The 2011 Stanley Cup Final changed dramatically over the last 72 hours. The Bruins now have all the momentum heading into Game 5, and the Canucks appear to be a physically beaten and emotionally damaged team after being outscored 12-1 in the last two games.
If you're a Canucks fan, you have to have real concern about the psyche of Roberto Luongo, mercifully yanked from the third period of Wednesday night's game after the Bruins scored their fourth goal. He has been shaky, under siege and completely overshadowed by Tim Thomas on the other end of the ice. While Luongo has battled confidence issues, Thomas has battled any Canuck that dares skate within 10 feet of the Bruins crease. He leads all playoff goalies with one hit (a takedown of Henrik Sedin in Game 3) and added to his resume with a slashing minor Wednesday night when he did what everyone in New England has wanted to do — take a whack at Alex Burrows.
"I thought I'd give him a little love tap," said Thomas after the game.
It's been an outpouring of love for Thomas and his teammates in recent weeks as the city falls head over heels, smitten by the group of men our own Jack Edwards once called a "ragtag bunch of farmers." They are two wins away from a Stanley Cup, two wins away from unleashing a celebration that will have everyone in the city partying like it's 1972.
The reason for the sudden infatuation with this team, this sport, is simple. The Bruins are the last underdog in town. They are the Patriots of 2001, trying to shock the heavily favored Rams. They are the 2004 Red Sox, a team trying to battle back from three games down against the team with the best championship resume in North American pro sports.
They are also more than that. They are a bunch of guys you'd like to have a beer with. They are the new Lunchpail A.C., a team that stands up for one another and fights trying to grab the bill to pay the tab at the end of the night. Want to take a cheap shot and knock one of their brothers out of the series? You do so at your own peril. Do it and unleash a fury that sends you back to your Canadian home with your tail between your legs and your championship hopes flickering.
"We're a blue-collar team that goes out, works hard and earns every inch of the ice that you can get," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after the 4-0 win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
No matter what many of the late-to-the-party radio hosts in Boston may have been saying a month ago, Julien is the perfect coach for this team. If they're a blue-collar team, he's a foreman. His players believe in him, they trust him to do the right thing and he stands back and lets his players execute. He never tries to make himself bigger than the team. So far, he has made all the right moves:
— Against Tampa Bay, he put Tyler Seguin into the lineup and the rookie responded with three goals in a two-game span.
— After losing the first two games against the Canucks, he reinstated Shawn Thornton to the lineup, and Thornton (who has the bluest collar in that dressing room) delivered the emotional lift the Bruins needed to respond to Vancouver and deliver a statement.
— Needing to juggle the line combinations in the wake of Nathan Horton's injury, he moved Rich Peverley to the top line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic. Peverly delivered by scoring the all-important first goal of the game, and added to that with the goal that knocked Luongo out of the net.
Not a bad run for a coach who was allegedly on the hot seat when these playoffs began.
On the other side, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault has to make a tough goaltending decision. Luongo has not been good since Game 2, and has a history of shaky confidence. That confidence was gone in the first round against the Blackhawks; Marblehead, Mass., native and former BC Eagle Cory Schneider wound up starting Game 6 against the Blackhawks after Luongo lost two straight games. Schneider may have kept the job the rest of the way, but was injured trying to stop a Michael Frolik penalty shot. Schneider hadn't played since, until he came into Wednesday night's game (stopping all nine shots he faced).
These are the final days in what has been a glorious rebirth of hockey in a place that has a long, forgotten history in the sport. The Stanley Cup is within reach — and could be grabbed by someone on a Monday Hockey Night in Boston. You can't ask for more than that.
