It’s must be a terrible burden to be leading in the Stanley Cup finals and knowing that you’re just one win away from being able to lift the Stanley Cup over your head and being immortalized forever having your name engraved on it. That’s the position the Vancouver Canucks find themselves in on the road for Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead on Boston.
With the Stanley Cup in the house and some Canucks players with family members in attendance for tonight’s game, you’d think that that would be more than enough distractions for one day. With a game still to be played tonight in a building the Canucks have yet to win in in the playoffs, things seem stacked up against Vancouver to come out focused tonight.
The Canucks, for their sake, are at least saying all the right things in advance of tonight’s game.
When asked about the Cup being in the building, Daniel Sedin had a fun way to counter the excitement there.
“It’d be cooler if we could bring it out on the ice that’s for sure. We know we have a chance tonight but we need to play a lot better than we’ve done the last two games here. I know we can.”
As far as getting away from the distractions surrounding them, Daniel says the answer is pretty simple.
“We’re going to play a hockey a game and try to win. That’s our focus. If we can bring the same game as we played at home last game we’re going to have a good chance. Boston’s a good team and they’re going to bring their ‘A’ game so it’s going to be a tough game.”
Each Canucks player that was available after this morning’s skate was asked repeatedly about what it’s like to be able to have the chance to win tonight and that the Stanley Cup is in the house for one reason only: For the Canucks to take home if they win it all tonight. Canucks forward Manny Malhotra, who has his own inspiration and reason to go all out tonight, is keeping a pretty cool mindset.
“We’ve done a really good job on focusing on what we need to do. Obviously the added media around... all the talk about what’s going on around the series, all the side stories, that doesn’t really matter to us it’s all about playing the game tonight.”
Malhotra expounded on things more thoughtfully to tap into what goes into a player’s mind before a game like this.
“Every team starts out with the same goal. Some have more realistic chances than others and to be in this opportunity to play with such a good team all year long, such a deep team... To be this close we’re looking to seize the moment.”
Vancouver does appear to be very focused on tonight but they were in this spot before during Games 3 and 4 and came up incredibly small. The motivation tonight is a lot different, however. Lord Stanley’s Cup will be in the building being shined up for them just in case they pull things off tonight. Otherwise, it’ll be off to Vancouver for a winner-take-all Game 7. While the party in Vancouver would be immense if they were able to win it at home, they’d much rather have the party waiting for them after their flight home and a victory in Game 6.