Stanley Cup Finals Now Even At 2 After Boston Wins Game 4

The Boston Bruins have come back and pulled even in the series with Vancouver Canucks after a big victory in Game Four last night. As we all know Vancouver won the first two games on home ice to start the series, but Boston has responded in the same fashion by winning both games on their home ice. Game Four was a bit quieter in regards to penalties but not in action, as Boston hung a four spot on the Canucks and were able to chase Roberto Luongo in the 3rd period.

Boston got on the board early in the hockey game, at the 11:59 mark of the opening period, thanks to this beautiful goal from Rich Peverley:


It was Peverley's 3rd of the playoffs. A couple of things stood out on this goal. First was obviously the shot itself, sliding five hole on Luongo. Also was the great chip pass by David Krejci to get the puck up to Peverley. Finally the surprise on the whole play was the lack of defense by the Canucks, allowing Peverley to get in on Luongo. What made the whole thing somewhat funny was the attempt by Raffi Torres to stop the pass, he missed the puck and then got caught flailing around trying to stop Peverley who was behind him and in the clear for the goal. All around a great play. So that was the only scoring in the opening period, which saw a total of two penalties taken, both of them by Boston.

Moving to the middle frame, each team took two penalties, but neither club could capitalize on the powerplay opportunities. Boston would strike for two more goals in this period. First Michael Ryder scored his 7th of the playoffs at the 11:11 mark to make it 2-0 Bruins. Then at the 13:29 mark Brad Marchand scored his 4th of the playoffs to make it 3-0 Bruins. Marchand had one of the two interesting and entertaining moments during the late stages of the 3rd period but we'll get to that in a moment.

The third period proved to be the choppiest period of the three on the night. Boston put the nail in the coffin on the scoring for the night when at the 3:29 mark Rich Peverley scored his 2nd of the game to seal the 4-0 victory for the Bruins and chase Luongo from the cage. Luongo allowed 4 goals on 20 shots, and his replacement Cory Schneider stopped all 9 shots he faced. Meanwhile Tim Thomas was stellar in net getting the shutout, stopping all 38 of Vancouver's shots. The 3rd period was the choppiest of the three periods with a total of 15 penalties called including two 10 minute misconducts. The coolest moment of the hockey game came late in the 3rd period when Tim Thomas had a bit of an altercation with Alex Burrows:


With his play in the net the past few games Tim Thomas may be cementing his case for Conn Smyth Trophy winner as Playoff MVP. He is also starting to remind me a bit mroe of former Flyers Goalie Ron Hextall, in that he has been playing more physical in his cage.

Now as far as the Vancouver Canucks go, they better start to wake up and get it together. They played pretty well in the two games at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, but have looked really flat in the last two games in Boston. The Sedin Twins have been AWOL in the finals in the first four games and REALLY need to step up and lead the team again starting in Game Five tomorrow night. Roberto Luongo also needs to find his game again. As with the Canucks as a whole he looked great in the first two games, but has been average at best in the last two. If Vancouver is to have any chance of winning the cup this year the Sedin's and Luongo both have to wake up and start playing their game again. As for the Boston Bruins, they just need to keep playing their game and play like they have in the last two, and they will bring the cup back to Boston for the first time since 1972.