Bruins Vs. Canucks, Game 5: Vancouver Battles Back, Pulls Within One Win Of Stanley Cup

After Friday night’s Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, home teams are 16-2 in the Finals since 2009. From the looks of things by the time this series is over, they’ll be 18-2, after the Canucks squeaked out a tough 1-0 win to take the 3-2 series edge.

The Bruins came to play in the first period -- composed, dominating puck possession, forcing Vancouver to weather their storm instead of the alternative, which everyone surely expected heading into the game.

Video after the jump.

It’s the second question asked.

Reporter: Roberto, can you talk about from a goalie’s perspective how difficult it is to play a shot off the endboard?

Luongo: “It’s not hard if you’re playing in the paint. It’s an easy save for me, but if you’re wandering out and aggressive like he does, that’s going to happen. He might make some saves that I won’t, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we’re in a good position to bury those.”

But if they somehow can put Games 3 and 4 behind them and if they can somehow play like they did in Game 5 on home ice, they can most definitely win the Cup on the road on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET.

It might be hometown bias, but the Canucks out-hit the Big Bad Bruins 47-27 in the game, and that kind of disparity is just ridiculous for a team that’s not supposed to play physical. Even if it’s slightly exaggerated, there’s no doubt that the Canucks had the extra jump and the extra energy in front of the home crowd.

It’s become a trend: the antagonists of the Canucks have been the ones putting the pucks past Thomas. The Hockey Gods can have quite the sense of humor sometimes.

Can Vancouver hold the lead? They’ll certainly have to keep up the intensity. Plenty of time left.

The animated GIF, via Bubbaprog. Click to animate.

Ouch. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite ‘em (unless you’re a Bruins fan).

He, very simply, could steal a Stanley Cup this year.

We’re through two periods at Rogers Arena, and it’s looking a whole lot like Game 1 of this series. Lots of power plays, no goals. Lots of chances, no goals. Lots of big saves and missed opportunities all over the place. 0-0 score. One goal could easily win things -- again. Not sure which team that benefits more at this point.

It was, in a word, harmless. Don’t tell Lapierre that. The video, via Fel0096:

And again, like I said, you wonder why most people can’t stand Lapierre. Of course, he has a history of this. He was given embellishment penalties twice in one game in the 2010 playoffs, and this past season, he had more diving penalties than anybody in the NHL, according to SB Nation’s On the Forecheck.

Through 20 minutes, it’s not as clear as we’d like it, but we do know a few things. For starters, the Bruins still can’t score on the power play. That’s never going to change. In three attempts during the first period, they were simply horrible yet again. They had maybe one or two solid chances, but for the most part -- nada.

At even strength, it’s tough to argue that the Canucks aren’t back. Believe it or not, Vancouver outhit the Bruins in the first period. Not only did they outhit them, though, they did it by a margin of 23 to 13. Home scoring bias, perhaps, but there’s no doubt that the Canucks have some extra jump in their step in Game 5 so far.

The ever-intrepid Shawn Roarke of NHL.com decided to whip out his trusty iPod stopwatch for the sing-song session before Game 5 on Friday night, and what did he find? Richard Loney sung the anthem in 68 seconds.

By video comparison, he sung it in 69 seconds before Game 1. He also started singing before he stopped walking down the red carpet, which is just absolutely hilarious.

Boston Bruins vs. Vancouver Canucks

Venue: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Stanley Cup Finals are ongoing, as the Vancouver Canucks battle the Boston Bruins. Stick with this StoryStream for full coverage of Game 5. For coverage on the Finals, stick with our Stanley Cup Finals hub, our Canucks blog, Nucks Misconduct, and our Bruins blog, Stanley Cup of Chowder.

After Game 3’s 8-1 loss, the idea was simple for the Canucks. Put it in the rear-view mirror, forget about it, make sure it doesn’t happen again. And then, well, it happened again. Not to the same extent, but 4-0 is equally as embarrassing in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Now, it’s clear that it wasn’t just a one-game anomaly. Really, the Bruins have controlled the entire series despite losing close ones in Games 1 and 2, and once they returned home to TD Garden for Games 3 and 4, they used the extra energy and completely took over.