Bruins Send Series Back To Vancouver Tied at Two

The Boston Bruins continued to roll at the TD Garden on Wednesday night, as they completed their portion of the home-ice advantage part of the Stanley Cup Finals, beating the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0, in another decisive affair.

Much like Game Three, the 1st period started off as a tight-checking tilt, with some pretty good speed up and down the ice.  It wasn't until midway through the period until there was a serious defensive breakdown, starting at the Canucks' blueline, which gave the opportunity to Rich Peverley to go in alone on Roberto Luongo, where he made no mistake, making it a 1-0 game.  Other than that goal, the period did have a good number of chances, but Tim Thomas shone quite brightly in that opening frame.

The 2nd period has been the strong suit for the Bruins in the first four games of the series, as they have really done a number on the Canucks, especially on the scoresheet.  The middle frame was again where the Bruins decided to pull away in this home game, just dominating the play in every zone on the ice.  Michael Ryder scored on a slightly deflected shot from well out to make it 2-0, then Brad Marchand took advantage of a scrambled play behind and around the Canucks' net, potting a loose puck in the slot to make it 3-0.  It was all Bruins, all the time.

The 3rd period was then all about the Bruins shutting down the Canucks and giving them less hope to play with down the stretch in the final frame.  Just after the 3-minute mark, Peverley drove hard to the net and a centering pass, deflected by the goaltender from Milan Lucic found its way off the charging forwards body and into the net, making the score 4-0 and from there, it was not a pretty sight for the visitors.

In the end, Thomas made 38 saves for the Game Four win and shutout, most of which were of the less-than-challenging variety, giving him a big 4 points in the pool, while David Krejci led all of the pool skaters with 2 assists in the game.  Rich Peverley, a non-pool player, scored a pair, including the winner in the game, snaking 3 points away from the pool on Wednesday night.

Overall Standings
Thanks to Krejci's 2 points on Wednesday night, the Langdon River Dogs were able to pull back even with Tryst'n'Grant, but the leader remains the same with the goals scored differential as the first tie-breaker.  All She Wrote is still safe in 3rd place, very much guaranteed this spot's money now.  Granny Smith jumped Superstar for 4th place, even opening up a 2-point lead for the extra position, while Superstar holds onto the tie-breaker over Hollywoods Heroes and seaherwet in the 5th place tie.

The Thomas shutout really did hurt both Superstar and Kalenab in the standings, each of them dropping a little bit, but both are still in reasonable shape as of Thursday morning.  If the Bruins continue to ride this momentum, their luck may run out very quickly.

Game-Winning Goals
With Peverley scoring the opening goal of the evening, he snaked away the winning goal from the pool, keeping all of the previously posted numbers the same, so there really is no use of getting into those again.

With only a maximum of three games left in this series, the record of 22 GWGs in a single playoff year is now more than safe, with the leader still at 18 for the year.  I wish you all better luck next year, especially with some prizes likely being handed out for the the GWG title.  I think it only makes sense, right?

Well, the biggest thing that jumps out at me is that the wins had come at home, but it does also jump out at me that the Bruins were far more dangerous in Vancouver than the Canucks ever were in the first two games in Boston.  At this point, I think home-ice advantage means more than anything else, until the Bruins or Canucks win on the road.

I think the real edge in this series has to be the Bruins' defense in front of Tim Thomas.  They have been much better at collapsing in front, taking away the passing lanes across the crease, taking the bread and butter away from the Canucks offense, through the first four games of the series.  The Canucks have tried to counter with more shots from the point, which are seemingly getting through, but with little difficulty on the Bruins' keeper.

Game Five has plenty of good storylines going into it, which one will come out in the wash?