Heading back to Vancouver, it’s shaping up to be the best final in a long time.
BOSTON — The Vancouver Canucks have home-ice advantage in what has become a best-of-three Stanley Cup Final, and they’re flying home now to Rogers Arena, where they haven’t lost since the second round.
But the Boston Bruins own every ounce of momentum in this series, and have won nearly every battle for two straight games — even going so far as to trump the Manny Malhotra feel-good story with perhaps a better one of their own in Nathan Horton.
So we asked Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin: Which team is in better shape?
"We had all the momentum going here. Chicago had all the momentum before Game 7 (of Round 1). Nashville had all the momentum when we went there for Game 6 (in Round 2). It’s three games left, two games left… Who knows?"
Give the Sedin twins credit. If anyone in this Vancouver Canucks dressing room should be hanging their head, or belying the fact that the Boston Bruins and goalie Tim Thomas may be the jackknifed semi-trailer that halted Vancouver’s Stanley Cup parade, it is the twins.
The Sedins were completely impotent here in Boston, held pointless in two games by the stellar work of Thomas. The only difference was that, this time, Ryan Kesler didn’t take his turn behind the Canucks’ steering wheel.
(Is Kesler hurt? His stride looks perfect and he has plenty of speed, so we can’t attest to a player appearing to have any more nicks than anyone else down there at this time of year.)
But there were the brothers, awaiting the media alongside Kevin Bieksa when the post-game dressing room opened, telling Vancouver fans through the media not to jump. That everything is going to be OK.
"Our best game is good enough. We know that. We know that in here," said Daniel. "Obviously when you lose 8-1 and 4-0, it’s tough. But, look at the first period. We have to score there, and it’s a different game."
"Thomas is making a lot of saves," Henrik added. "When you can’t score on him, they’re getting momentum. It’s tough right now, (but) it’ll work out."
We’ve seen a few things happen in Stanley Cups over the years, but seldom has a series turned on a dime like this one has. And it will require a similar turn back in Vancouver to reclaim a Stanley Cup that only days ago seemed like such a sure thing in Vancouver.
"A few of the goals went off something and in. Obviously, we’re not getting the breaks," said Roberto Luongo, who was shelled in a pretty good seafood town.
And, he was ready to allow, maybe there was a reasons the Bruins got all the breaks here.
"They were probably the hungrier team the last two games," said Luongo, pulled in the third period in favour of Boston College alum Cory Schneider.. "Usually in this game you make your own breaks. Obviously, we haven’t had many the last two games. In the first two games, they were probably complaining they hadn’t had any."
But, he added, "it’s not time for us to put our heads down."
The Bruins scored eight goals in Game 3 when Cam Neely — who wore No. 8 for the Bruins — was shown on the scoreboard, waving a towel. In Game 4 it was Bobby Orr’s turn, and of course, the Bruins scored four.
You have to think the Bruins have put the call out to Johnny Bucyk — ol’ No. 9 — for Game 6.
David Krejci had two assists to move past Henrik and into the playoff scoring lead with 22 points. Rich Peverley, who stepped into Horton’s spot next to Krejci, potted two goals. And after the game, Horton appeared in the Bruins dressing room to present Peverley with a weathered old suit coat the Bruins have been awarding each night to their own Man of the Match.
"It was great to see him," Shawn Thornton said. "The guys got a real kick out of it. But, you know, we love Nathan and we feel bad that he’s hurt. But an incident like that shouldn’t be the defining moment of a great hockey series."
And that is exactly what we have here, with two teams that each look very able to be crowned the National Hockey League’s champion.
We arrived in Boston talking about which of six players could win the Conn Smythe for Vancouver. We leave here agreeing that if this thing goes seven games, Thomas is likely a better bet than any single Canuck.
Conn Smythe at home became Con Smythe on the road, and the Canucks limp home today with their richest test in a season where they haven’t failed one yet.
"We fed off our fans, and our building, our energy," Bieksa said of Games 1 and 2. "They did the same thing here, and played a lot better here than they did in Vancouver.
"So, we go back to Vancouver, we take care of business."
They may say you don’t have a series until someone loses at home, but we’ll say this:
Call it what you want. This is shaping up to be the best Cup Final in a long, long time.
