Although the end result was not what I was hoping for, the entertainment value of the Stanley Cup Finals rematch did not disappoint one bit. The 'Nucks are very special team. I've never not cared about a team one bit to absolutely despising every player on a team so quickly as I have with the Canucks. Lapierre, Burrows and Weiss are the definition of the type of hockey player I can't stand and I highly doubt I'm alone. It didn't take long for the B's to be fed up with their antics. We were treated to a lovely 1st period scuffle that saw Thornton being jumped by 6 Canucks players, Lucic getting wrongfully ejected (NHL has rescinded the game misconduct and no suspension given), and 4th liner Weiss picking a fight with 1st line winger Horton. On the replay it shows how smart Burrows is when he pokes Thornton's throat with his stick...stupid Burrows.
It was quite enjoyable watching the B's come to the aid of their fellow teammate, but this scrum somehow led to the Bruins being down two men. Kesler scored the first goal of the game, but hey... it's hard to keep the number one power play from scoring on a full 2 minute two-man advantage.
Campbell got the crowd going for the second time of the night by engaging in a not as entertaining bout with Lapierre. The Garden faithful wanted blood in this fight. We chanted "Campbell...Campbell" hoping to see a whoopin' we all know Lapierre deserves, but it was really more of a grappling match with a few punches thrown.
What happened next was disgraceful. As replays show, Weiss seemed to verbally agree to drop his gloves against Thornton, fakes like he's going to once the puke is dropped, then backs away like a coward. Kudos to the ref that was standing right there, he gave Weiss two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct...aka....two minutes for being a bitch.
I was steaming after that one. I very very much dislike this team. Did you ever think that you could ever hate Swedish twins?!
Even with all this other excitement, the story of the game was Brad Marchand's clipping penalty. Marchy got ejected from the game and put the team down a man for 5 minutes locked in. That means even when Vancouver scored...twice...the Bruins didn't get their man back on the ice. This is really what loses the game for them. The Canucks scored 4 goals and all 4 goals came on the power play. Two of their power play goals came as a result from this hit. Marchy can't be feeling too good about this one; injures a player and then ultimately causes your team to lose.
The hockey hombres I follow on Twitter originally were blasting Marchand for a cheap play. The play occurred in the corner of the rink I couldn't see. I just saw Marchand go into the corner and Salo's skates fly up over head...so I initially was going bonkers. After watching the replays I reluctantly agree with the tweets that it was a dirty play. Marchand does have the right to protect himself, but he has to do it in a manor that won't put Salo in serious harms way. I would expect a 2-3 game suspension from this.
Some good news? With Krejci's goal, he is now sporting an 8 game point streak (5 goals, 7 assists). With Krejci and the first line playing well again, you wonder how the outcome of the game would change if Lucic wasn't ejected from the game. We'll only be able to get another shot at them this year if we see them in the Stanley Cup Finals. I hope not, I really don't like seeing a team with that make up get rewarded. Hopefully someone else in the western conference can knock them out.
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