The biggest story of the finals for Vancouver doesn’t have anything to do with biting, hitting guys late, or taunting but rather with how they’re finding ways to win games. The Canucks are just one win away from the Stanley Cup and if you look at how many goals they’ve scored through five games (they have six) and who’s scoring them, you’ll wonder just how in the world this team is so close to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
Ready for this who’s who of goal scorers in Vancouver? Raffi Torres, Alex Burrows (twice), Daniel Sedin, Jannik Hansen, Maxim Lapierre. That’s it. This is a virtual hit list of players that the Bruins and their fans should all despise. Torres with his high flying hits, Burrows and his biting shenanigans, Daniel Sedin for merely existing, and Maxim Lapierre for finding ways to always get under someone’s skin through taunting or theatrics. The way the Canucks are getting things done offensively is rather offensive to Boston.
The absence of scoring from just about everyone is stunning, but even more so from their superstars. Henrik Sedin doesn’t have a point in the finals, Ryan Kesler has just one assist (a big one on Torres’ Game 1 winner), and Daniel Sedin has a goal and an assist (same as Lapierre). The work Daniel and Alex Burrows did all came in a pivotal Game 2 win, but everywhere else in this series they’ve been invisible from the score sheet.
Seeing big stars get shutdown in the finals is nothing new. Pavel Datsyuk was invisible in 2008 against Pittsburgh. In 2009, Sidney Crosby had Henrik Zetterberg draped all over him holding him to a goal and two assists in seven games, and it happened to Jonathan Toews last year earning just three assists against Philadelphia. If you’re a big star in the finals, your opponent is going to go out of their way to make sure you don’t beat them.
With the way the Canucks have been shut down offensively, however, it’s mind-boggling and is a credit to the work Boston’s done defensively. Having a defensive pairing like Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg sure helps take care of business. In the finals it almost always boils down to the production you get from your secondary and tertiary scoring. Depth is the key and depth usually wins. The combination of great defensive play at home and getting goals from guys like Lapierre and Torres shows what makes the Canucks a dangerous team. If they can figure out what it takes to win in Boston, they’ll get the chance to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time as Canucks in Boston Monday night.