O’Brien vows Canucks will be more aggressive

While Shane O’Brien has certainly been the brunt of a number of jokes lately, he’s been able to step up and become one of the vocal leaders on the team in the playoffs. The coaches weren’t too pleased with some of his antics against the Kings, so he toned down his emotions and started playing some good defensive hockey.

Now, with the series against Chicago tied as it heads back to Vancouver, he’s decided that perhaps his team is allowing their goaltender to take too much abuse.

“I’m only speaking for myself here, but I think we’re being a little too soft on them definitely in front of the net,” O’Brien said. “The refs seem to be letting them do whatever they want to Lu. Their guys are going hard to the net and snowing him and bumping and slashing him. So we need to do better job of getting in front of him. We have to play a lot grittier and a lot meaner.”

He went on to say that he’s not necessarily upset with how the officials are calling (or not calling) the aggressive approach by the Blackhawks around Luongo. Instead he feels that the Canucks are letting their desire to not let their emotions take over affect how they try and answer the way the Hawks are abusing Luongo.

If the officials aren’t going to call it, then the Canucks need to answer. With the series now moving to Vancouver, I’m guessing we’ll see a much more vocal, aggressive and physical O’Brien near the net, especially if Ben Eager and Adam Burish attempt to continue their shenanigans from Game 2.