After a night in which both teams slept in area hotels, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks will finally play in Game 2 of the 2011 Stanley Cup finals tonight. It’s unclear if the Canucks will have defenseman Dan Hamhuis or defensive forward Manny Malhotra in the lineup tonight, but they’re used to rolling with the punches anyway. The Bruins have been at their best in perilous situations this postseason, so hockey fans should expect an over-the-top effort from them tonight if they hold true to that pattern.
Boston @ Vancouver (NBC) – 8 p.m. ET; Canucks lead series 1-0
It’s likely that the Bruins will need another great game (with what they hope will include better results) from Tim Thomas tonight, but with the Canucks defense likely weakened without Hamhuis, Roberto Luongo might need to be in top form too.
On one hand, the two teams’ defensive styles hint at another tight game. That being said, Game 1 had its wild and frenzied moments so it wouldn’t be outrageous if this ended up being a higher scoring game, either. The Canucks have a chance to take a 2-0 series lead and justify expectations for a shorter series while the Bruins could make things very interesting by tying things up 1-1. Let’s take a look at some of the best PHT content for Game 2 of the Cup finals.
- Clever concept or not, the Zdeno Chara goalie screening experiment hasn’t been much of a success so far.
- Alex Burrows hopes not to bite off more than he can chew in Game 2 after avoiding a fine or suspension from his incident with Patrice Bergeron.
- Brad Marchand isn’t a big fan of two Canucks fans who taunt him while wearing full body spandex suits. This is not shocking.
- The Bruins power play is still a formless mass of sadness.
- Boston hopes to stress out Luongo in Game 2.
- Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals earned the best SCF opening game ratings since 1999. Perhaps most impressively, it earned higher ratings in Boston than Game 1 of the 2010 NBA finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.
- Joe provides his Five Thoughts on Game 1 while I wondered how much could really be taken from that penalty-riddled contest.
- Bruins coach Claude Julien called Burrows’ bite a “classless move.”
- Finally, there’s also some great material from the Game 1 primer, so check that out here.