For a team that is one win away from winning the Stanley Cup, the Vancouver Canucks are proving to be a putrid team on the road against the Boston Bruins. Boston stormed out to take a 4-0 lead after one period of play and in the process chased Roberto Luongo from the game as he gave up three goals on just eight shots before being replaced by Cory Schneider.
The game got off to a bad start for Vancouver when Mason Raymond went down with an injury in the opening minute of the game after colliding with Johnny Boychuk. Raymond was helped off the ice with what appeared to be a back injury.
At 5:31 of the first though it would be Brad Marchand getting the Bruins out in front with a laser rip of a goal past Luongo to get the TD Garden crowd roaring. For Marchand it’s his ninth goal of the playoffs and a foreboding sign for the Canucks as the Bruins are 10-1 in the playoffs when they score first.
Just 35 seconds later Milan Lucic would make it 2-0 as he was able to squeeze the puck between Luongo’s pads and across the goal line. Things wouldn’t get better from there for Vancouver as Alexander Edler would take a poor boarding penalty on Rich Peverley putting the Bruins power play on the ice. There, at 8:35 of the first, Andrew Ference would snipe a shot from the blue line past Luongo and chasing him from the game. Just 1:10 later, Michael Ryder would tip home a Tomas Kaberle shot past Cory Schneider to make it 4-0.
For Boston it’s the start they dreamed of and just a continuation of the beatings they’ve handed out to Vancouver in Boston through this series as they’ve now outscored the Canucks in Boston 16-1 through two games and one period. Yikes. For Vancouver it’s a titanic failure to come out and play this poorly in a game where they had the Stanley Cup there for the taking if they could win.
Granted we’ve seen teams come back from big holes in the playoffs, and even the Bruins have coughed up a three goal lead (they did so against Tampa Bay last round) but with how Vancouver’s played in Boston, this one seems all but over with and we’re staring Game 7 in the face. Vancouver’s got a lot to work on the rest of this game and while we could see them whittle things away, Tim Thomas is still there at the end of the ice and he’s made a few fantastic stops late in the first to keep the Canucks frustrated. There’s still 40 minutes to play but let’s just hope for a clean ending from here on out.