrows and Boston’s Patrice Bergeron mixed it up, Burrows bit Bergeron’s right index finger through his glove. Bergeron showed the officials the bite which was hard enough to draw blood. While Burrows received 4 minutes for roughing (Bergeron received 2 minutes for roughing), he could draw a suspension for game 2 of the series as a result of his actions.

Despite being scoreless through the first two periods, the game was highly entertaining because of the physical play and the quality scoring opportunities by both clubs. Neither team was able to put the biscuit in the basket because both Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo played very well.

That solid goaltending continued into the third. Five minutes into the third Thomas made a spectacular save on a breakaway by Vancouver’s Jannik Hansen. Hansen caught the Bruins on a line-change and slipped down the slot all alone before being stonewalled by Thomas.

Seven minutes later, Thomas came up huge again stopping Maxim Lapierre at pointblank range.

You didn’t have to be a Bruins fan or a Canucks fan to appreciate the quality of play in game 1. Despite the lack of goals, there were plenty of great scoring chances for both teams. But Thomas and Luongo put on a goaltending clinic.

Unfortunately for the Bruins, the Canucks scored the game-winner with 18.5 seconds remaining when Raffi Torres beat a helpless Thomas. Torres got the feed from Hansen to prevent what otherwise looked like a game that was heading to overtime.

It is hard to assign blame after a loss like last night’s. Tim Thomas was spectacular (33 saves on 34 shots). The effort by the entire Bruins team was spectacular. But you have to wonder what could have been had they cashed in on even one of those power play opportunities.

We’ll never know.

Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals will be played Saturday night in Vancouver at 8pm. It will be televised on NBC.