What a difference one win can make. Since the Canucks last played the Bruins at Rogers Arena on June 15th of last year, the Boston Bruins had the summer of their lives. Parades, parties and accolades went their way, as it should for the Stanley Cup champions. The Canucks, on the other hand, have had just about everything about them questioned (their goaltender, their toughness, their heart, their integrity, etc).

Saturday may just be just one game out of 82 for the Canucks, and in regard to the standings that’s true. But in terms of intangibles (team building, confidence), the game is huge. Winning the game will bring a new sense of pride to the team, losing (especially losing badly) will hurt the team’s psyche. It’s the biggest statement game in the history of the franchise. It’ll be an emotionally charged building, and the Bruins will certainly be motivated to stick it to the Canucks again.

There has been some debate among Canucks fans and media about which goalie will start for Vancouver, which I find surprising. Luongo is on a roll right now, playing well for a long stretch of time, including a shutout in his last game. Hiding him from the pressure does not scream confidence to me, and if he’s your guy, you need to play him in a big game like this. Yes, Cory Schneider is from the Boston area, but he’ll get another chance to start there some day. Luongo has had poor performances in the playoffs in Chicago in previous seasons, only to play remarkably well at the United Center the following regular season.

This is an important game for the Canucks. It reminds me a lot of when the Red Wings and Avalanche played each other the year after their conference final appearance in 1996. That’s the year the Avalanche beat the Red Wings in 6 games, and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Game 6 of that series was when Kris Draper had his face smashed in by Claude Lemieux. When they played each other the following season, the Red Wings had revenge on their mind. The game got ugly and a line brawl ensued. The Wings won the game on the ice and won it in the street as well. They also went on to win the Stanley Cup that season.

The most intriguing question going into this game will be how much the Canucks fight back against the Bruins. There’s no doubt that they will be hitting and giving it their all, but what will they do if challenged to fight by one of the Bruins? Will they do some challenging themselves? Will someone want retribution on Johnny Boychuk for breaking Mason Raymond’s back? Will someone go after Brad Marchand after all of his cheap shots in the finals? Will Aaron Rome play? If he does he will almost certainly need to fight. It goes against the mantra of the Canucks to drop the gloves, but I’m not so sure they will avoid fighting in this game.

Of course, the best way for the Canucks to handle this game is to win the game. They can’t get caught up trying to turn the game into a street fight. If they do, they will lose. They should be physical, but keep it between the whistles as much as possible. Stand up for yourself, but don’t lose your head.

I’m not sure there has ever been a more anticipated Canucks game in early January before, hopefully it’ll be a beauty.

Remember this time last year? The Canucks were Stanley Cup favourites. They were picked by many to not just contend for the Stanley Cup, but to win it. And they came pretty darn close.

The Canucks had a dream season in 2010-11, save for four games in the Stanley Cup Final. They were the best team in the regular season, had the best power play, scored the most goals and had the lowest goals against. The Canucks had just two significant losses in the offseason (Christian Ehrhoff and Raffi Torres), yet the pundits don’t seem to like their chances nearly as much this season. The TSN Power Rankings has the Canucks ranked fifth. It seems like a lot of people don’t think the Canucks can make it back to the Stanley Cup Final, and I think they’re wrong.

Of course, winning the Stanley Cup is a tall order. A lot needs to go right, and you need some luck along the way. The Canucks certainly had their fair share of luck last season, and they’ll need a bit more this year. But luck aside, the Canucks have a lot going for them.

A lot of talk has been centered around what the Canucks have lost. The Canucks will be without Christian Ehrhoff and Raffi Torres (both lost to free agency), as well as Mason Raymond who is out long term due to injury. Yet, once Ryan Kesler returns in November, the Canucks will have an improved  lineup than the one dressed for game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Game 7 Lineup:

Bieksa-Salo

Edler-Ehrhoff

Alberts-Tanev

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Tambellini-Kesler-Higgins

Hansen-Lapierre-Torres

Glass-Malhotra-Oreskovich

2011-12 November Lineup:

Bieksa-Hamhuis

Edler-Salo

Ballard-Tanev

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Sturm-Kesler-Samuelsson

Hansen-Malhotra-Higgins

Volpatti-Lapierre-Weise

A lot of people forget that the Canucks were without Dan Hamhuis and Mikael Samuelsson during the Stanley Cup Final. A lot of people also forget that Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre were not with the team for most of last season’s record breaking regular season. Missing Mason Raymond will hurt, but Marco Sturm should be able to fill his shoes aptly. Chris Tanev looks to be improved and Keith Ballard can’t possibly have a worse season than he did last year, can he?

My argument is not that the Canucks are without warts, far from it. But this team is in the mix with about seven or eight other teams as the top contenders for the Stanley Cup in 2011-12. The Sharks, Kings and Blackhawks should be much improved this season and along with the Red Wings (who are always good) will be the toughest competition in the west. Should the Canucks get back to the final, the Capitals and Penguins appear better as well.

If Roberto Luongo is strong in net, their defence stays healthy and their forwards continue their scoring prowess, the Canucks will be the best team in the Western Conference. And that’s not a bad position to be in.

I’m not one to use Canucks marketing campaign slogans on a regular basis (I’ve never said that ‘we are all Canucks’), but never has ‘this is what we live for‘ been more true. Game 7, Stanley Cup Final, at home. This IS what we live for. It’s what the players live for, it’s what the fans live for. Quite simply stated, it’s the biggest game in Canucks history. It’s bigger than 1994. There will probably never be a bigger game for this franchise. This is their time. They will become legends if they win, or be labeled as chokers should they come up short.

Making Sense of Game 6

If you’re like me, you were angry at the Canucks performance in game 6, then went into a deep depression for over 24 hours and it’s only now that you’re getting excited for game 7. So just what happened in game 6? As funny as it sounds, I don’t think the Canucks were that bad in game 6. Obviously they weren’t spectacular, but they needed a save from Roberto Luongo. With each goal let in, the Bruins received an enormous surge of momentum. The Canucks couldn’t weather the storm, and it became 4-0 very quick. In game 7, the Canucks will need their goaltending to be air tight, especially early.

Injuries

By now you’ve probably heard about Mason Raymond’s injury. He won’t be in the lineup for game 7, and the health of Andrew Alberts and Alex Edler are uncertain also (though I expect both to play). Ryan Kesler is banged up, as is Henrik Sedin, Chris Higgins and a whole host of others. I expect Jeff Tambellini to spot in for Mason Raymond, but the rest of the walking wounded will likely play, and will need to dig down deep for the game of their lives.

What worries me most about these injuries is that maybe the Canucks are no longer the better team on paper. With Dan Hamhuis injured and Christian Ehrhoff hobbled with a bad shoulder, their defense is in shambles. Their high end talent up front is severely banged up. Who is the better team right now?

Keys to Victory

1. Roberto Luongo. He has been spectacular at home and terrible on the road. He needs that to continue. Momentum has been so huge in this series, Luongo has to play the game of his life.

2. Goals. The Canucks haven’t scored enough in this series, and they need that to change (duh). The Canucks power play has to get it together. They need to solve Tim Thomas. I think the way to do that is to throw a whole lot of pucks on goal and hope they get a good bounce. If they get too picky, they will shoot themselves in the foot.

3. Sedins must show up. They’re the Canucks best players and it’s time for them to step up. I feel like the key for them is to quicken up their cycle. Because Hudson Bay rules seem to be in play during this series, if the Sedins spend too much time on the cycle, they will get crosschecked off the puck. Daniel Sedin predicted that the Canucks will win game 7, and now it’s time to back it up.

4. Don’t anger the hockey gods. Before game 6, the poll question on Team 1040 was “who will Henrik Sedin give the Cup to first?”. They can’t afford to think along those lines. The team that deals with the distraction of being one win away from the Stanley Cup the best will be best suited to actually winning it.

5. Heart. There’s not likely to be a lot of power plays and scoring chances, as is the case in most game 7s, so the Canucks will probably have to win this in the trenches. Who has more heart? We will find out.

As a longtime Canucks fan I just feel like ONLY the Canucks could put us on such an emotional roller coaster, such as this. To do what they did against Chicago in the first round and then have such a bizarre series against the Bruins, who’d have thunk it? But in a way, isn’t this how you knew it would be? If the Canucks were to lose this year, you know they would do it in absolutely the most painful way possible, just when you think they’ve got it won. But on the flip side, if they were to win the Stanley Cup, you just knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. One of two scenarios will play out on Wednesday night. This is what we live for.

The Vancouver Canucks will get a chance to scratch a 40 year itch if they can find a way to win game 6 in Boston tonight. The Stanley Cup is in the building, and for only the second time in franchise history, the Canucks have a chance to carry it home.

This journey the Canucks are on has been long and hard, proving once again that the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy in all of sports to win. They have played 106 games over eight months, including over two months of grueling playoff hockey. They dealt with adversity against the Blackhawks, injuries to Mikael Samuelsson and Manny Malhotra, and had Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler play through pain. They’ve had a great ride, but there’s still one more hill to climb.

To win the Cup, they need one more win, and it won’t be easy. Vancouver has been down right terrible in both games in Boston this series, and that will need to change. Boston has been a different team on home ice, they’ve been faster and have hit harder and more often than in Vancouver. The challenge for Alain Vigneault’s men will be to match that intensity, and not allow the Bruins to dominate physically. Their passes will need to be crisp and quick, in order to nullify the Boston forecheck.

Keys to the game:

1. Move the puck. You always hear how teams want mobile ‘puck moving’ defencemen, and this is why. Chris Tanev showed how valuable that asset can be in game 5. He was so calm and cool with the puck, as Kevin Bieksa said, he looked like he could play with a cigarette in his mouth. If the Canucks can move the puck out of their zone onto the tape of their forwards instead of losing the puck off the Boston forecheck and/or dumping the puck out of the zone, it will go a long way to helping win the game. This is true in any game of course, but particularly with the Bruins, and particularly in Boston.

2. Another great game from Luongo. Roberto Luongo has been spectacular at home and terrible on the road in this series. That will need to change tonight, as the Bruins will be desperate and bound to throw a lot of pucks on net.

3. The power play. The Sedins and Ryan Kesler will need to find a way to get the power play working tonight. It hasn’t looked very good in this series, and there would be no better time for it to wake up than tonight.

Those are the three keys to the game, but of course there are many more. They’ll need to throw lots of pucks on Tim Thomas with traffic. They’ll need to clear rebounds for Luongo. They’ll need to play with desperation. They’ll need to want it more. In short, they’ll need to give it their all to win it all. And if they do, they’ll go down in Vancouver sports history, and will be legends forever.

We’re now through four games of the Stanley Cup final and the Vancouver Canucks have scored precisely five goals on Bruins netminder Tim Thomas. Of those five goals, only four of them were meaningful (the late goal in game 3 was scored in garbage time). Everyone is blaming Luongo right now (and there is validity to that blame), but they are not going to win this series unless they can score more goals. So this begs the question: how do the Canucks solve Tim Thomas?

Get more traffic in front of Thomas

This is the obvious answer, and the answer that is used whenever a team is struggling to score goals, but it’s true. Go to the net, bother him, get tip-in tries.

Don’t be so picky

Tim Thomas is a great reactionary goaltender, so the tendency is to try to overpass the puck, trying to get Thomas caught out of his net. While this is a good strategy, it’s only a good strategy to a point. Thomas gives up rebounds. If you throw enough to the net, you are bound to get a favourable bounce and that will result in a goal. Just like Daniel Sedin’s goal in game 2.

Better Ice

Game 5 will almost surely have better ice than we saw in game 3 and 4. Hot and humid conditions in Boston caused the puck to look like a tennis ball out there, bouncing off of sticks all over the place. While the conditions were the same for both teams, I feel like bad ice favours the Bruins. The Canucks are much more of a puck possession team, while the Bruins are a chip and chase team. Bobbling pucks gave the Bruins even more chances to physically punish the Canucks defense. Better ice will allow the Canucks to move the puck with more purpose, giving the puck to their talented forwards with speed through the neutral zone. Better ice will also allow the Canucks to move the puck better on the power play, important given how much pressure the Bruins are placing on them.

Play Your Stars

I think everyone was in agreement that it was a good thing when Manny Malhotra returned to the lineup because Alain Vigneault could play his fourth line more consistently. And he has. The problem with that is that it’s taking ice time away from their top three lines. But now it’s crunch time. The big guns for the Canucks need to play, and play a lot. I would like to see the Sedins and Kesler playing over 20 minutes next game.

Tim Thomas looks unbeatable right now, and so do the Bruins. But the truth of the matter is, Thomas is beatable. He has been beaten before, and the Canucks can get to him. If they can ever find a way to get a lead in game 5, look out.

With all the hoopla surrounding the Aaron Rome hit (and the subsequent suspension) on Nathan Horton, a few stories have been overshadowed. Everyone has had a chance to hash it out by now, so it’s time to move on to the big stories heading into game 4.

1. The Power Play

Heading into this series, one of the main storylines was the power play matchup. The Canucks had one of the best power plays, while the Bruins had one of the worst. Fast forward to now, and the Canucks have struggled mightily on the power play, while the Bruins haven’t been bad. The Canucks are a woeful 1-for-16 while the Bruins are 3-for-13.

Vancouver will need to turn their power play around if they want to win this series, and they’ll likely need to make adjustments. At the moment the Canucks are having a terrible time trying to enter the zone and get possession. The Bruins have been extremely aggressive on the penalty kill and that has caused problems for the Canucks.

2. Hooking, Slashing and Cross-checking

Once upon a time not long ago, hooking, slashing and cross-checking were considered penalties. In game 3, they were not. Not since the mid 1990s have I seen that much stick work let go in a game. Ryan Kesler was getting absolutely hacked and whacked by Zdeno Chara during a Canucks power play in game 3. If that standard is allowed to continue, it’s advantage Bruins.

3. Playing with the Lead

Despite the 2-1 series lead, the Canucks have hardly played with the lead in this series. They had the lead for only 19 seconds in game 1, 16:48 in game 2 and never had the lead in game 3. Meanwhile, the Bruins had the lead for 20:37 in game 2 and 39:49 in game 3. If the Canucks can get an early goal in game 4, it will allow them to play with the lead, and they’re a better team when they’re playing with the lead.

I’m not sure if Alex Burrows has a widely used nickname yet, but I think we should call him “Big Goal Burrows”. Other players score more goals, but no other Canuck has as much flare for the dramatic, scoring big goals when his team needs it the most. His biggest goals are some of the biggest in franchise history!

Here’s a look at his five biggest goals:

5. 2009: Overtime series clincher vs St Louis

4. 2009: The slump buster

3. 2011: 1-0 goal vs Chicago in game 7

2. 2011: Overtime winner vs Boston in game 2

1. 2011: ‘The goal’

Manny Malhotra was back on the ice practicing with the Canucks on Friday, doing line rushes with Victor Oreskovich and Jeff Tambellini. He has been cleared to play, so presumably he will play in game 2. We have seen this movie before of course, when Malhotra was cleared to play, but didn’t in game 1. But assuming that Malhotra doesn’t experience a setback between now and the pre-game skate, we will see him in the lineup for game 2.

The other lineup change for the Canucks will be the insertion of Andrew Alberts (not Keith Ballard) for the injured Dan Hamhuis. I can’t say that I’m shocked by this decision, but I completely disagree with it. I’m sure that Alain Vigneault wants to go with a more conservative defenceman, that can deal with the big Bruins forwards in front of the net. I think that’s the wrong approach, as Keith Ballard can move the puck out of the zone with more ease. In any case, Andrew Alberts isn’t a bad player, and they should be ok either way.

5 Questions before game 2:

Will Zdeno Chara be in front of the net on the Bruins power play?

I sure hope so. It appears that Bruins head coach Claude Julien is the only one that thinks this is a good idea right now. Chara has one of the hardest shots in the league, yet they have him parked in front of Roberto Luongo. I’m confused as to why they don’t put big Milan Lucic in front of the net and have Chara pound shots from the point.

Will game 2 be another goaltending duel?

It will be interesting to see if Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas will both be able to keep up their stellar play. Lost in the euphoria of the Canucks win in game 1 was the fact that Tim Thomas made a number of amazing saves to keep the Bruins in it. If he plays like that again, he is bound to steal games for Boston.

How will the Bruins deal with the team speed of the Canucks?

I think the most telling part of game 1 was how much faster the Canucks were than the Bruins. And the Canucks know it. It’s likely the reason that Jeff Tambellini has drawn into the lineup ahead of Tanner Glass.

How much will the Canucks fourth line play?

Speaking of Tambellini, he lead all Canucks fourth liners in ice time with 2:30. The Bruins, on the other hand, played their fourth line a lot more. Campbell, Seguin and Paille each played between 5 and 8 minutes each. That will likely change if Manny Malhotra plays. That will be a huge benefit to the Canucks, especially if the game goes into overtime.

Will the Sedins break out?

There seemed to be some suggestion by the media that the Sedins had a sub par game in game 1. While they didn’t score, and didn’t look lethal with the man advantage, I thought they were very strong at 5-on-5. Daniel Sedin had 8 shots on goal. My question is if they can solve Tim Thomas. His unorthodox style seems to match up well with their Sedin trickery. If the Sedins break out, this could be a very short series.

…I can’t get enough of that guy.

With a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night, the Canucks found out their opponent for the Stanley Cup Final. That opponent, of course, are the big bad Boston Bruins. While the Lightning probably have more star power, I think this matchup will provide a little more sizzle given that the Bruins are an original 6 franchise.

As has been stated over and over again in the last few days, this is the Canucks third trip to the Stanley Cup final in their history, but this is the first time that they have been the favourites. The Bruins come into the series as underdogs, but they aren’t exactly a Cinderella team, and have a realistic chance of winning this series.

We know all about the Canucks of course, so lets meet the Bruins:

The last time they were here

Everyone has heard by now that the last time the Canucks were in the Stanley Cup final was 1994 and they have never won a Stanley Cup in their 40 year history. Quietly though, the Bruins face a similar drought. The last time Boston was in the Stanley Cup final was 1990, when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins last won the Stanley Cup in 1972.

How they got here

Similar to the Canucks, the Bruins had a difficult road to the final. Just like the Canucks, they had to face their arch nemesis in the first round, overcoming a 2-0 series deficit to beat the Montreal Canadiens in 7 games. They made quick work of last year’s Stanley Cup finalists, beating the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 games. And of course, they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in a tough 7 game series.

Season Series

The Bruins and Canucks played just one time this season, with the Bruins winning 3-1 (2-1 with an empty netter). That night was the Milan Lucic show, as he finished the game with a goal and two assists.

Goaltending

This series features a matchup of Vezina Trophy finalists in goal, so naturally both teams should get good goaltending. Interestingly enough, both goalies have been thought of as playoff underachievers though. Tim Thomas struggled mightily at times in the last series against the Lightning, giving up 4+ goals on four occasions. He had moments of brilliance though, notching two shutouts, including a shutout in game 7.

Defense

Chara-Seidenberg

Boychuk-Ference

Kaberle-McQuaid

Everyone knows about big Zdeno Chara and former Leaf Tomas Kaberle, but after that the Bruins defense is a bit unheralded. Dennis Seidenberg, who leads the Bruins in playoff ice time, might be the most underrated defenceman in the league. Chara and Seidenberg will likely play as much as possible against the Sedins, and that’ll be an important matchup in this series. The B’s second pairing of Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference will likely get the Kesler line, which should be advantage Vancouver. Perhaps a bigger mismatch will be the Bruins third pairing of Kaberle-McQuaid against the Canucks physical third line of Lapierre, Torres and Hansen.

Forwards

Lucic-Krejci-Horton

Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi

Seguin-Kelly-Ryder

Campbell-Peverley-Paille

The Bruins forwards do not have the star power up front that the Canucks possess, but they have a lot of depth and a lot of grit. The dump and chase is a common strategy the Bruins use, so the Canucks defense will need to be quick on their feet. Quietly having an outstanding playoffs is David Krejci, who leads the league in goals and is fifth in points. Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis will likely be given the job of shutting down Krejci’s unit.

Special Teams

The story for the Bruins this playoff season has been their impotence on the power play. The Bruins power play is 5-for-61 in the playoffs. Compare that to Vancouver’s power play which has gone 17-for-60, and you can see the mismatch. As for the penalty kill, both teams have been average, with the Canucks at 80.8% and Boston at 79.4%. That may change for the Canucks though, with the return of Manny Malhotra.

Keys to the series

1. Goaltending. If the Bruins are to win this series, Tim Thomas will need to outplay Roberto Luongo. If Luongo outplays Thomas, it could be a short series.

2. Power plays. If the Bruins continue to struggle on the power play and the Canucks continue to sizzle, it’ll spell trouble for the Bruins.

3. Boston’s forward depth against Vancouver’s defensive depth. The Bruins are a four line team and can get goals from any line. The Canucks are well positioned to defend such a team, as their defense does not overly rely on any one player.

I’m expecting a great series. It’ll be long and grinding and a whole lot of fun. Both teams have a legitimate chance to win it all and both fan bases live and die with their teams. Now all we have to do is wait 5 more LONG days for the fun to start! Can’t wait.

The 1994 Vancouver Canucks had a reunion on Monday, with the likes of Linden, McLean, Courtnall, Adams and others on hand. On the 17th anniversary of Greg Adams’ goal in double overtime in game 5 of the 1994 conference finals that sent the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final, the present day Canucks will get a chance to match that feat. The Clarence Campbell Bowl will be in the building, and the whole city of Vancouver is ready to party.

But there’s still a lot of work to be done before that can happen, to be certain. For starters, the Canucks failed to put away the Blackhawks and the Predators in game 5 at home in the 1st and 2nd rounds this year. It goes without saying that they will be looking to change that this time.

You could argue that the Canucks were outplayed in game 4, aside from special teams. While that has some validity to it, I think for the most part the Canucks played well in game 4, and that the shot total (35-13 in favouf of San Jose) was misleading. A lot of the Sharks shot total was due to getting a lot of power plays and getting shots in the third period when Vancouver was protecting a three goal lead. The Canucks got a lot of power plays too of course, but were so efficient on them that they often scored on their only shot. So despite the fact that the Canucks were grossly outshot, they clearly have the momentum heading into game 5.

The Canucks won game 5 because they were able to win the special teams battle. And when you win the special teams battle so decisively, you’re going to 99% of the time. I thought the key to Vancouver’s penalty kill was the increased aggressiveness on the puck, especially in the neutral zone. They made it very difficult for San Jose to not only enter the zone, but also to set-up.

The coaching staff must have read Canuckz.com to fix the power play, because they listened to me! All three goals on the power play were scored on one timers, making Antti Niemi move side-to-side.

The Canucks got good news on the injury front on Monday, as Christian Ehrhoff practiced. He might play in game 5, but I would bet on him sitting out another game given the 3-1 series lead and the great depth the Canucks have on the blue line.

As for Joe Thornton, who was knocked out of game 4 by a solid Raffi Torres bodycheck, he will play in game 5. We know he will play, but how effective he will be could be another story. Nobody knows exactly how banged up he is, but it’s probably significant given he was unable to return in game 4.

I don’t expect the Sharks to go down without a fight, and they will have a high desperation level in game 5. I think we’re due for a game that isn’t completely penalty filled and it should be a thrilling game… hopefully just like game 5 in 1994.