RED-LIGHT SPECIAL IN BOSTON
Canucks pot eight markers in win
CANUCKS 8, BRUINS 5
There’s never a comfort factor in the TD Garden.
The Bruins are menacing down the middle because Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and David Backes cause matchup headaches. They were getting Vezina Trophy performances from the rejuvenated Jaroslav Halak and their leather-lunged fans still think it’s the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
If that isn’t enough, they usually benefit from questionable officiating, dish out the occasional cheap shot and seldom lose on home ice, where they had the upper hand in five of their first six outings this NHL season.
“It is a challenge,” Travis Green said of matching the Bruins down the middle. “We’ve gone through that a few times this year. When you’re strong down the middle like that, you have faith as a coach that you can match up well.
“But it’s not just strength down the middle. It’s a team that has a chance to win a Stanley Cup.”
All that should have been enough to intimidate the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday during the second stop of a six-game road trip. But there’s something about this club. Despite six injuries, they’re playing faster and harder. They don’t always play smart, but you can’t knock the effort.
Here’s what we learned on a night where Elias Pettersson was held to one assist — and Jacob Markstrom made a larcenous third-period glove save off Brad Marchand when it was 6-4 — before the Canucks prevailed 8-5 in a wild shootout:
HORVAT SHOULDERS ANOTHER BIG LOAD
Bo Horvat knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
He opened scoring off a turnover, but winning faceoffs and puck battles was going to test his mettle. He took slashing, tripping and high-sticking penalties, but he also had a four-point night and sucked it up in the circle. He won 16 of his first 30 draws in tough defensive-zone matchups and allowed the Canucks to escape more often than not.
And just when it looked as if frustration might get the best of Horvat, he bolted from the penalty box in the third period, blocked a Tuukka Rask clearing attempt, spun and slid the puck into a yawning cage on his fourth shot of the night for a three-goal lead before Jake Virtanen got his sixth goal of the season. And, just for good measure, Darren Archibald got the better of Torey Krug in a late-game scrap as the Bruin tried to salvage something in instigating the bout.
ERIKSSON EMERGES FROM SHADOWS
Loui Eriksson scored 30 goals for the Bruins in 2015-16 and it looked like turn-back-the-clock night for the much-maligned winger, who had a three-point effort.
With points in his two previous games, there was reason to believe that if playing here didn’t get the Swede revved up, what will? To his credit, Eriksson did what he did to command interest. He got to the net on his first goal — a Markus Granlund chance off a turnover and an Erik Gudbranson shot — before sliding home a rebound on the backhand.
He then went one better by tipping a Ben Hutton power-play point shot down and past Halak. Eriksson also had a team-high three take-aways to speak of what he has been able to do when the goals weren’t coming.
A GAB, A JAB AND A GOAL
It was going to take time for Antoine Roussel to fully recover from an Aug. 30 concussion and get into proper shape.
Safe to say the agitating winger is over the ailment and has finally found his legs.
Roussel was already having an effective night by doing what he does best. He got in a first-period mosh pit in Halak’s kitchen. He gabbed, he jabbed, he drew two penalties and then scored in the second period to give the Canucks a two-goal cushion.
And the manner in which Roussel scored — getting to the net to tip a Granlund wide-angle shot to chase Halak from the net after allowing five goals on 19 shots — hasn’t happened enough this season and needs to occur more, especially on this trip.
DEFENCE SHOOTS, DEFENCE SCORES
Gudbranson said he was feeling better and working on his skating during the off-season is paying off.
He’s getting up in the play, pinching down low and has added a surprising offensive element. He had an assist in three consecutive games heading into Thursday’s action. He then added another on Eriksson’s first goal before Tim Schaller provided the screen and Gudbranson’s wrist shot from the point went over the shoulder of Rask.
There was more. Hutton’s power-play point shot found the net through a maze and it was his shot that Eriksson tipped.