Bruins Force Game 7

Hi Everyone! Sorry it's been so long. I've been quite sick the past week but I'm happy to be back and writing about Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Canucks came out with the same energy in Game 6 that they showed in pretty much every game--even Games 3 and 4 at the Garden. They buzzed around the net and kept the B's defence on their toes for the first five minutes. The Bruins hung in their, relying on strong play by their forwards covering the points and backchecking around the circles. When the B's saw their opportunity, they struck.

The Canucks had the long change and the Bruins exploited it when the Canucks offense started to tire. They caught the Canucks forwards in a line change, forced the puck up the ice, and Brad Marchand fired a wrister top shelf, short side on Luongo's glove side. Marchand's goal came off a terrific play at the Canucks blue line to shuffle the puck into the zone. The book on Luongo has always been glove side high. Marchand must have studied well.

The Bruins fed off the intensity and increased the pressure low in the offensive zone against Luongo. He was fighting pucks off--just blocking and knocking down chest high saves he normally smothers. He was not squared to the puck like he usually is and it cost him dearly in another "big" game. Almost immediately, Boston fans started the sing-song "Luuu-oonnn--go" chant and continued it through the third period--even with Luongo on the bench. Bruins fans may have a point. Luongo is a solid goaltender and stops almost everything he can see but only when his head is focused and in the game.

The Bruins four goals in the first period were the fastest four goals in Stanley Cup Finals, shattering a mark set by the '56 Canadiens. Lucic buried a puck five-hole shortly after the Marchand tally from the near circle. The bouncing puck was earmarked for the back of the net. Luongo, playing a typical butterfly style, slammed his knees together on the soft shot, attempting to smother it in his knee pads rather than letting it rebound off the stick or his leg pads. Instead, the puck fluttered through the gaping, "technicolor five hole."

Several minutes later, the Canucks caught the Bruins defensemen flat-footed entering the zone and controlled play for a few seconds. The aggressive play by the B's forwards caused Vancouver to turn the puck over and they promptly iced the puck. Luongo raised his arm to notify Edler of the impending icing. He chose to flatten Marchand into the boards, on the icing. As Don Cherry remarked at intermission, "someone is going to get killed out there." Cherry has long been a proponent of no-touch icing for the player's protection.

The Bruins capitalized on the Luongo game plan by sending the big men in front to screen "Bobby Lou." Andrew Ference fired a blistering howitzer from the point on a nice dish from Newfoundland native Michael Ryder. The shot had eyes and found the back of the net to the right pad side of Luongo. Canucks coach, Alain Vigneault, pulled Luongo after he clearly was not square to the puck on Ference's shot and replaced him with Massachusetts native Cory Schneider. The Bruins scored later in the first period on a nice clapper from Thomas Kaberle that was tipped top-shelf by Ryder.

Schneider kept the Canucks in the game with several stellar saves in the second period, first on a Recchi one timer and a Marchand breakaway. The Bruins, and everyone in New England, knew the game plan for Game 6. The Bruins needed to be aggressive on the forecheck to stem the aggressive breakout from the Canucks. In Game 5 with the long change, the neutral zone trap worked effectively when the Bruins could not get back in time to utilize a low forechecking scheme. The defensemen, needed to settle the puck behind their own goal, outlet it to their partner or a forward at the half-boards and work it up ice. The Canucks have pinched their defense and forwards at the half-boards to corral any clearing or passing attempts along the boards. Finally, the Bruins needed to aggressively get the puck in deep with purpose. If the Canucks D stepped up at the blue line like they did in Vancouver for Game 5, they needed to dump the puck in, hold it their, and wait for support. If they give the Bruins forwards some room, they needed to walk it in and work the puck down low (Luongo is notorious for failing to locate the puck down low in traffic).

Well, except for a few late penalties in the third period as the Bruins tired, they executed the aforementioned game plan well. All players bought in. There were no passengers. I would have liked to see the B's keep up the aggression as they tired to carry the momentum out to Vancouver, but a win is a win.

See you on Wednesday!