The Bruins scoring shorthanded goals against the Canucks… it’s a tale as old as time. Well, at least as old as the 2011 Stanley Cup Final that turned Boston-Vancouver into the most heated rivalry in the NHL for the next couple years.
Bruins shut out Canucks; Poitras done for season
The stakes weren’t nearly as high Thursday night at TD Garden, and Bruins-Canucks is no longer the rivalry it was back then, but it was hard not to think about the three shorthanded goals the Bruins scored in that series, one of which came in the decisive Game 7.
On Thursday, the Bruins scored a pair of shorthanded goals in the first period en route to a 4-0 statement win over the Canucks that moved the two teams into a tie atop the NHL standings.
The first one came from the only player on either team still remaining from that series 13 years ago: Brad Marchand. The Bruins captain, who also scored one of the shorthanded goals in that Cup Final, opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the game.
He applied enough forechecking pressure on Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko to force an errant pass up the boards, which Charlie Coyle picked off before setting up Marchand in front for the goal. It was the 35th shorthanded goal of Marchand’s career, moving him into the top 10 in NHL history.
Coyle also set up the second, which came with 4:23 left in the first. After stealing from J.T. Miller in the defensive zone, he sent Danton Heinen off to the races. Heinen did a great job shielding the puck from a backchecking Elias Pettersson and roofed a shot under the crossbar for his second career shorthanded goal.
With the two on Thursday, the Bruins have now scored five shorthanded goals in their last 15 games, the most in the NHL during that time. That comes after they went 36 games without one to start the season.
Shorthanded explosion aside, this was a dominant effort and a statement win from the Bruins – especially coming on the heels of their lackluster loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
The Bruins outshot the Canucks 11-4 in the first period, and then scored two more goals in the first minute of the second period to put the game completely out of reach.
Morgan Geekie scored the first of those on the flukiest goal of the season. After David Pastrnak’s stick shattered on a one-timer, Geekie deflected the rolling puck towards the net, where it pinballed off both Demko and Tyler Myers before trickling over the line.
Just 15 seconds later, James van Riemsdyk sent Pavel Zacha in alone with a nice feed on the rush, and Zacha snapped a shot past Demko. Zacha also assisted on Geekie’s goal and now has six points in the last four games.
This was exactly the kind of response the Bruins needed after Tuesday. In addition to the shorthanded hustle, offensive jump and lockdown defense, they were also much more physical right out of the gate.
Their lack of physicality on Tuesday had certainly become a storyline, especially when there was minimal response to a crosscheck and then a high-stick on their captain, Marchand. On Thursday, however, it was the Bruins pushing around the Canucks, especially early on before the game turned into a blowout.
Some of the reports of the sky falling may have been just a tad premature. While Tuesday and Thursday are both just one game in the grand scheme of things, the one against arguably the best team in the NHL should register as a little more important, and the Bruins rose to the occasion on Thursday.
Sure, it was absolutely an off night for the Canucks. But it can nonetheless be a confidence-booster for Boston, as well as a message to anyone who thought the Bruins were falling off the pace after not acquiring coveted center Elias Lindholm. He went to Vancouver instead. Oh, and he was a minus-4 Thursday night.