If you would of told me Boston would win two games in the Stanley Cup Finals... I would of been skeptical. If you would of told me the Bruins would dominate the scoring, I wouldn't of believed it. In a series where I thought offensively, on special teams, in depth and skill the Canucks would of won in 5. However, here we are in a best of 3 series. For the most part the Bruins didn't have much going for them in games 1 and 2. Sure they made a valiant effort to win, but it was obvious the skill level was making the difference. You could just tell by watching though, that something was getting shaken up. You could tell the pokes to the Bruins was starting to get bottled up and you had to wonder if they were going to burst. How much could they put up with? Unlike most Cup Finals in the past, the game and everything between the whistles have been so much more dirty. Everything started in game 1 with the incident known as The Bite that "nobody" saw,
Say what you want, the NHL should of suspended Alex Burrows. If something like that is suspendable in the regular season, it should be the same for the Finals. Game two comes Burrows is playing and he ends up scoring twice to help the Canucks win 3-2. The third straw comes in game 3 with a scary incident between Aaron Rome and Nathan Horton. Don Cherry pointed out before this hit, Thornton went over to the bench between plays and made a remark that piss off Rome. With that said the next shift we have the incident known as the hit. Clearly a very late, dirty hit that was in attempt to injure. If he was looking at making a point and put on a good body check on Horton then yes, that's dirty hit... but that's hockey. You get a two minute penalty, you feel shame and you'd go free, but not till after you made your point to the other team. However, it's another thing to lift himself to nail Horton in the head. Rome had time to adjust his hit properly and chose his target. That hit would become the final straw... the blow that not only woke the Bruins up but maybe screwed the Canucks' chances.
Games 3 and 4... both were crazy blowouts after the Rome hit. Game 3 the Bruins would win 8-1. 7 of those goals would come after the hit. Game 4 started with Bobby Orr waving a flag with Horton's number, inspiring the Bruins and lead them to a 4-0 win, with clear frustration coming from the Canucks. This isn't a simple momentum swing that you'll see in the playoffs. The Canucks provoked the Bruins to a point that they are not just playing physical hockey... they are playing very pissed off. The more dirty this series gets the easily it goes in Boston's favor. They are use to playing rough dirty hockey... it's in their history and nature. Guys like the Sedins are not use to it. Hell one of them tried to put a hit on Marchand close to the end of game 4 and ended up getting flipped into the boards. At the end Alex Burrows tried to pick a fight with Tim Thomas and didn't turn out so well. If the Canucks want to win the cup they need to stop provoking the Bruins and just play hockey. However, it's easy to tell they have lost their focus. I will say this now... If the Bruins win game 5, they will win the cup in game 6 on home ice. Then they can blame Aaron Rome for the incident. The Canucks' Stanley Cup run will be on the line Friday.
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