With all the shouting done and Game 4 finally being played, the taunting and other nonsense is put to an end and for Boston they’re still riding high.
Rich Peverley scored on a semi-breakaway with 8:01 remaining in the first period after blowing past a pinching Canucks defenseman and having Raffi Torres watch him skate by him and in on Roberto Luongo before scoring to put TD Garden into a frenzy. Peverley started off the game on the top line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic but coach Claude Julien has already switched things up putting Michael Ryder on the top line later on in the first.
One trend that did continue was Tim Thomas’ stellar play as he’s come up huge twice in stopping all 12 shots he saw in the first. Luongo was much less busy stopping four out of five shots. Vancouver’s been able to play well five-on-five but their power play continues to struggle going 0-2 in the first period and not really generating any pressure offensively. The Bruins aggressive PK continues to play great forcing Vancouver to turn the puck over or just being unable to enter the zone.
Vancouver’s got a hill to climb now though as the Bruins are 9-1 in the playoffs when they score the first goal.