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Game 5 diary: Milk-carton kids and missed Mike Milbury miffs

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Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, June 10, 2011 21:01

Good evening from New York City, where your friendly blogger will take you through Game 5 of the Boston Bruins-Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup Final. The series is tied at two games apiece and it is obvious that one of the two teams will be up 3-2 after tonight. It is equally obvious that Monday night’s Game 6 is a clinching game.

PREGAME

One of the key storylines through the first four games of the series has been the lack of offense from Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The superstar twins have totaled a goal, an assist, two points, 14 shots on goal, three penalties, 16 penalty minutes and are minus-3. In other words …

Tim Thomas is the odds-on favorite to be named the Conn Smythe Award winner whether or not the Bruins win the Cup. The Vezina finalist enters Game 5 with a 14-8 mark, 2.11 goals against and a .936 save percentage. Vancouver’s Conn Smythe candidate, Ryan Kesler, has clearly slowed in the Cup Final. Speculation persists that Kesler was injured by a Johnny Boychuk check Game 2 and has played hurt ever since.

Boychuk was asked Friday morning if his hit sent the proverbial message to the Canucks.

“Well, the first two games they were playing physical and so were we,” Boychuk said. “It's not like we changed anything, but we're going to be doing the same things that they have been doing.”

Yes, the Bruins have been physical with the Canucks. But what has really vexed Vancouver is Boston’s neutral-zone trap. Vancouver has struggled to move the puck into the offensive zone, turning the puck over and playing into Claude Julien’s counter-attacking system. The Bruins have outscored the Canucks, the league’s best offense in the regular season, 14-5 in the series’ first 240:11.

It’s not all golden for the Bruins because, as Yahoo Sports’ Puck Daddy blog reports, the league asked Shawn Thornton not to wear a Boston Red Sox cap during press conferences.

Per the NHL, Stephen Walkom and Dan O’Rourke are tonight’s officials, and Pierre Racicot and Steve Miller are the linesmen. What is not known is whether Chris Tanev will replace Keith Ballard on the blueline for Vancouver. Alain Vigneault kept his cards close to his vest when he was asked about that topic Friday morning.

“When we've used Chris this year he's real steady, can make a first pass at the forecheck. He's a kid that is playing in Manitoba, and we got in injury trouble and he came up and did a real solid job for us,” said Vigneault, who offered only a “we'll see tonight” when pressed for an answer.

FIRST PERIOD

Dave Meltzer reported that Bostonian Kenny Florian was booed at the UFC 131 weigh-in outside the Rogers Arena Friday afternoon because he sported a Bruins sweater.

Tanev is in the lineup for the Canucks.

Former NHL referee Kerry Fraser examined the idea of having one set of officials for the Stanley Cup Final in a TSN.ca mailbag.

ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons penned an ode about rediscovering his love of hockey and the Bruins for the newly launched Grantland.com.

Tonight’s starters:

Boston:

Tim Thomas

Johnny Boychuk

Dennis Seidenberg

Mark Recchi

Patrice Bergeron

Brad Marchand

Vancouver:

Roberto Luongo

Christian Ehrhoff

Sami Salo

Henrik Sedin

Daniel Sedin

Alex Burrows

Richard Loney and Mark Donnelly sing The Star-Spangled Banner and O Canada, respectively. There are a lot of Canadian flags in the Rogers Arena as one might suspect. Perhaps the most important game played since the gold medal game last year?

19:53 Roberto Luongo freezes the puck after the Bruins win the opening faceoff. A nation psychoanalyzed what it meant.

19:35 Rogers Arena explodes in derisive laughter when Brad Marchand loses the puck in the offensive zone.

18:21 The Bruins receive the first power play of the game after Raffi Torres was penalized for slew footing Gregory Campbell. Shawn Thornton and Maxim Lapierre debate the morality of Andrew Breitbart displaying the Anthony Weiner photos on the Opie and Anthony radio show.

15:55 A Chris Kelly shot hits the post and deflects out of play to conclude a 2-on-1 with Marchand.

14:00 Doc Emrick and Ed Olczyk promote Saturday’s Belmont Stakes race in Elmont, Long Island. Olczyk, a horse racing fanatic, recommends Nehro.

13:06 The Bruins receive their second power play of the game when Henrik Sedin is given two minutes for interference on Boychuk. Looked like Sedin cross checked an unprotected Boychuk into the end boards.

9:24 The crowd at Rogers Arena loses its collective mind as the Bruins and Canucks take turns slam-dancing into each other; the excitement becomes delirium when Vancouverite and Boston Bruins power forward Milan Lucic loses the puck in the offensive zone.

6:10 Boston ices the puck. The Bruins had outshot Vancouver, 8-3, and out-chanced the Canucks, 7-2.

5:48 Andrew Alberts elbows, then high-sticks, Shawn Thornton in the neck. It is the kind of play that causes coaches to purchase stock in antacid manufacturers.

5:19 “Man-ny! Man-ny!” is chanted after Manny Malhotra had a short-handed attempt.

3:45 Vancouver kills its third straight penalty in the game. Olczyk and Pierre McGuire express their shock that highly touted Boston rookie Tyler Seguin had not had a power play shift. Well, he only totaled 22 points in the regular season and seven points in the playoffs.

NBC airs a segment entitled The Right Way To Play with Mike Milbury. Perhaps the network can air The Wrong Way To Executive with Milbury at some point during the series.

The network shows Lapierre embellished a spear by Chara during a promo for "The Voice."

0:50 Marchand is hip-checked in the neutral zone by Mason Raymond.

0:32 Lucic and Burrows are each assessed two minute minors for tripping and diving.

0:00 End of the period.

FIRST INTERMISSION

Probably the most even period of the series.

It may ratchet down the overall temperature of the series should a fight occur. Clearly both of these teams have no use for the other; that has been proved by the extracurricular activities through the first 14 periods. The last great fight in the Stanley Cup Final was Jarome Iginla vs. Vincent Lecavalier in the first period of Game Three of the Calgary Flames-Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Final.

Boston fired 12 shots at Luongo, while Tim Thomas stopped six Vancouver shots.

SECOND PERIOD

18:20 Kevin Bieksa dumps Adam McQuaid behind Tim Thomas’ net to the collective enjoyment of those in British Columbia. McQuaid’s mullet is challenging Jaromir Jagr for the crown of the worst hairstyle of all time.

15:42 Kesler clotheslined Thomas while driving past the net. The Bruins get a power play as Kesler is penalized for interference. The crowd and Kesler disagree with the call. They’re right. The penalty should be high-sticking.

13:35 Vancouver is 4-for-4 on penalty kills. Boston’s power play is far too passive, allowing Luongo to see pucks easily.

12:39 Chris Higgins’ speed forced McQuaid to trip him in the offensive zone. It is Vancouver’s first power play of the game.

10:18 Boston kills the power play. Thomas made two saves on the 5-on-4. Have to begin to wonder how much space Thomas has in the Canucks’ collective head.

Vigneault during his off-day press conference, on Thomas: “He's a good goaltender that plays an aggressive style. We've talked about going east and west, maybe using the back of the net a little more, all of the things you say when a goaltender is having success against a team. You need more pucks to the net, more traffic, better net preference, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. All those things that you hear coaches say all the time. And there are a couple of other things that we're going to address with our team tomorrow, and hopefully it will be beneficial for us tomorrow night..”

8:25 Vancouver has out-hit Boston, 33-16. Weren’t the Canucks supposed to be skill team and Boston the grinders? What in the names of Trevor Linden and Eddie Shore is going on here?

6:39 Tanev set up Henrik Sedin for a wrist shot that Thomas gloved. As the whistle blew, Seidenberg shoved Burrows to the ice. NBC aired a highlight of a Tanev diagonal pass to Tanner Glass, who had a half-empty net to shoot at. Skilled in the fistic arts, Glass fumbled the puck which allowed Thomas to get back in position. Unless he falls apart in the final 25 minutes and change, it’s going to be awful hard for Vigneault to scratch Tanev Monday night.

4:04: Hello, Vancouver’s top line. Good to see you in the Cup Final. Haven’t seen you since Game 2. The Sedins and Burrows held the puck in the offensive zone for nearly a minute before Patrice Bergeron gets called for interference.

0:00 Period ends. Still scoreless, although Vancouver had the better of play.

SECOND INTERMISSION

Boston has out-shot Vancouver, 21-18. The Bruins have more blocked shots, 13-9, but the Canucks have the edge in hits, 36-22.

Commercial for America’s Got Talent. Only watched five minutes of one episode but, no, America Doesn’t Have Talent.

Dan Patrick asks Keith Jones and Milbury which team has the advantage in a scoreless game. Jones, Milbury and your friendly blogger all agree: Boston.

THIRD PERIOD

17:58 McQuaid touches the puck for icing. Lapierre slams into him and the two debate shuttering Medicare.

17:06 Luongo freezes a Tyler Seguin shot. The No. 2 overall pick is bumped by Henrik Sedin and the two ostensibly talk about being top-five picks.

15:25 1-0 Vancouver as Lapierre one-timed an off-the-end boards feed from Bieksa from the goal line past Thomas. Lapierre high stepped to the boards as a province feels good about itself for the first time since the afternoon of Game 3.

12:32 The go-go-go Canucks have clogged the neutral zone and it appears that the Bruins, following their 12-goal outburst in Games 3 and 4, have forgotten how to chip-and-chase.

9:42 Boston is called for icing. McGuire states that Vigneault ordered the Sedins and Burrows onto the ice because Boston’s defensive pairing is McQuaid and Tomas Kaberle. Our Czech is rusty but we believe Kaberle translates to “defenseman whose play since being traded to Boston has ruined his opportunity for a massive UFA contract.”

7:51 McGuire claims that Lucic will be called for tripping Raymond. Replay shows that the penalty should be on Rich Peverley.

4:59 New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella often talked about the importance of generating offense from below the hashmarks this season. Tonight’s game perfectly exemplifies that philosophy. Boston has out-shot Vancouver, 27-25, but the Canucks opportunities seem far more dangerous than the Bruins shots.

2:40 “Lou!” chants in the Rogers Arena after Luongo turned away another shot. We won’t point out the hypocrisy of Canucks fans who cheered when Vancouver’s Vezina candidate was pulled in Game 4. (Wait, we just did.)

2:00 Random stat: The Canucks have scored four third-period goals in the series, an average of 0.8 per game. LeBron James has averaged 2.2 points per fourth quarter in the NBA Finals.

0:42:2 Offensive-zone faceoff for Boston as the puck flies over the glass. Tim Thomas is at the bench. Appears that Doug Houda is drawing up a play on the bench.

0:00 Bedlam as every Canuck dating back to Dale Tallon mobs Luongo following the 1-0 win. Vancouver leads the series 3-2 and can win the first Cup in the franchise’s 40-year history Monday night in Boston.

On Twitter: @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman

Photo of Henrik Sedin and Dennis Seidenberg by Getty Images