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TAKEAWAYS

 

1) The Vancouver Canucks were the second best team on the ice Tuesday night at TD Garden in Boston. Give the Bruins credit. They've posted four straight wins and given up four goals in that span -- and just one in their last two victories a 6-1 win in Minnesota on Saturday and now a 4-0 romp over the Canucks. Beyond the score was the way the game unfolded. The Bruins looked every bit the part of the stingiest defensive team in the league in front of Tuukka Rask limiting the Canucks to 25 shots, 20 scoring chances and just five high-danger opportunities. Boston is hard and fast on pucks and they make it difficult for opponents to get to the inside of the ice. That was certainly the case for the Canucks who had a decent first 10 minutes of the hockey game but saw their performance slide from there. While they were still very much in the contest at 1-0 with five minutes to go in the second period, the game basically ended when the Bruins scored their second goal with 4:25 remaining in that middle frame. By night's end, the Canucks had been outshot 42-25 overall and outchanced 23-16 at even-strength.

 

2) There was plenty of frustration in the Canucks locker room following the game. No one likes to be shutout and the players knew that they didn't offer up their best performance. The frustration also came from the fact they held the NHL's goal-scoring leader to start the day and third leading scorer without a point and yet it didn't make a difference. There have been many nights this season when David Pastrnak has single-handedly torched opponents. That wasn't the case on Tuesday. While he led the game with seven shots and 12 attempts and certainly had his chances, he wasn't able to convert. Still the Bruins top line of Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand combined for 14 shots and 21 attempts with Bergeron setting up Marchand for the pivotal 2-0 goal. The Canucks top line -- which was split up by the third period -- collectively mustered two shots on seven attempts. Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson had one each and JT Miller was held without a shot on goal.

 

3) Jacob Markstrom was the Canucks best player -- including on the team's power play. On three attempts on the night, the Canucks power play was outshot 4-1 including short-handed breakaways by Chris Wagner and Charlie Coyle. That's the second straight game the best scoring chances during the Canucks work with the man-advantage have been by the other team following a Sebastian Aho short-handed breakaway in Carolina on Sunday. Boeser had the lone Canucks shot on goal in five minutes of power play time Tuesday. Now, give the Bruins credit. They entered the night with the third best penalty kill in the league. They are are aggressive and seemed to sense the doubt that has crept into the Canucks power play these days. The Canucks had their first power play midway through the second period trailing 1-0. It was a great chance to even the score and produce some momentum for the first time all night. Instead, the Canucks were kept to the perimeter and failed to generate a single shot on goal. There is very little movement on the power play these days and the drought are growing. Brock Boeser hasn't scored a power play goal since November 21st in Nashville. JT Miller hasn't scored one since December 21st against Pittsburgh. Elias Pettersson hasn't cashed in since January 12th in Minnesota. And Bo Horvat's power play goal against Arizona on January 16th is his lone PPG since the night in Nashville that the team scored five times with the man-advantage. The power play is now 4 for its last 44 opportunities (9.1%) over the past 11 games.

 

4) The Canucks penalty kill surrendered a late goal to Karson Kuhlman long after the outcome had been decided. Otherwise, the team's PK was one of the bright spots for much of the night. With Troy Stecher off for a puck over the glass penalty 5:45 into the second period in a 1-0 game, Alex Edler was called for tripping putting the Canucks down two men (and two defenders at that) for a full minute. Jay Beagle, Chris Tanev and Tyler Myers did a nice job of holding the league's second best power play at bay. That penalty kill should have provided the Canucks with a boost. It didn't and, in fact, moments after the Canucks dodged that bullet, they were gifted a make-up call by the officials. And that's when the power play failed to give the Canucks any kind of boost. That sequence -- an inspired penalty kill followed by the first power play of the night -- should have meant so much more to the visitors. Instead, it was merely a squandered opportunity that summed up the night.

 

5) Travis Green was spicy following the contest. Not because of the first Bruins goal that was challenged for offside and upheld. No, the Canucks coach was livid about a non-call on Bruins defenseman Matt Grzlecyk for a hit on Elias Pettersson prior to the 1-0 goal. And Green didn't mince words in his postgame remarks to the media:

'You know what? I'm so frustrated with it. This guy is one of the best young players in the league and he gets hit and is totally defenseless. It's two seconds after he lets go of the puck. I've watched it a couple of times. He's defenseless and he feels like there is no way he's going to get hit in that spot. He's in a vulnerable position. Those are hits the league is trying to get out of the game especially against top young guys, top players in the league and I think Petey has shown he's one of those guys. It is frustrating for me as a coach to see some of the abuse he takes where he doesn't get calls. He works through it and he gets frustrated. He's not the biggest guy, but that doesn't mean you take advantage of a player that's not ready to be hit. That's very late and that should have been a penalty all day long.' As one who is in every Travis Green post-game scrum, it felt like the coach had been sitting on this issue waiting for the right opportunity to sound off. With his team winning as much as it has of late, Green probably felt the time wasn't right even if he felt there were injustices against his scoring leader. But with the team losing 4-0 and the coach watching another unpenalized liberty taken against Pettersson, the time was right Tuesday for Green to have his player's back and to send a message to the league that he believes the EP40 and the Canucks aren't getting the respect they deserve from the on-ice officials.