Bruins’ defensive masterpiece against the Canucks is a significant step in the right way. Originally featured on NBC Sports. Boston
BOSTON — The Vancouver Canucks came into Thursday night’s game at TD Garden atop the NHL rankings and with the sport’s most prolific offensive.
The Canucks placed first in goals scored and sixth on the power play. Their lineup is quite deep, with nine players who have scored 10 or more goals. One of these players, standout center Elias Lindholm, was acquired in a massive trade last week. Quinn Hughes leads all defenseman with 64 points in 51 games, indicating that the American star could win the Norris Trophy this season.
So, sure, these guys are really talented.
But you wouldn’t have reached that conclusion after seeing Thursday night’s game in Boston, where the Bruins won 4-0 in a contest that bore many similarities to Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Final losses, which will haunt them forever.
Simply said, the Bruins performed admirably defensively, dominating the Canucks from the first puck drop.
The Bruins conceded a season-low 17 shots. The Canucks’ 19 scoring opportunities are the second fewest they’ve had in a game this season. Boston’s penalty kill, which has recently been somewhat above average, was exceptional, highlighted by two shorthanded goals, one of which came from Brad Marchand only 32 seconds into the game.
The greatest approach to beat a high-scoring opponent is to keep its top players quiet, and the Canucks’ studs were conspicuously quiet throughout the night.
Elias Pettersson, one of the top centers in the game, was kept without a point and did not record a single shot. Lindholm also went scoreless without taking a shot. Both were on the ice for all four Bruins goals.
“These are big-time games,” Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters afterward. “(Brad) Marchand and (David) Pastrnak are fantastic players, and they showed up. We have to have that kind of thing. Now, listen, it’s our first (regulation) loss in, I don’t know, 13 or 14 games, so I can’t be too critical. But these are huge games, and you’d want to see certain guys perform a little better. Shorthanded goals are something you can’t do in big, vital games. “You simply can’t.”
