CANUCKS HALF WAY TO PRIZE, BUT KNOW THEY'RE NOT THERE YET

The Canadian Press

BOSTON -- The Vancouver Canucks didn't embark on this particular business trip with celebrating on

their minds.

Halfway home to the Stanley Cup, the team landed in Boston with the opportunity to claim its first ever

championship before getting on another plane. The mere prospect of that had people celebrating on the

streets of Vancouver long into Sunday morning, but the enthusiasm didn't rub off on the players who will

be charged with getting the job done.

"It's been tight, really close games," forward Henrik Sedin said Sunday night. "Both could have gone

either way. We know that we have to play better.

"They're a good team and we've got a lot of respect for those guys."

With Game 3 looming at what promises to be an amped-up TD Garden on Monday, the Canucks are

expecting to see a different Bruins team than the one they beat twice at Rogers Arena.

An old adage suggests a playoff series isn't over until a team has lost on home ice. The Vancouver players

are willing to take it even further after watching Chicago erase a 3-0 deficit in the first round and force

overtime in Game 7.

"If there's anything this playoffs have taught is, it's that you can't (get ahead of yourself)," said forward

Jannik Hansen. "You've see how many series have been up and you think 'oh now the team is going to

close it out' and suddenly the other team has been back. We've had that experience ourselves."

The Canucks are coming across as extremely poised in the midst of an emotional time. They're riding a

wave of positivity after scoring a Game 1 victory on a goal by Raffi Torres with 18.5 seconds to play

before pulling Game 2 out just 11 seconds into overtime on an Alex Burrows wraparound.

It's put a long-awaited championship just outside of their grasp.

"I think the players have to be focused on the task at hand," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. "If you

are focused on the task and what you need to do to perform well, then your emotions are the right ones,

your intensity is the right intensity and you can go out there and execute."

The series is starting to see some bad blood develop between the teams. On Sunday, Vigneault referred to

a Rich Peverley slash on Kevin Bieksa as a "cheapshot" that "you don't want to see in the game."

Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk also made his presence felt in Game 2 with a heavy hit on

Ryan Kesler.

"I think what we have to continue is to bring that part of our game to the table every night," said Boston

coach Claude Julien. "It has been part of our makeup. I don't think we plan on changing that part of our

game.

"I suspect it's going to be there right until the end."

History suggests the task will be tough for Boston after dropping the opening two games of the final,

although they only have to look back two years to when Pittsburgh was beaten twice in Detroit before

rallying for a seven-game series win.

The Bruins are also looking to draw off their own experience of losing the first two games to Montreal --

at home, no less -- and still managing to come out on top in the first round.

"It does give you some consolation to know that you've done it before," said goalie Tim Thomas. "But,

you know, having said that, tomorrow it will be time to stop talking about it and it will be time to start

doing it. Tomorrow is a big game for us."

Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo has gotten better every round of the playoffs. He's stopped 64 of the

66 shots the Bruins have fired at him and had a shutout in the opening game.

The Vancouver defence has helped Luongo by forcing the Bruins to take mostly long shots. The Canucks

have clogged up the middle of the ice, getting a stick or ankle in front of pucks before they get to the net.

Luongo has seen the puck and isn't giving up many rebounds. When he does, there are no Bruins there to

get a second shot.

"When he plays like he does now, he's the best goalie in the world," said forward Daniel Sedin. "I don't

say that because I'm a teammate and a friend. I say it because I mean it."

Thomas believes the Bruins can do more.

"I think he's played well with what he's been tested with," said Thomas. "But I don't think we've tested

him enough. That's part of the reason we're down 2-0 in the series."

Vancouver is in control of its own destiny and needs only two wins to set off a celebration in Vancouver

that could eclipse what was seen after the Olympic gold medal game a year ago.

The biggest key for the Canucks might have come a couple weeks ago when they dispatched Nashville

from the second round. In hindsight, that helped the team's core players cross a big mental hurdle and

Vancouver has gone 6-1 since.

Now they're on the verge of officially joining the league's elite.

"A team like Detroit or Pittsburgh, they're very confident with their players and the trust they have in each

other," said Henrik Sedin. "I think for us we've never been past the second round. Maybe there's some

doubt there before we (did that). ...

"I think we've grown together as a team and we feel better than ever."

BRUINS CALL GAME 3 A MUST WIN, BUT AREN'T MAKING CHANGES

The Canadian Press

BOSTON -- After making the long trip home on Sunday, the Boston Bruins didn't walk off the plane with

a long list of changes or adjustments planned.

Instead, their strategy for getting back into the Stanley Cup final against the Vancouver Canucks was to

stick with what got them here. Facing a virtual must-win Game 3 on Monday night, the Bruins were

looking to embrace the energy of playing on home ice -- they're 7-3 at TD Garden during this post-season

-- while continuing to ride Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas.

Those two men were both beaten by Alex Burrows before he brought a quick end to overtime in Game 2.

Thomas was caught out of his goal as Burrows outraced Chara to score on a wraparound, but the Bruins

goalie scoffed at the notion he might want to tone down his aggressive style.

"I have a pretty good idea of how to play goalie," Thomas said Sunday. "I'm not going to be taking

suggestions or advice at this time. I'm just going to keep playing the way I have."

There was more than a hint of defiance from the Eastern Conference champions who clearly feel unlucky

to be trailing the series 2-0 after a pair of one-goal losses.

Coach Claude Julien came to the defence of both Thomas and Chara, the towering six-foot-nine

defenceman who had a tough outing in Game 2. The Bruins captain is averaging more than 28 minutes

per game in the playoffs and shouldn't expect to see that workload eased any.

"Where we are right now, we have to look at it this way: He's got all summer long to rest," said Julien.

"Now is not the time to start giving him a rest. We're in a fight here for a Stanley Cup.

"He's capable of taking it."

Julien hinted at needing to make a few small "corrections" before the puck is dropped for Game 3. The

Bruins will certainly look to play with more of a physical edge while also trying to dictate the pace of the

game -- something they were only able to do in small stretches in Vancouver.

The team decided to stay overnight after Saturday's game before making the 5,000-kilometre trip home

early Sunday. After visiting with their families, they checked into a local hotel for the final preparations

before Game 3.

It's the kind of journey teams based in the Eastern Conference rarely make -- just one more obstacle.

"We're not going to hide the fact that we don't travel as much as they do," said Julien. "They're probably

used to this more than we are. So I think it was important for us to really look at it in a way where we had

to make it the best possible way for us.

"We wanted to get back on Eastern Standard Time as quickly as we could."

They walked off the plane into a city primed to host its first Stanley Cup final game since 1990. The

Bruins played in the old Boston Garden back in those days and were hoping some of the mayhem often

associated with that building would be on display Monday night.

"I'm expecting it to be the loudest I've ever heard since I've been here in Boston," said forward

Milan Lucic. "They've waited a long time for the Stanley Cup final back here in Boston so I know they're

excited. We're excited for this opportunity to play in our home building and get ourselves back in the

series."

There is no sugar-coating the tough position they've put themselves in. Only four of 46 teams that have

opened the Stanley Cup with two losses have come back to win the series.

The headline in the Boston Herald screamed "ON THIN ICE" and the players didn't shy away from that

reality.

"I think there's no doubt about it -- Game 3 is a must win," said forward Nathan Horton. "We're not going

down 0-3. We really need a win and we're going to do our best to get it."

They feel their best hockey is still to come. Boston's only two goals in the series came in the second

period of Game 2, when they carried the play and proved to themselves they can compete with the

Presidents' Trophy winners.

"We played a better game definitely in Game 2 than we did in Game 1," said Lucic. "There were periods

in the last game, especially in the second period there, where we felt like we were able to play our game.

We have to do whatever we can to sustain that pressure for 60 minutes."

If it's going to happen anywhere, it's going to be here at home. When the team bus pulled up to TD

Garden on Sunday afternoon, the Bruins were greeted by a sign that read: "Welcome to the Stanley Cup

final."

The time has come for them to signal that they've arrived.

CUP HALF FULL FOR CANUCKS FANS, TWO WINS FROM STANLEY CUP

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER -- For Vancouver Canucks fans, the cup is half full.

Alex Burrows' overtime goal Saturday night against the Boston Bruins ended Game 2 of the Stanley Cup

finals with a 3-2 victory for the Canucks.

The win, which gives the Canucks a 2-0 lead in the series, has prompted jubilant fans to celebrate the fact

their team is now halfway to claiming that coveted cup.

The intense focus on the number of games left to win comes from both confidence and nervousness.

There is the confidence that the Canucks are that much closer to the Stanley Cup, which the team has

never won in its four-decade history despite making it to the final twice before.

But there is also the nervousness that comes from being a longtime Canucks fan, suffering through years

of losing streaks and missed playoff opportunities, long in the habit of not declaring victory too soon.

At times, it feels like some fans are still trying to reassure themselves: don't worry, they only need two

more.

"It's been a long time coming, a roller-coaster ride, up and down, every shift, every game," Craig

Peterson, 40, said while celebrating in the streets after Saturday's game.

"Two to go, we're not there yet," he added, before putting the team's chances at a respectable -- but far

from definitive -- 75 per cent.

Gloria Ng, 29, who watched the game with friends at a downtown pub, said years of being a "die-hard"

Canucks fan have taught her some lessons about making any predictions.

"We've had a lot of ups and downs, it's been a really long journey and it's kind of surreal still that we're

even in this," said Ng. "But like a Canucks fan, I'm not going to say anything, because I don't want to jinx

it. You're always going to be rooting for them, but you don't always want to come out and say it."

But it's that same rocky history, explained Ng, that makes the ongoing Stanley Cup series so sweet.

"If you've been a Canucks fan and you've been with them for this long and you've made it this far, it's

really great," she said.

The last time the Canucks were in the Stanley Cup final was 1994, when the team lost to the New York

Rangers. Before that, the Canucks lost in the final to the New York Islanders in 1982.

Kevin Brandis said the Game 2 win was a weight off his shoulders.

"It's a bit of a relief," said the 27-year-old. "Since '94, when we lost there -- we don't want another 17

years and no cup."

Still, Brandis bristled at the suggestion a Canucks victory isn't a sure thing.

"We are going to win," he said. "I think it's our year."

Games 3 and 4 are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday in Boston.

Canucks fan zone moved from Granville to Georgia By Frank Luba and Cheryl Chan, The Province

The sheer number of hockey-crazed fans that descended on downtown Vancouver after the Canucks‘

Saturday victory has forced the city to move the Granville Street fan zone to a larger space. On Monday, Georgia Street between Hamilton and Richards Streets will host thousands of Cup-hungry

fans eager to cheer on the home team as they try for a third straight win against the Bruins in Boston. The six-lane wide road will be shut down for two blocks at 2 p.m. so crews can hoist two giant screens:

One on Hamilton and Georgia, and a second one on Homer and Georgia. ―The excitement of the Cup run continues to build and the crowds are telling us they want to celebrate

and have fun,‖ Mayor Gregor Robertson said. ―By opening Georgia, we will be able to accommodate many more people and continue to make this a

safe, fun community celebration.‖ The new Georgia Street fan zone is perpendicular to the second Canucks fan zone on Hamilton Street

between Georgia and Robson. The move concentrates the hockey-viewing and partying action to about three blocks near the Vancouver

Public Library and the CBC building. The closure means there will be no access to the Georgia Viaduct between 2 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday. Vancouver Police, too, are bracing for the big crowds expected to come downtown to show Stanley Cup

support for the Canucks. Const. Lindsey Houghton of the Vancouver Police Department said there will be an increased police

presence Monday and Wednesday — more officers than on Saturday, when in excess of 70,000 people

came downtown on what was probably the nicest day of the year to celebrate one of the biggest days of

the year. ―We‘re going to have more officers than we did [Saturday], more on Wednesday, because excitement is

building,‖ Houghton said. Police say there were 891 liquor pour-outs Saturday, 40 violation tickets, 28 breach of peace arrests and

18 arrests for public intoxication. That may seem mild, but Houghton was unwilling to call it a quiet night. ―It was a busy night for our members,‖ said Houghton. ―Any time you‘re policing crowds of 70,000 or

70,000-plus, I don‘t think it‘s ever fair to say it was quiet. ―The statistics that we have as a result of our efforts are continuing to reinforce that people are there to

have a good time and celebrate,‖ he said. With the good weather continuing Monday, it‘s likely there will be another big crowd even though it‘s a

weekday.

―It‘s never easy for us or for anyone to estimate what the crowds are going to be like,‖ said Houghton.

―Canuck fever — people have very high temperatures so we‘re expecting a big crowd. ―So, we‘re treating it like a home game.‖ The aim, according to Houghton, is ―to make sure it‘s a good time.‖ ―The message is very similar to what people heard us talk about during the Olympics: This is everybody‘s

party. People need to take some responsibility. We want this to stay fun. ―The attitude so far has been overwhelmingly positive. The way the Canucks have been playing we don‘t

expect that to change at all.‖

Vancouver bike store all geared up for the Cup By Mike Raptis, The Province A little bike shop on West 10th is creating a big stir among passersby with an elaborate window display

of all-things Canucks. The store is called the Bike Gallery. But if the owner — and avid Canucks fan — Stephen Kim keeps it

up, it will soon look like a Canucks gallery. ―The fan reaction has been really positive,‖ Kim said recently. ―Everyone is excited about the team and right now the city is just on pins and needles.‖ Kim, 40, is as old as the franchise and has been a lifelong Canucks fan. ―The window display was my way of supporting the team and just showing how much of a fan I am,‖ he

said. Inside the display are prized items including Roberto Luongo‘s glove and blocker, Manny Malhotra‘s

game-worn gloves, Ryan Kesler and Christian Ehrhoff‘s game sticks, and the main attraction — a -

custom-built Pinarello bike for Canuck captain Henrik Sedin. The bike, valued at $14,000, is fashioned in Canuck colours and features hand-painted Canucks logos,

Henrik‘s name, and even a little Swedish flag on the frame. ―I can‘t wait to see Henrik on this bike,‖ said Kim. It is to be ridden by Henrik this summer, then auctioned off during the Canucks‘ next Ice-and-Dice

charity with the proceeds going to the Canucks Autism Network and the Canucks Kids Fund. Roberto Luongo, who has embraced cycling as part of his off-season workout, also has a bike in the

works — albeit with a little Canadian flag on the side. ―He doesn‘t know about it yet,‖ Kim said. Kim‘s relationship with the team began three years ago when Canucks general manager Mike Gillis — a

serious cyclist himself — entered the store and asked about the custom Pinarellos built in northern Italy. He soon got Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini involved, who last year gave Kim the green light to go

ahead with the custom Canuck designs. The front display is not meant to attract business, but when fans enter the store they are thrilled to see all

sorts of memorabilia on the walls — even in the washroom. ―Sometimes I wonder why [customers] are in there for a long time, but then they come out and say,

‗Geez, that‘s the best bike-store washroom I‘ve ever been in.‖

We're not hiding injuries, we're protecting players: Vigneault By Joseph Ruttle BY JIM JAMIESON

The Canucks, like other NHL teams, have taken injury obfuscation to a high art in these playoffs, but

head coach Alain Vigneault stands by his guns that it's necessary to protect his players and deny the

opposition from having any competitive advantage. ―I believe at the end of the day at this time of the year, when there's a lot at stake you don't want the

opposition to know a certain player has this or that,‖ said Vigneault. ―So they don't try and exploit

something. During the season we're as open as we can be, but we don't play the same team two nights in a

row. That's why most teams do it that way.‖ NFL teams must declare by Thursday who's playing and who's not, but Vigneault said he prefers the

NHL's approach. ―At this time I believe in protecting my players,‖ he said. ―I believe this is the best way to protect them. I

can't comment on the NFL; this is what we're doing in our league.‖

Links: Some Light Reading Before Game 3 By Jason Brough Mon, Jun 6 2011 COMMENTS(0) Orland Kurtenblog Filed under: the links, nucks bruins let's get it on, bill belichick is on team bass A few of the stories I was reading in bed at 7am while fully cognisant of the fact it was 4am back home

and that's pretty early for a blogger to be awake.

-- The fact Patriots coach Bill Belichick went to a B's game, showed that he's a human being capable of

emotions and not a robot programmed to coach football proves that the B's are popular in Boston.

(Toronto Sun) -- Canadians who live in the Maritimes love the Bruins. "Before each game, Nova Scotia Transport

Minister Bill Estabrooks drops his front false teeth in his Bruins beer mug — part of his pre-game ritual

in a den crammed with autographed player photographs that go back four decades." Interesting ritual that.

Also interesting to learn that Halifax sends Boston a Christmas tree each year to thank the city for its help

in 1917 when a munitions explosion in the harbour destroyed much of Nova Scotia's capital. Pretty sure

Seattle's never done anything like that for Vancouver. Too busy drinking coffee and hucking fish around.

(CP) -- History isn't on the Bruins' side. "In its previous four appearances in the Final, Boston went down 0-2

each time — to Edmonton in 1988 and 1990 and to Montreal in 1977 and 1978. And each time the

Spoked-Bs were expunged." (Boston Globe) -- Apropos of nothing, here's Petr Klima's triple-overtime goal that won Game 1 of the 1990 final for

Edmonton. Klima barely played that night so he was the only with fresh legs at the time. I remember the

goal well because I had a baseball game that night and was furious I had to miss the hockey, but when I

came home it was still in overtime. Cool story, huh? -- The Bruins aren't used to travelling across the country, but the Canucks are wily vets. Also a tip of the

cap to Vancouver's army of travelling fans. (Boston Globe) -- The Canucks fan zone is moving from Granville to Georgia between Hamilton and Richards. Try to

behave, everyone. No open liquor. Only hidden flasks. (The Province) -- Burrows for Conn Smythe? Featuring the above picture. (The Province) -- Roy MacGregor on all the bounces that have gone Vancouver's way. Note to potential commenters:

He's not saying the Canucks are only winning because they're lucky. He's just saying they've had some

luck, something we pointed out after the San Jose series and even Alain Vigneault acknowledges.

―You‘ve got to get some bounces,‖ AV said this week. ―You get the bounces because you‘ve been doing

the right things for a long time. And I believe Vancouver – and I‘ve said this a couple of times – is due for

40 years of good bounces.‖

Travelling fans snap up Stanley Cup tickets for tonight, Wednesday in Boston; average price - $725 By Gordon McIntyre Canucks Nation is on the move, even to Boston where tickets are hard to come by and prices creeping up. According to StubHub, an online ticket exchange, travelling fans typically make up 5-10 per cent of

buyers, but for Games 3 and 4 between the Canucks and Bruins, 31 per cent of buyers have been from

Canada (11 per cent Ontario, 10 per cent B.C., the rest from Alberta and other provinces). By contrast, fewer than two per cent of buyers for Games 1 and 2 in Vancouver were from the New

England states. As of this morning, StubHub, which takes a 25-per-cent commission (10 per cent from the buyer, 15 per

cent from the seller), had 800 tickets for sale for tonight's game and more than 1,000 available for Game

4. Tickets sold to date for tonight's and Wednesday's games have ranged from $375 to $4,725, averaging

$725 - that's $150 more per ticket than the average selling price for Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia last

year, according to StubHub. Game-by-game, here are StubHub averages so far: Game 1 - $833; Game 2 - $974; Game 3 - $698; Game 4 - $754. For Game 5 back at Rogers Arena, should it be necessary, tickets sold so far through StubHub have

averaged $1,512 (if the Canucks sweep, no money changes hands).

Bruins look to past for answers vs Canucks By Gordon McIntyre The Province

The Bruins have been down before in these playoffs, twice. They've faced red-hot goalies and found ways to solve them. Their power play has struggled and they came up with a way ... Well, two outta three ain't bad. Boston head coach Claude Julien was walking down recent memory lane prior to this evening's Game 2

of the Stanley Cup final, finding hope in past performances. The Bruins fired 36 pucks at Roberto Luongo in Game 1, but didn't get to many rebounds and failed to

put any past the Canucks goalie. "You need to get those greasy goals in any game in the playoffs," said Julien, whose club did not skate

Saturday morning. Carey Price allowed just one goal against in Boston's first two Round 1 games and the Bruins won that

series. And Dwayne Roloson came into the Eastern Conference final sporting a save percentage of nearly .950

and a goals-against average that hovered near 2.00, but the Bruins scored 18 goals against him in six

games, including three on nine shots in the first period before Roloson was pulled in Game 4 - Boston lost

that game 5-3. "We managed to do that against Roloson, who had had a great playoff until he played against us," Julien

said. "We managed to get those greasy goals, managed to get traffic in front. It goes without saying we

didn't do that well enough last game. "That has to be better." In that vein, Julien is intent on keeping Zdeno Chara in front of Luongo on Boston power plays instead of,

say, Milan Lucic, even though Chara has been ineffective there and Boston misses his booming shot, the

hardest in the NHL, from the point. (The Bruins power play is firing at a 7.5-per-cent clip in the playoffs.)

―He's done a good job not only standing out front, but when there's loose pucks he's reacted well," Julien

said. ―Even on the entries, he had the puck a couple of times and made the right play. He's done a great

job." This is the third time in four series this playoffs the Bruins have fallen behind. They were down 2-0 to Montreal (with both losses coming at Boston) and down 1-0 against Tampa Bay. Boston won both series in seven games. "I think that's why we're going into this game tonight with positive thoughts," Julien said. "This isn't

unknown territory for us, we've been through it. "It doesn't mean it happens automatically, we know we have to work through it. But having done it before

certainly gives you the confidence to play the type of game you need to play. "We certainly don't want to go to Boston down two games."

Prose and Conns

Mike Brophy

Sportsnet.ca

The closer we get to the end of the season, the tougher it gets to picking the leaders for the Conn Smythe

Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs. With the Canucks leading the final 2-0, it should come as

no surprise that members of Vancouver stand the best chance of winning the award. Here are sportsnet.ca's Top 5 candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy: Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks: That's right, Roberto Luongo. Say what you will about his

inconsistency in the past, the Canucks goaltender has been absolutely solid in the final few games of the

semi-final against the San Jose Sharks and in the final against the Boston Bruins. When you consider

Luongo's contract runs for an eternity, this should come as very good news for Canucks fans. Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks: After scoring goals in back-to-back games against San Jose to catapult

the Canucks into the final, Kesler has become more of a defensive entity against the Bruins. You could

easily argue he has been the best two-way player throughout the entire playoffs and while his ability to

check has hampered Boston's ability to score, he is still tied for third in playoff scoring with seven goals

and 19 points in 20 games and is plus-7. Alexandre Burrows, Vancouver Canucks: The biting incident notwithstanding (he clearly broke the code

biting the finger of Patrice Bergeron), but Burrows sure comes through for his team when the chips are

down. His second overtime goal of the playoffs (his first was the series-clincher against Chicago) shot the

Canucks into a comfortable 2-0 lead over Boston. Burrows can indeed be a pest, but he's also a digger

who pays the prices for his goals. Burrows has five goals in his last five outings. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks: Henrik continues to lead the playoffs in scoring with 21 points, yet he

doesn't have a point in the final. With just two goals in the post-season, he's not the sexy choice to win the

Conn Smythe, however he has shown the ability to pile up points like he did in the five-game series

against San Jose when he scored once and set up 11 other goals. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins: Did he overplay Burrows on the game-winner 11 seconds into overtime in

Game 2? Based on the way he has played all season, I'd say no. Thomas has been aggressive all year and

it has served him very well. If you want to point fingers, how about big defenceman Zdeno Chara who

was unable to contain Burrows. Obviously for Thomas to win the Conn Smythe he'll need to be

responsible for a major comeback by the Bruins. At the very least he'd have to be largely responsible for

getting the series to seven games. LAST WEEK: Ryan Kesler, Vancouver; David Krejci, Boston; Henrik Sedin, Vancouver; Kevin Bieksa,

Vancouver; Tim Thomas, Boston

Failure to launch

Mark Spector

Sportsnet.ca

Tomas Kaberle has not been the difference-maker the Boston Bruins thought they were acquiring. BOSTON - Tomas Kaberle hops over the boards and skates seamlessly, almost unnoticeably into the

play. For the next 45 seconds he looks very much like the confident, experienced National Hockey

League defencemen that he should be, after 900-plus games. He passes the puck crisply, most often in the build up of a play rather than the critical, finishing dish that

leads to a scoring chance. He skates the puck well, though not from end to end or with the air of a

defenceman intent creating something all by himself. On the frail Boston Bruins powerplay he is a simply a way station for the puck. Not the final stop for that

blast that might make a difference in a Stanley Cup Final, something once considered a likely scenario for

a sought-after finishing piece like Kaberle. Through two pointless, ineffectual games of this Final, Kaberle has become a metaphor the Boston Bruins

team he plays for: A nice player and a nice team, but after all the hype, neither is quite as good as what

the Vancouver Canucks have to offer. There is nothing bad to say about either Kaberle or the Bruins, though not a lot of good either through two

close games on this Stanley Cup Final, both won by the Canucks. As a Canadian who has been force-fed years of Kaberle speculation by the Toronto media, you watch him

play for a couple of nights and think, "This is the guy Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke secured

Boston's best minor league prospect (Joe Colborne), a late first-round pick (29th or 30th) and a second-

rounder for? "Nice trade, Burkie." Every July 1, every March trading deadline. "Would he stay? Would he waive? How much could he

fetch?" Simply by the amount of airtime devoted to the topic, the fallen forests to produce the newsprint, the

endless radio conversation, the name "Tomas Kaberle" became synonymous with "highly valuable

defenceman who can take a team that's close and put them over the top." Well, Boston is close. And Kaberle, a four-time all-star, is not at the steering wheel, ranking fifth among

Bruins defencemen in ice time at 16:12 per playoff game. A No. 5 defenceman is what he has become, after being brought here to quarterback a powerplay that has

been worse than abysmal. "You're right: It's been pretty bad," defenceman Dennis Seidenberg admitted. "But we try to be positive in

here, and hopefully we'll be better. It has to be better." For his part, the 33-year-old Czech is oblivious to the concern, as he always seemed to be during his 11

seasons in Toronto. "At the start it was tough, leaving a place where you played for so long, had lots of friends," he said. "We

had to adjust to a new team, new teammates. But now, I'm in the Final, and I'm really enjoying it." "The guys made it easier on me, my new teammates. They helped me from the Day 1." The Bruins, we restate, gave up a largesse to acquire Kaberle's services for this playoff run only. He

becomes a unrestricted free agent on July 1, and where we once assumed that he was underpaid at $4.25

million - and would correct that with a giant payday this summer - this playoff run has proven that a

woeful error. Kaberle is a third-pairing guy at this, his first Final, playing on the first-unit powerplay that can't find his

pass with both hands. He's a player's player, a pro's pro to be sure. But the players don't pay the paychecks

- owners do. "All those years in Toronto were great practice for him," fellow Boston defenceman Andrew Ference

chuckled. "If you don't get a good, tough exterior shell on you there, you're not going to get it anywhere.

"It's allowed him to step into a role as a player on a team that's expected to do things, and roll with the

punches. He's been seamless in the locker room. I think, all those years of guys being so familiar with

him, watching him on TV, and all the coverage the Maple Leafs get, he comes in with immediate

respect." But NHL players know the bottom line better than anyone else, and the bottom line begins and ends with

production. If you're a sixth defenceman, then you fulfill the worker-bee duties that role entails. If you're the free agent pick-up that was supposed to bring offence from the back end, then zero playoff

goals and eight assists won't do. And beyond even the numbers, being just another guy in a Bruins uniform who checks in for his 45-

second shift is not what Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli brought him here for. Kaberle is supposed to be a difference maker, and so far, the only score he's settled was the uneven trade

Chiarelli had made when he sent Phil Kessel to Toronto. "I still put a lot of pressure on myself," Kaberle said, seemingly immune to the critical question. "Boston

is a good hockey city as well, everybody has high expectations every year. And that's what you want …

that every day you are pushed to the limits." Pushed to the limits? Sure. Reaching the limits? Tomas Kaberle hasn't come anywhere close in Boston.

Sleep docs have Canucks dreaming By STEVE KEATING, REUTERS BOSTON -- Sleep doctors have given the Vancouver Canucks a wake-up call, turning them into the

NHL's ultimate road warriors and bringing their Stanley Cup dreams closer to reality. After winning the first two games of the best-of-seven championship series at home, the Canucks head to

Boston knowing that two more wins over the Bruins will clinch their first Stanley Cup. While the Bruins might struggle with jet lag, the Canucks will not be losing any sleep over the challenge

in front of them. "For us it is not a problem, we fly a lot during the season," Daniel Sedin, told Reuters. "Starting at home

every series has been huge for us, not having to go to another city for the first game of a series that has

been key. "That is why it is important to win your conference, you're always going to be at home when you start

series. It's big." With one of the worst travel schedules of any professional sports team in North America, the Canucks

recognised they would need to find ways to keep the team sharp on the road if they were ever to

challenge for a Stanley Cup. So they turned to a sleep consultant that works primarily with businesses in the airline, trucking and rail

industries to prevent fatigue related accidents. Fatigue Science, which has also worked with the Australian Olympic Committee as well as several

professional rugby teams, uses a system it developed to monitor athlete-sleeping habits. Researchers then run the results through scheduling software and advise the Canucks on everything from

travel and practice schedules to lifestyle choices. "Simply put, lack of sleep impacts the performance of professional athletes by slowing player reactions

times during games, often making the difference between winning and losing," Fatigue Science said in a

statement. "The Vancouver Canucks have turned a 40-year history of the worst travel schedule in the National

Hockey League into a competitive advantage." Despite their schedule, the Canucks finished with the NHL's best away record. The nearly 4,000 kms and three time zones that separate Boston and Vancouver represents the biggest

distance travelled by two teams in a Stanley Cup final in the NHL's modern era. Only the 1905 Dawson City Nuggets travelled farther in pursuit of the Cup dream undertaking an epic

journey by dog sled, ship and rail to Ottawa that took nearly a month to complete to face the Silver Seven.

Teams today travel in chartered airline comfort but the coast-to-coast showdown between the Bruins and

Canucks marks a grueling end to a punishing two-month playoff grind that would test even the most-

seasoned frequent flyer, never mind battered and bruised hockey players that have endured weeks of

pounding. In a series where winning a championship can hinge on the slightest advantage, a team's ability to deal

with the jet lag and fatigue may be enough to tip the balance. "Every team goes through the same thing but from our perspective we've gotten use to it, it's been part of

our routine for a long time," said Canucks Sami Salo. "Adrenaline gives you that extra kick but knowing

what to expect helps."

Hard work paying off for Burrows By Ken Wiebe, QMI Agency VANCOUVER — Alexandre Burrows knows he might not be at this point in his hockey career without

the eyes of Manitoba Moose general manager Craig Heisinger and his own intestinal fortitude. With his emergence as the guy who helps round out the Vancouver Canucks top line with the Sedins,

Burrows has become a household name. The latest chapter in his storybook career played out Saturday at Rogers Arena, with Burrows in on all

three goals as the Vancouver Canucks took a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup final with a 3-2 overtime

victory over the Boston Bruins. Two goals — including the overtime winner 11 seconds into the extra frame on a wraparound — and a set

up that tied the game at 9:37 of the third, was an excellent night‘s work for anyone on the game‘s

grandest stage. It was even more special for Burrows, the focal point of this series over the past few days for an alleged

chomp on the glove/finger of Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron. But even on a night that had to have been one of the most magical of his career, Burrows‘ face lit up

when asked to share the impact Heisinger had on his career as the man who helped rescue him from the

ECHL. ―I was a couple months away from probably hanging my skates up,‖ said Burrows, who got his first taste

of the Manitoba Moose late in 2003-04 and became a regular in 2004-05. ―Zinger was the one that

believed in me early and gave me a chance. If there‘s one guy in my career that I have to thank, he‘s

probably the one.‖ For a guy who was once making $425 dollars a week in the ECHL — and is now making a bargain-

basement $2 million for a top-line player — Burrows recalled his first big contract with the Moose. ―It was 45 grand (in the AHL) over $28,000 (in the ECHL). That was a big year and I was pretty happy,‖

said Burrows. ―I remember I had to work in the summer as a landscaper.‖ Burrows has never forgotten the long road he took to the NHL and it‘s what helps him avoid

complacency. ―All my life I really had to work for everything,‖ said Burrows, who has nine goals and 17 points in 20

games during the Stanley Cup playoffs. ―Some people say it‘s hard to work hard, but for me it‘s just

going out there and having fun really. ―If you‘re going out there and not working, what‘s the point really? I just want to go out there and make

the most of it. We‘re in a good position but there‘s still a lot of work ahead.‖ Canucks centre Ryan Kesler wasn‘t surprised to see Burrows come through in the clutch. ―Some guys just have a knack and he‘s one of them,‖ said Kesler. ―He‘s scored huge goals for this

organization. I don‘t know why it is, but some players just have that knack. He knows when to come up

big.‖ Some view Burrows as the third wheel on the line with Henrik and Daniel, but playing with the twins

isn‘t an easy job and he makes a big contribution. ―People say it has a lot to do with the twins, but the more you watch him, he creates a lot of his own

opportunities and his own luck,‖ said Canucks goalie Cory Schneider. ―He‘s really turned himself into a

guy that can score goals, whether it‘s by throwing pucks at the net or making heads-up plays where other

guys might not have the patience to do it. He goes to the gritty areas. He‘s made a living there realizing

that‘s where he‘s going to score most of his goals.‖ Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa has also seen tremendous growth in Burrows‘ game. ―Maybe he wasn‘t predicted to be where he is, at the beginning (of his career),‖ said Bieksa. ―He

scratched and clawed, blocked shots and fought to get to where he is. He did whatever he could to stay in

the lineup every night. He worked his way up and here he is today.‖ Where he is today is on top of the world. Imagine where he‘ll be if the Canucks to nail down two more wins to capture the first Stanley Cup in

franchise history.

Thomas won't change despite goal gaffe By Chris Stevenson, QMI Agency A guy lets in one overtime goal... Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas got caught out of the net playing his aggressive style in Game 2,

leading to the winner by Vancouver Canucks forward Alex Burrows just 11 seconds into the extra period. When the Bruins landed here Sunday, it was like everything Thomas has accomplished so far this season -

- he's a favourite for the Vezina Trophy -- has been forgotten. He was asked, in light of the Burrows goal, if he would consider making adjustments. "No. I have a pretty good idea of how to play goalie," said the 37-year-old. "I'm not going to be taking

suggestions or advice at this time. I'm just going to keep playing the way I have." Bruins coach Claude Julien said anybody pointing fingers at Thomas as the reason the Bruins lost and

trail this Stanley Cup final 2-0 going into Game 3 Monday is looking in the wrong place. "To me he's a Vezina Trophy winner. We are here right now because of his contribution, which has been

really good. For us to be sitting here having to answer those kind of questions is ridiculous to me. He's

won a Vezina Trophy already, as I mentioned. He's probably going to win one this year, in my mind

anyway, for what he's done. "(Saturday) he made some unbelievable saves to keep us in the game. So if we want to focus on that last

goal, which I think a lot of other players could have done a better job, I think it's focusing on the wrong

thing."

Bruins' Hnidy still puts 'young guys in their place' By Ken Wiebe, QMI Agency VANCOUVER — Shane Hnidy is loathe to admit it, but retirement actually crossed his mind last fall. After an exhaustive search for a job as an unrestricted free agent agent came up fruitless this summer, the

Neepawa product agreed to a walk-on tryout with the Phoenix Coyotes. Hnidy was in great shape and recognized there was an opportunity for a guy with his experience to win a

job and be a stablizing force with such a young group in place. But on the third day of training camp, disaster struck as he went into the boards and came away with a

torn rotator cuff that required surgery. ―It was the first scrimmage and it wasn‘t much of a play,‖ said Hnidy. ―I got bumped into the boards and

it really wasn‘t hard, but my shoulder went in awkward and I heard a snap. It wasn‘t a dirty hit or

anything. I tried to give it a couple days but it didn‘t get better. I had the MRI and I needed surgery.‖ That left Hnidy on the shelf and to make matters worse, he still didn‘t have a contract signed or a team to

play for. It also left him with some serious time for reflection. ―I didn‘t know what I was going to do, if I was going to bother coming back,‖ said Hnidy. ―The big R-

word was out there. It wasn‘t serious, but I thought about it. Then I knew that if I didn‘t at least try (to

come back) that I was going to regret it.‖ In the end, there was no need for regret and no need to retire.

Instead, he had the surgery and moved back home to Winnipeg, going through the rehab process at the

Pan-Am Clinic. All of Hnidy‘s hard work paid off as the Bruins inked him to a one-year deal just before the NHL trading

deadline. Hnidy didn‘t suit up until April, but instead of signing his retirement papers, he now finds himself in the

Stanley Cup final against the Vancouver Canucks. Although he didn‘t play the first two games and the Bruins are down 2-0 going into Monday‘s third game,

Hnidy is ready if his name is called by head coach Claude Julien. ―Boston is an organization that fits my style — I‘m glad I came back,‖ said Hnidy, who has appeared in

three games during the playoff run and reached the Stanley Cup final for the first time. ―When you get

older, you really appreciate the moment and you want to take advantage of it. I‘ve been playing 14, 15

years and this is my first time. Enjoy every moment. This is it. This is what we all dream and grow up

wanting to do.‖ Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has known Hnidy since his days with the Ottawa Senators and is

happy he brought the reliable veteran on board for the stretch drive. ―He was a guy that could give us some depth and he accepted the role as the seven, eight, nine

defenceman,‖ said Chiarelli. ―I like to call it backroom character. He‘s played in the playoffs. He‘s a

gritty guy and he can put some of the young guys in their place once in awhile.‖

Burrows a working man's hero By Eric Francis, QMI Agency VANCOUVER – While many find it easy to despise Alex Burrows, a little more insight into his

incredible journey might soften some stances. Minutes after becoming an overtime hero yet again Saturday for the Vancouver Canucks, the 30-year-old

winger recalled how, after two years in the East Coast league, he vowed to quit unless he made the jump

to the AHL by mid-season. The year was 2004, and the former ball hockey world champion got his big break only because of the

NHL‘s lockout, which prompted the AHL to bump rosters from 11 to 12 forwards. It opened the door for

Burrows to be called up to Manitoba four games into the season. He stayed there the rest of the year, learning valuable lessons while bumping his salary from US$28,000

to $45,000 — so much money he soon wouldn‘t have to work as a landscaper each summer. A year-and-a-half later, he joined the Canucks, and despite being told his second season he‘d be cut if he

had a bad training camp, he‘s continued to refine his game and improved to the point he‘s gone from

being an agitator to a 35-goal sniper. Told this year to cut the yapping (they forget to tell him not to bite),

he again took management‘s advice and is playing a role every bit as important as that of his two twin

linemates. He‘s impressive and inspirational, yet he‘s still widely detested by those outside Vancouver. Now for more notes, quotes and anecdotes from a sports world wondering what sort of odds Elliot

Saltman overcame this weekend when he aced the 17th hole on both Thursday and Sunday of the Welsh

Open. AROUND THE HORN While the Calgary Flames refuse to dwell on the forced trading of Tim Erixon, many around the league

agree the way things unfolded doesn‘t pass the smell test. The Flames have not whined or filed a

grievance with the league nor will anyone utter the word ‗tampering.‘ But few like the way it all shook

out. That said, several GMs told the Calgary Sun they felt Flames GM Jay Feaster did an admirable job

getting something from the New York Rangers for the first-round draft pick. And while it appears

Feaster‘s last-minute dealing limited his trade partners, a Toronto Maple Leafs source said Saturday they

were indeed in on the bidding to land the first rounder … Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo when

asked after Game 2 if he had much of a history playing in Boston: ―Well … I played my first NHL game

in Boston. First win, first shutout against the Bruins. Yeah, pretty good history, I‘d say.‖ … Indeed, that is

former Calgary A-Channel sports anchor/Cowboys fixture Ken Reid on Rogers Sportsnet, after making

the jump from TSN to anchor the weekend show alongside Evanka Osmak.

PARTING GIFTS If I‘m San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson, the first thing I try doing this summer is signing unrestricted

free-agent defenceman Kevin Bieksa, the man responsible for shutting down all of their big guns while

also scoring the winner in the series for the Canucks. That said, it‘ll be interesting to see which of the big

three UFAs playing in the final goes for the most money on the open market July 1 — Bieksa or fellow

blueliners Christian Ehrhoff or Tomas Kaberle. Word is Bieksa is most apt to take a hometown discount

to stay with his current team. Ehrhoff is likely too expensive to keep in Vancouver and is expected to

chase the big dollars, and there‘s little belief the Bruins will want to pony up for the failed experiment that

is Kaberle … Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman told the Sun Saturday assistant coach Wayne

Fleming remains in a California hospital, receiving radiation treatment and rehab following brian surgery

last month … Reason No. 832 the Philadelphia Flyers may never figure out their goalie situation.

Calgary-born netminder Jacob DeSerres was a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2008 and was not signed

by the club despite going 25-5-2 while leading the Brandon Wheat Kings to the 2010 Memorial Cup.

Since being overlooked by the club, all he did was go 27-3 and lead the QMJHL‘s Saint John Sea Dogs to

the Memorial Cup last week. Yet, he‘s not good enough for the Flyers.

MATTHEW SEKERES Parental advice comes in handy for Canucks' Burrows Globe and Mail

Alex Burrows took his father‘s advice, then took time to reflect on a period when he wasn‘t an NHL star. The Vancouver Canucks winger, who had three points and the game-winning goal in overtime of

Saturday‘s 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins, said he was following parental instructions by having an

enormous night in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final. Burrows‘s heroics, which came after he was

criticized, but not suspended, for biting Boston‘s Patrice Bergeron in Game 1, was his way of making

father Rodney proud. ―The negative press I‘ve been getting the last few days, it doesn‘t affect me at all,‖ Burrows said. ―But it

affects my parents, you know. My dad listens to everything. Obviously, it affects him. He told me to go

score some goals and that‘s what really is going to hurt [critics]. I listened to his advice tonight and it

worked out.‖ Burrows‘s overtime winner came just 11 seconds into the extra session, and after he outworked an out-of-

gas Zdeno Chara, the Bruins‘ star defenceman. He set up Daniel Sedin‘s game-tying goal in the third

period with a terrific pass, and got Vancouver on the scoreboard with a quick-shot goal in the first. The Bruins did not whine or complain about a lack of supplemental discipline for Burrows between the

first and second games of the Cup final, but he certainly took some public heat for chomping down on

Bergeron‘s gloved finger. That he avoided suspension was lucky for the Canucks, especially since there

was damning video evidence of a despicable act. The league didn‘t see it that way, perhaps too afraid to suspend a key player for a Cup final game, and

Burrows getting a place in the lineup allowed for the overtime heroics. ―For the first few years of my career, I was on the bench for those kind of moments,‖ the 30-year-old

said. ―You‘ve got to pay your dues, you‘ve got to work your way up. And I think I‘ve worked hard to be

in those kind of moments.‖ Burrows, of course, didn‘t start playing major junior hockey until age 19, and worked his way into

Vancouver‘s lineup after being a minor-league free agent with the club‘s former American Hockey

League affiliate in Manitoba. Before that, there was a bid in the East Coast Hockey League, and Burrows

even considered quitting hockey because he wasn‘t saving money and had to work a landscaping job

during the summer months to make ends meet. ―After two full years in the East Coast [league] and the lockout year when I got sent back [to the ECHL]

from Manitoba, I told myself that if, at Christmas, I‘m still in the East Coast [league] then I would

probably pack it in and go back to school,‖ the 30-year-old said. ―All my life, I‘ve really had to work for

everything.‖ Burrows and his father speak after every game, and analyze his performance, before moving onto other

subjects. The son has ―thick skin‖ when it comes to public criticism, but his parents get hurt when they

hear him denounced as a biting, hair-pulling, fake artist. ―I haven‘t read anything or seen anything,‖ Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. ―The league made a

decision, and we left it at that.‖ Sedin praised Burrows for being ―great at reading plays‖ and that skill came in handy Saturday, and in a

first-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, when the native of Pincourt, Que., jumped on a

turnover and beat Vancouver‘s arch nemesis with an overtime winner in Game 7. For more than two

years, Burrows has skated alongside the Sedin twins on Vancouver‘s top line, and the chemistry he has

developed with Henrik and Daniel, both Art Ross Trophy winners, is a huge reason why the Canucks lead

the Cup final 2-0 heading into Monday night‘s Game 3. ―He came from nowhere, and he made it here [in the NHL],‖ Sedin said. ―He‘s come in every year, and

he wants to have a bigger and bigger role on this team. … That‘s how you get better.‖

Canucks cling to Cup final momentum Jim Morris VANCOUVER — The Canadian Press It's not like the Vancouver Canucks have dominated the Boston Bruins. The Canucks have not over-powered the Bruins, or established themselves as the clearly better team. What Vancouver has done is play a smart, defensive game, jumped on Bruin mistakes, and managed to

take over in stretches of the third period. That has allowed the Canucks to win the first two games of the

Stanley Cup final and move half way to claiming the first NHL championship in franchise history. The Canucks have grabbed the momentum in the best-of-seven series but that can be like hanging onto an

eel. It's slippery and can easily fall through your fingers. ―We haven't won anything yet,‖ Game 2 hero Alex Burrows said before the Canucks left for Boston

Sunday morning. ―We've only taken care of home ice. ―They are a really good team over there. I am sure they are going to feed off their crowd. We have to be

ready for Game 3. It won't be easy. Until you win a road game, you are not in control of any series.‖ Burrows scored his second goal of the game 11 seconds into overtime to give Vancouver a 3-2 win

Saturday night. Raffi Torres scored with just 18.5 seconds left in the third period of Game 1 for a 1-0

Canuck victory. It was a razor thin margin of victory in both games, but enough to cut into Boston's confidence. ―You have to forget about it and just take the positive things,‖ said Bruins centre David Krejci. ―There's

no room for negatives in these playoffs. ―We're just 2-0. We're still in it. We can do it.‖ The series shifts to Boston for games Monday and Wednesday. The Bruins believe they easily could be

heading home with a split or even leading the series. ―I still don't think we've played the way we can,‖ said Boston coach Claude Julien. ―We're a better team

than we've shown. ―We've got to go back home and start showing that and get ourselves back in this series.‖ The Canucks are following the same blueprint in the playoffs they used to finish the regular season with

the best record in the NHL. Goaltender Roberto Luongo has gotten better every round of the playoffs. He's stopped 64 of the 66 shots

the Bruins have fired at him and had a shutout in the opening game. The Vancouver defence has helped Luongo by forcing the Bruins to take mostly long shots. The Canucks

have clogged up the middle of the ice, getting a stick or ankle in front of pucks before they get to the net. Luongo has seen the puck and isn't giving up many rebounds. When he does, there are no Bruins there to

get a second shot.

―When he plays like he does now, he's the best goalie in the world,‖ said forward Daniel Sedin. ―I don't

say that because I'm a teammate and a friend. I say it because I mean it.‖ Offensively, the Canucks are patient. They continue to move the puck well. They know Boston goaltender

Tim Thomas likes to challenge shooters, so they have tried to move the puck back and forth in front of the

net, trying to catch Thomas out of position. That resulted in Daniel Sedin scoring the tying goal midway through the third period Saturday night. ―I think we have four lines that go out there and play the same way,‖ he said. ―We get pucks deep. We

forecheck really hard. ―It wears teams down. It's been like this the whole season. It's nothing new for us. I think when we're at

our best, we usually have a lot of success in the third period.‖ The Canucks continue to show resiliency. They don't panic when they fall behind. Vancouver gave up the

lead Saturday night by allowing Boston to score twice in 2:35. The Canucks stayed calm and forced the overtime. ―We can push the pace and creating scoring chances,‖ said Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault. ―I'm sure that has not happened very often to Boston this year, where they gave up a lead.‖ The Bruins are in a tough spot, but it's somewhere they have been before. They lost the opening two

games at home against Montreal in the first round of the playoffs, but managed to win that series in seven

games. ―We've gone through the experience of being down 2-0,‖ said Julien. ―It's probably a better team here. ―It doesn't change the fact we've been through it. We didn't come here just to roll over. We're going (to)

regroup and bounce back.‖ The Canucks are close to winning the biggest prize in their history. Captain Henrik Sedin said after

coming this far, the last part of the journey is going to be the hardest. ―We know how tough it is to win two more,‖ he said. ―They could be up 2-0, that's how tight it is. I think this series is going to be a tough, three or four tight

games.‖

Some Canucks and Bruins lucky to be in final Chris Johnston BOSTON — The Canadian Press

Manny Malhotra's dramatic return to the Vancouver Canucks lineup from a serious eye injury ensured

he'll be the least likely participant in this Stanley Cup final. However, he's far from the only man taking part in the NHL's championship series who couldn't have

counted on being here a couple months ago. The Canucks and Boston Bruins have each used players

during the first two games of the series that weren't key members of their team all year long. Here's a look at five that are fortunate to still be playing hockey in June: Chris Higgins, Vancouver: The 28-year-old winger was essentially playing out the string in Florida until

a deadline day trade brought him west. He's looked right at home on his fifth NHL team in the past three

years, settling into a role on the second line with Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond. Higgins is averaging

17:34 of ice time during the post-season. --- Tomas Kaberle, Boston: It was a full seven years between playoff games for the mobile defenceman,

who has been a polarizing figure since coming over from Toronto in a February trade. The 33-year-old

was reluctant to leave the Maple Leafs but this kind of opportunity wasn't available to him there. Kaberle

has eight assists in 20 playoff games this spring. --- Chris Kelly, Boston: Similar to Higgins and Kaberle, he was given new life with a mid-season trade. The

30-year-old centre was one of several veterans shipped out of town by the Ottawa Senators after playing

the first 463 games of his NHL career with the organization. Kelly now has a chance to get his name on

the Stanley Cup.

--- Victor Oreskovich, Vancouver: Just making it to the NHL was an achievement for the rambunctious

winger, who walked away from hockey for about 18 months between 2007 and 2009. He caught on with

the Florida Panthers last season and appeared in 16 regular-season games for the Canucks this year.

Oreskovich has carved out a niche for himself during the playoffs with a fast, physical style. --- Jeff Tambellini, Vancouver: Half of his four career playoff appearances have come during the Stanley

Cup final. The 27-year-old winger was in and out of the Canucks lineup all year long but is dressing for

the team's most important games. He played a total of just eight minutes in Games 1 and 2, but there are

hundreds of other players around the league who would gladly change places for him.

Bruins’ coach Julien tries to accentuate the positives ERIC DUHATSCHEK Boston— From Monday's Globe and Mail Claude Julien called for calm, so why not go with that thought for a moment? On Saturday night, Julien’s Boston Bruins had finally broken through to score a couple of goals against the Vancouver Canucks, ending a lengthy shutout streak by Roberto Luongo and his stalwart band of defenders. Julien’s Bruins had pushed the NHL’s regular-season champions to the absolute limit in each of the first two games of the Stanley Cup final, games that seesawed back and forth, that could have absolutely gone either way.

That the Bruins lost one game with 19 seconds to go in regulation and the other 11 seconds into overtime? Julien would not dwell on the heart-breaking nature of the defeats – and the psychological repercussions

of being so near and yet so far away. It didn‘t matter in the slightest, not to a team that has taken

resilience to a new level in these playoffs. It was just the sort of galvanizing, hard-edged, anger-tinged message that you‘d expect from a veteran

coach who can see the end in sight and knew at this stage of the proceedings, down 2-0 in the best-of-

seven series, it was time to go all Knute Rockne. To Julien, after a long day of travel to prepare for Monday‘s pivotal third game, this was not the time for

the Bruins to feel sorry for themselves, no time to ponder what might have been and especially no time to

start second-guessing the players that got them to this stage of the playoffs in the first place. So what if Zdeno Chara wasn‘t at his best? Or that Tim Thomas – who has spent his whole career making

the most of an unorthodox playing style – was burned so badly on Saturday‘s overtime winner. Thomas

was so down and out on the play that the Canucks‘ Alex Burrows had enough time, even sliding along the

ice, to score the decisive goal on a wraparound. ―It‘s not the end of the world here, guys,‖ Julien lectured. ―We lost the game, but we‘re a better team than

that, and we‘re a team that‘s bounced back all through the season. I don‘t see an issue here.‖ While it might not be the end of the world, you could see it from where the Bruins found themselves,

perched two games away from elimination. History will tell you that only twice before in Stanley Cup

history has a visiting team lost the first two games on the road and then come back to win. It happened to

the 1971 Montreal Canadiens and to the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins. That‘s it. But that was enough for the

Bruins right now, given that the alternative would be to meekly raise a white flag of surrender. Rightly or wrongly, Julien believes the Bruins lost because they beat themselves – and the mistakes they

made are correctable. Possibly. But the one discernible edge the Canucks had in both games was that,

with the games on the line as the third periods advance, they took over the play both times. Not good, if

you‘re a team such as Boston that prides itself in wearing down an opponent because of a relentless and

physical fore-check. ―As far as I‘m concerned, we‘re taking responsibilities for this loss,‖ Julien said. ―It‘s our own fault. We

beat ourselves with some bad decision-making and some poor puck management. You take responsibility

and you make the corrections that you have to do and you move on. I think our game this year has been

good when we‘ve been at our best and executing properly. And we didn‘t to that here.‖ Boston was behind in two of three series in these playoffs and the deficit in the opening round against the

Montreal Canadiens seemed even more daunting because they lost the first two games at home.

Now, Julien was also honest enough to point out that Montreal isn‘t Vancouver, and the Canucks were the

runaway regular-season champions for good reason this year. Balanced scoring, lots of unlikely heroes. A

perfect case in point: the Sedins, who weren‘t very good in the first two periods, were very good in the

third plus the one deciding overtime shift. That‘s how championships are generally won – with teams that

stick with it, even if things aren‘t falling your way, knowing that perseverance can change matters in a

hurry. So here we are at Game 3 and as the Canucks‘ Daniel Sedin peered into his crystal ball, he predicted that

not much was going to change, at least not in terms of the low-scoring defensive style that characterized

the two games in Vancouver. ―Expect the same,‖ Sedin predicted. ―It‘s not going to be a lot of scoring chances. I think we‘re confident

playing in games like this. They are, too. But I think if all our lines play like we can, we‘re a tough team

to beat.‖ Sadly for the Bruins, to win the Stanley Cup now, they‘ll need to beat that tough Vancouver team four

times in the next five games. The way things are clicking so efficiently into place for the Canucks, it is

hard to imagine them letting that happen right now. That the Bruins lost one game with 19 seconds to go in regulation and the other 11 seconds into overtime? Julien would not dwell on the heart-breaking nature of the defeats – and the psychological repercussions

of being so near and yet so far away. It didn‘t matter in the slightest, not to a team that has taken

resilience to a new level in these playoffs. It was just the sort of galvanizing, hard-edged, anger-tinged message that you‘d expect from a veteran

coach who can see the end in sight and knew at this stage of the proceedings, down 2-0 in the best-of-

seven series, it was time to go all Knute Rockne. To Julien, after a long day of travel to prepare for Monday‘s pivotal third game, this was not the time for

the Bruins to feel sorry for themselves, no time to ponder what might have been and especially no time to

start second-guessing the players that got them to this stage of the playoffs in the first place. So what if Zdeno Chara wasn‘t at his best? Or that Tim Thomas – who has spent his whole career making

the most of an unorthodox playing style – was burned so badly on Saturday‘s overtime winner. Thomas

was so down and out on the play that the Canucks‘ Alex Burrows had enough time, even sliding along the

ice, to score the decisive goal on a wraparound. ―It‘s not the end of the world here, guys,‖ Julien lectured. ―We lost the game, but we‘re a better team than

that, and we‘re a team that‘s bounced back all through the season. I don‘t see an issue here.‖ While it might not be the end of the world, you could see it from where the Bruins found themselves,

perched two games away from elimination. History will tell you that only twice before in Stanley Cup

history has a visiting team lost the first two games on the road and then come back to win. It happened to

the 1971 Montreal Canadiens and to the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins. That‘s it. But that was enough for the

Bruins right now, given that the alternative would be to meekly raise a white flag of surrender. Rightly or wrongly, Julien believes the Bruins lost because they beat themselves – and the mistakes they

made are correctable. Possibly. But the one discernible edge the Canucks had in both games was that,

with the games on the line as the third periods advance, they took over the play both times. Not good, if

you‘re a team such as Boston that prides itself in wearing down an opponent because of a relentless and

physical fore-check. ―As far as I‘m concerned, we‘re taking responsibilities for this loss,‖ Julien said. ―It‘s our own fault. We

beat ourselves with some bad decision-making and some poor puck management. You take responsibility

and you make the corrections that you have to do and you move on. I think our game this year has been

good when we‘ve been at our best and executing properly. And we didn‘t to that here.‖ Boston was behind in two of three series in these playoffs and the deficit in the opening round against the

Montreal Canadiens seemed even more daunting because they lost the first two games at home. Now, Julien was also honest enough to point out that Montreal isn‘t Vancouver, and the Canucks were the

runaway regular-season champions for good reason this year. Balanced scoring, lots of unlikely heroes. A

perfect case in point: the Sedins, who weren‘t very good in the first two periods, were very good in the

third plus the one deciding overtime shift. That‘s how championships are generally won – with teams that

stick with it, even if things aren‘t falling your way, knowing that perseverance can change matters in a

hurry. So here we are at Game 3 and as the Canucks‘ Daniel Sedin peered into his crystal ball, he predicted that

not much was going to change, at least not in terms of the low-scoring defensive style that characterized

the two games in Vancouver. ―Expect the same,‖ Sedin predicted. ―It‘s not going to be a lot of scoring chances. I think we‘re confident

playing in games like this. They are, too. But I think if all our lines play like we can, we‘re a tough team

to beat.‖ Sadly for the Bruins, to win the Stanley Cup now, they‘ll need to beat that tough Vancouver team four

times in the next five games. The way things are clicking so efficiently into place for the Canucks, it is

hard to imagine them letting that happen right now.

Thousands expected at Game 3 party in Vancouver By KELLY SINOSKI, Vancouver Sun

Tens of thousands of people are expected to swarm into downtown Vancouver and Rogers Arena Monday

night as the Canucks are in Boston to battle the Bruins in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Crowds are building with each game and a forecast of warm weather for tonight could push the total past

the 70,000 estimated to have flooded the streets for Game 2. Saturday night‘s crowd was the biggest since the 2010 Olympics, according to police. The crush led

police to close Seymour Street, hampering the movement of trolley buses, which had nowhere to go

because Granville Street was also closed. Good weather and a celebratory atmosphere following Alex Burrows‘ winning goal 11 seconds into

overtime Saturday to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead in the series, is expected to draw the crowds to giant

outdoor screens on Granville and Hamilton streets or to venues like Rogers Arena and the Commodore

Ballroom. Close to 20,000 tickets for a ―road game viewing party‖ at Rogers Arena for tonight and Wednesday, sold

out shortly after going on sale Friday. Many of the tickets, sold for $10 apiece plus a handling fee, were

being resold on Craigslist this weekend, some for five times or more their original price. One seller who

was offering his tickets for $30 or best offer noted: ―please no low-ballers.‖ The Rogers Arena event, billed as being for families, will feature the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast

on the big screen, along with face-painting, Canucks tattoos, Rapid Shot games and mini-minor hockey

and live entertainment at intermission. Proceeds go to support the Canucks for Kids Fund. Vancouver police Const. Lindsey Houghton said while playoff crowds aren‘t yet as big as the one that

partied after the Olympic gold medal hockey game between Canada and the U.S., police are bracing for

increasing hordes as the series goes on. The expected downtown crush for tonight‘s away-game has Vancouver police warning people to leave

their alcohol at home or drink in licensed pubs or bars as enforcement is stepped up to keep order on the

streets and get fans home safely. ―From our perspective we‘re treating it like a home game,‖ said Houghton. ―We‘re expecting large

crowds again so we will have more officers out there. ―This is everyone‘s party ... this is the chance everyone gets, whether you‘re a tourist, a local or someone

discovering the Stanley Cup for the first time, to have fun. We want to ask everyone to leave the booze at

home.‖ TransLink spokesman Drew Snider said the transportation authority will have extra buses on standby

tonight but will only run one SeaBus because it doesn‘t expect the crowds for a weeknight away-game to

be as big as the one on Saturday. Most buses and SkyTrains will stick to their regular schedules, with most night buses running until 3:10

a.m., and those to Richmond winding up at 4:45 a.m.

―We‘re not expecting the same downtown crowds, but we‘ll play it by ear,‖ Snider said. Meanwhile, Houghton said extra police will be out in cars and on foot, motorcycle, bicycle and horseback

to meet and greet spectators and remind them ―you don‘t have to carry the mickey around in your back

pocket.‖ On Saturday, police were kept busy, with 891 liquor pour-outs, 40 violation tickets, 28 arrests for

breaches of peace and 18 arrests for public intoxication. One officer had to be taken to hospital after arresting a rowdy fan. But despite the overabundance of booze, the crowd was generally well-behaved, police said. ―By and large everyone was jubilant and celebratory,‖ Houghton said. ―A Canucks win in 11 seconds of

overtime will do that.‖

Gorilla marketing? Rescued monkey Canucks' smallest, cutest fan By ANDREA WOO, VANCOUVER SUN

VANCOUVER — When Ian Simpson's crew rescued a small orphaned monkey last month near the

mining-excavation company's headquarters in Mali, West Africa, he knew he would load up on gifts to

spoil the critter on his next trip home to Prince George. "[I got] mainly cat and ferret toys, but [at Vancouver International Airport], the first kiosk I came to had

what looked like the right-sized jersey for her on a [stuffed] moose," said Simpson, a first-aid attendant

and geotechnical logger. Simpson bought the jersey-clad moose and brought it back to Mali just before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup

Final against the Boston Bruins. The monkey, whom the crew named Chica and made the company's

mascot, took to it right away. "She seemed to adapt to having it on immediately," Simpson said. A photo of Chica sporting the jersey while perched in a tree was taken shortly before she went to bed,

Simpson said. Another one of her holding a slice of apple was taken when she woke up the next morning. Simpson sent the photos to friends and colleagues back home in B.C., with a note saying, "Yes I know:

shameless Gorilla/Monkey Marketing."

31 per cent of ticket resellers sales for Boston Stanley Cup games go to Canadians Vancouver Sun

There could be a lot of blue and green among the black and yellow colours in the Boston stands for Game

3 tonight.

About 31 per cent of Game 3 and 4 tickets sold by ticket reseller Stubhub went to Canadians, according to

Stubhub spokeswoman Joellen Ferrer. That's much higher than the usual percentage of 5-10 per cent of away tickets that are snapped up by

travelling NHL fans, she said. Average ticket prices for Games 3 and 4 in Boston are $725 US at Stubhub

Canucks fans get creative to watch their team By STEPHANIE LAW, Vancouver Sun

When work or travel schedules interfere with Canuck fever, fans get creative to find ways — both

traditional and not-so-traditional — to still enjoy the games.

ReMax realtor Les Twarog, for example, watched Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on his iPad

during a flight from Los Angeles. As soon as mobile devices could be switched on, he turned on his iPad and connected to Wi-Fi. ―I was holding my iPad up so that all the other first-class passenger could watch it with us,‖ Twarog said.

―I had to switch hands many, many times to hold it up, but I did it and it was awesome.‖ He said he used Slingbox, which is compatible with most mobile devices, to stream the game live from

his cable box back in his Vancouver home. Olivia Chang raced to the Commodore Ballroom as soon as she got off work June 1 to watch Game 1.

―By the time I can leave work, most bars are already jam-packed, but we were still able to get into [the]

Commodore,‖ said Chang. ―Even though there was only standing room left.‖ The Commodore isn‘t usually a sports bar, but it‘s dedicating the space to the games for the Stanley Cup

Final. Entry is free for the games. For an outdoor experience, there are the large screens at CBC Plaza on Hamilton, in the Granville

entertainment district at Georgia Street, and at Canada Place on Canada‘s Storyboard, a 25-foot LED

screen. Fans could also watch games live-streaming online at cbcsports.ca. If you want to watch the game on HD, but it‘s not included in your TV package, you can buy an HD

antenna from an electronics store, point it to the north and pick up the digital signal from Mount

Seymour. That is, as long as you have an HD TV. Amiel Guais, a waiter at Les Faux Bourgeois, watched the game on an iPhone whenever he could while

he waited tables. ―I want to be part of that even though I‘m working at the restaurant,‖ he said.

Canucks fangals wear their hearts on their sleeves The Canucks franchise sells more women’s apparel than any other hockey team in the NHL By Karen Gram, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER -- Here is a fun fact for all you stats lovers out there in game land.

The Canucks franchise sells more women‘s apparel than any other hockey team in the league. Not to debase women‘s interest in the game at all, but it‘s possible that Ryan Kesler‘s abs have something

to do with that. Jerseys with his name and number are big sellers among the gals. Thank you Calvin

Klein. Of course, Kessler merch is popular with both sexes. I mean, he‘s awesome on the ice, but other big stars

on the team have less pull among the women, says Janeil Mackay, director of retail and consumer product

marketing for the Canucks. ―I think women look for different qualities,‖ she says with the understatement of the day. ―They may not

be looking for the best player.‖ Women, she says, will grab a Mason Raymond or Dan Hamhuis over a Roberto Luongo, so much so that

the franchise orders different names for the women‘s jerseys. Well no offence Luongo, but duh. Have you seen Hamhuis‘ eye lashes? Raymond‘s eyes? Other female

faves include Jeff Tambellini and Kevin Bieksa. Not Raffi Torres, believe it or not. But there is another factor in women‘s new lust for hockey apparel. Some brilliant insider has figured out that women want more out of their clothes than men. They want to

support the team — and they want to look good doing it. ―It really shows that female market has jumped on the bandwagon and is fully supporting [the team], but

wants to be fashionable at the same time,‖ says MacKay. ―Our fans are more sophisticated shoppers and

they want a more sophisticated, nicer, higher-end piece so we have worked hard to make sure we have got

that.‖

The store‘s biggest seller is a vintage-style T-shirt sporting a low V-neckline with the Orca C logo at the

base of the V. ―Those have been our most successful item for women this year,‖ says Mackay. ―They come in a variety

of different fashion colours.‖ And considering that the financial investment is only $39.99 compared with $249.99 for a name and

numbered jersey, it‘s a pretty easy sell. ―They have been basically our success story for women‘s this year,‖ says MacKay, who dryly states she

has heard the jokes that the deep V on that tee was for the TV ratings. ―I have heard that,‖ she says. ―No, we did not design it for that. Absolutely not. It‘s a fashionable piece

and women are wanting more fashionable things that they can wear out outside of the game.‖ The T-shirts are great. Even Vancouver fashionista and blogger Alexandra Suhner Isenberg, who spent 12

years working for Sonia Rykiel and Burbury in Paris and London before returning home to Vancouver a

few years ago, says she would wear them. ―They are the nicest of all,‖ she says, admitting that she hasn‘t really caught Stanley Cup fever and thinks

the jerseys look horrible on everyone. ―If I had to wear a Canucks tee I would wear one of the vintage tees

and not feel bad.‖ There is lots of other stuff that fits a woman in the store, from hoodies to tank tops to tube tops [Isenberg

urges women to avoid the ―boob tubes‖] and even a bikini. For the history buffs they have T-shirts and

hoodies celebrating the Vancouver Millionaires, the Canucks 1970 entry into the NHL and the 1994

playoffs. While they are completely sold out of the women‘s and youth jerseys (which can fit a woman‘s frame),

MacKay disputes the rumours that the store is running out of merchandise. ―We‘re low in men‘s jerseys, but we are managing to keep up as best we can. But we are not out, that is

for sure. ―We have tons of Stanley Cup Final product coming in, from pennants to banners to stickers to apparel to

hats, including Western Conference champion hats. Our men‘s Stanley Cup Final patched jerseys will hit

the floor as of tonight [this past Wednesday]. We sell the patch separately too, in case people want to put

it on their own jersey. That is exclusive to us — no one else has the Stanley Cup Final patch.‖ The patch

costs $24.99 or $249.99 on a name and number jersey. MacKay is pleased to announce that the blue and green knitted scarves are back. They sold like Olympic

mittens when introduced earlier this season. In three days they were all gone. But now they are back and

priced at $29.99. There is lots of baby stuff too, including head-to-toe newborn wear for parents who want to bring their

babies home from the hospital in the spirit. Fan fashion has really changed over the years, says Jason Beck, curator for the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1970, when the Canucks joined the league, you could buy a jersey (for $6), a T-shirt, a cap or a toque.

The only truly fashionable item was a belt buckle with the logo on it. ―Big, shiny and ugly,‖ recalls Andrew Castell, a huge collector of Canucks memorabilia. Castell says

there wasn‘t much for women until four to five years ago, around the time when the Canucks participated

in Breast Cancer awareness with a white and pink jersey. ―The girls were buying them like crazy, and not just the young ones.‖ Since then, he says, merchandising for women has gone from nothing to the extreme. ―Now it‘s just ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.‖

Burrows: a man on an impossible mission By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun columnist

BOSTON - With all that has happened, it is easy to forget how outrageous it is that Alex Burrows made it

this far and how hard he had to work for his opportunity. Until you watch him play.

His desperation is evident every game, every shift, almost every stride and puck battle. Burrows was

never supposed to be here in the Stanley Cup final. And not because he bit Patrice Bergeron's finger,

which was stupid-crazy – I mean, have you any idea how a sweaty hockey glove breeds bacteria? – but

because, undrafted and unwanted, he was ready to quit hockey six years ago. The winger from Pincourt, Que., had to try out to make the East Coast League when he was 20. Rodney

and Carole supported their son, as good parents do, and didn't tell him there was probably no future in

hockey for him. ―I had mixed feelings,‖ his dad explained a few years later. ―I knew hockey was his passion, but we never

had ambitions for him to play in the NHL. He was just having fun. So be it.‖ Nobody saw this. Nobody saw a National Hockey League career, and a $2-million salary (which makes

him grossly underpaid) and a first-line spot beside two of the best players in the world. Nobody saw Alex

Burrows helping drive the Vancouver Canucks towards the Stanley Cup. Nobody sees him winning the

Conn Smythe Trophy, either. That could happen. With Burrows, nothing is impossible. ―At first, I was thinking: What is this guy doing here?‖ teammate Kevin Bieksa said Saturday, recalling

his first sight of Burrows in the American League, not the NHL. ―But one thing with Burr is he works

extremely hard, maybe more than anybody else I've ever played with. He's very determined to get better

and he has. ―It took him a while – it took all of us a while – to get to where we are right now. But him, especially, he

had a very long road. He has made the best of everything.‖ Eleven seconds into overtime on Saturday, Burrows froze wandering goalie Tim Thomas, circled behind

the net, held off six-foot-zillion defenceman Zdeno Chara and tucked the puck around the far post as the

Canucks beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 to move within two victories of the first Vancouver Stanley Cup

since 1915. Burrows also beat Thomas with a quick shot in the first period and set up Daniel Sedin's third-period

tying goal with a savvy pass that stranded the goalie during another walkabout. In his last seven games, Burrows has five goals and nine points. And none of those included his epic

overtime winner in Game 7 of the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks, which will probably top

Pavel Bure's 1994 Calgary-killer as the greatest in franchise history as soon as the Canucks finish off the

Bruins. Somewhere in B.C., there's already a cave painting depicting that goal, and when advanced lifeforms find

our dead planet 1,000 years from now and go spelunking, they'll learn that humans wore metal cutting

tools on their feet and were numbered for identification. The 30-year-old is tied for second in playoff goal-scoring with nine, and if he manages two or three more

and finds a way to snatch another game-winner, yes, he could be named the most valuable player in the

Stanley Cup tournament and have his name inscribed alongside Patrick Roy and Steve Yzerman, Joe

Sakic and Mario Lemieux. Remember, Burrows is the guy who clung to a job with the Greenville Grrrowl – so far out in the sticks

they couldn't spell Growl – then played in Baton Rouge, La., and Columbia, S.C., which makes Atlanta

look like Greater Toronto as a hockey market. He planned to go back to school rather than play a third season in the East Coast League, then figured he

hit the jackpot when he finally made the Manitoba Moose as a fourth-liner and signed a contract that paid

him $45,000 for a season in the American Hockey League. Even making that kind of coin, Burrows did

landscaping in the summer. He is the guy who only 3 ½ years ago, after a three-goal season with the Canucks, was warned by coach

Alain Vigneault that if he didn't have a great training camp he'd be on a plane back to Winnipeg, which

suddenly isn't so bad since the city has a NHL team but in 2007 was pretty freakin' terrifying. ―All my life, I've had to work for everything,‖ Burrows said Saturday. ―People will say, it's hard to work

hard. For me, it's just going out there and having fun. I just want to go out there and make the most of it.‖

It was a great week for Burrows. He made his Stanley Cup debut. He scored the third playoff overtime

game-winner of his career – tying him with Greg Adams for the Canucks' all-time lead – and helped his

team go up 2-0 against a famous opponent. Game 3 is tonight. For Rodney and Carole, however, the week was not so good. No loving parent likes to hear their son may

be a cannibal. ―I call them after every game,‖ Burrows told reporters. ―[Dad] always gives me input about the game and

tells me I'm playing well and doing good things out there. When there's negative press, it doesn't affect

me at all; I have thick skin. It hurts maybe my dad's feelings a little bit or my mom's. My dad said: 'Go

out there and score some goals and that's what's really going to piss them off even more.'‖ So while Canuck teammate Max Lapierre did the honourable thing by offering his finger to Bergeron as a

snack, Burrows sunk his fangs into the Bruins with two goals and an assist and another game-winner

people in Vancouver will be talking about for many years. And this week could be even better. The Vancouver Canucks can win the Stanley Cup.

Something final about a 2-0 start By Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun columnist

VANCOUVER — One goal, and the Boston Bruins‘ task went from statistically difficult to highly

improbable. One minute, they were facing the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver. Now it‘s Everest, the

northeast ridge.

Still possible, but slippery, with a high likelihood of a messy ending. Put it this way: 34 teams have lost the first two games of the Stanley Cup final on the road; only two in all

of history have come all the way back. The Bruins, who had chances to take each of the first two games of this series, have come up short by the

narrowest of margins, on the scoresheet: a Raffi Torres goal with 18.5 seconds left in regulation time for a

1-0 Vancouver win in Game 1, and Alex Burrows‘s wraparound goal 11 seconds into overtime in the

Canucks‘ 3-2, Game 2 win Saturday. But while close may count in horseshoes and drive-in movies -- for you kids out there: don‘t ask -- in

hockey it‘s two games to none for the Canucks, and though there‘s room on the scorecard for an

explanation, none is required. Burrows, who literally got under the Bruins‘ skin in the opener, turning Boston centre Patrice Bergeron

into a bit player (groaner courtesy of the internet), delivered a far unkinder cut in Game 2, scoring the first

goal, setting up Daniel Sedin‘s tying marker midway through third, and then administering the coup de

grace before the Bruins knew what hit them in overtime. That‘s a lot of damage done by the best player on the Sedin line, considering he‘s got a different last

name. But what really burned some Boston butts, besides the identity of their conqueror in Game 2, was that

suddenly, the tone of questions changed, and the court of public opinion was entertaining charges against

defenceman Zdeno Chara (overtired?) and goalie Tim Thomas (overzealous?) Burrows, in addition to his

on-ice heroics, did nothing to dispel either theory after he not only fended off and outreached the 6-foot-9

Chara on the winning goal, but faked a shot on the charging Thomas and went around the goal before

tucking the game-winner in the open side -- while Thomas was swimming somewhere out in the faceoff

circle as the puck entered the net. ―When you challenge that much,‖ he said, ―sometimes you can get caught out, and on the second goal‘‘ --

where Burrows stopped Alex Edler‘s point shot and fed Daniel, open on the wide side-- ―and the third

one, he overplayed them a little bit and was probably hoping for his defencemen to help him out there, but

we were lucky enough to get the goal.‖ Luck, though, is in the eye of the beholder. Were the Canucks lucky Burrows wasn‘t suspended for his

bite of Bergeron‘s glove? Perhaps.

―I never thought about it that way,‖ said Bruins coach Claude Julien. ―The [NHL] made a decision. We

moved on. For us, if we start using that as an excuse, we're a lame team.‖ They didn‘t look lame, owning a lot of the puck and the play in the first 10 minutes, until Chara took an

interference penalty, dragging down Ryan Kesler. When Burrows scored on the power play, the Canucks

looked poised to roll, but the Bruins proceeded to take over the game in the second period, badly

outshooting Vancouver and scoring twice -- with two B.C. boys, Milan Lucic from Vancouver‘s east end,

and Mark Recchi of Kamloops doing the damage. The latter was actually scored on what must be the worst power play ever to make it all the way to the

Stanley Cup final, but Bruins head coach Claude Julien finally gave up on the experiment involving man-

giraffe Chara parked in front of the net and with him back on the point, it was Chara‘s wrist shot that

Recchi, the league‘s oldest player, tipped over Roberto Luongo‘s glove for just the sixth Boston power-

play goal in 70 playoff opportunities. Given Chara‘a involvement -- not in a good way -- on all four of Vancouver‘s goals through two games,

and questions about Thomas‘s outside-the-paint style now working against him, it‘s no wonder Julien

sounded as though he might be ready to blow a gasket Saturday night, and again here Sunday when the

Bruins got home. ―Well, I guess, all of a sudden you lose a game and now we're going to start wondering about certain

players,‖ Julien said to the Chara questions. And of Thomas: ―For us to be sitting here having to answer

those kind of questions is ridiculous to me. ―He's won a Vezina Trophy already. He's probably going to win one this year, in my mind anyway, for

what he's done. To question his way of playing is really looking for something to talk about. Yesterday he

made some unbelievable saves to keep us in the game. So if we want to focus on that last goal, which I

think a lot of other players could have done a better job, I think it's focusing on the wrong thing.‖ Speaking of that last goal, the Canucks lost the faceoff, and still scored within 11 seconds because

defenceman Andrew Ference coughed the puck up in the neutral zone and two touches later it was on

Burrows‘s stick, and he was in full stride. Chara had to try to close him off from the opposite side of the

ice, and couldn‘t quite get there. Julien did admit that moving Chara back to the point on the power play, was as much about endurance as

it was strategy. ―I think Zdeno has a lot of ice time. When you play a lot, you certainly don't want him in front all the

time. It's a very taxing position,‘‘ he said Saturday, but a day later, gave the rebuttal to his own

observation. ―To me [Chara has] handled it all year. We have to look at it this way: he's got all summer long to rest.

We're in a fight here for a Stanley Cup. He's capable of taking it. If he wasn't, we wouldn't be giving it to

him.‖ For Burrows, it wasn‘t about victimizing either of the Bruins‘ 2009 major trophy winners. It was about scoring when it counts, as he did in Game 7 against Chicago, when he had the only two goals

of the game including the overtime winner, to save the Canucks‘ season. He smiled when someone asked if he had always considered himself capable of coming up big in such

moments. ―Well, street hockey a lot,‖ he said. ―But ice hockey, normally, the first few years of my career I was on

the bench for those kinds of moments. You have to pay your dues and work your way up, and I think I

worked hard to be in those kind of moments, playing with two world-class players. ―They believe in me, and ... when you have two of the best players in the world believing in your abilities,

it makes your confidence go even higher.‖ Watching the post-goal celebration Saturday, watching them mob Burrows, hug him, slap him on the

helmet, all the way down the hallway until he had to turn around and skate out again to take his bows as

the game‘s first star, listening to the crowd bathe him in its adoration, you know the Sedins aren‘t the only

ones who believe. Now, tonight at TD Garden, it‘s the Bruins‘ turn to try to manufacture some belief of their own.

Canucks Cup karma: This is destiny’s child Vancouver two wins away from first Stanley Cup celebration in nearly a century By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun columnist

VANCOUVER — It's not easy pondering painful memories, going back to a darker time. Like the second

intermission Saturday.

The Vancouver Canucks trailed the Boston Bruins 2-1. Let me repeat: The Canucks trailed the Bruins and

were staring at a tied series in the Stanley Cup Final. Not only that, they were getting outplayed, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas was in the zone — which, for him,

extends about 35 feet from his net in every direction but backwards — Daniel and Henrik Sedin were a

rumour and Boston had been ferociously tough with a lead. The Bruins were 38-2 this season when

leading after two periods, including 6-0 in the National Hockey League playoffs. Looked pretty bleak, all right. And in the end, I'm surprised it took the Canucks until overtime to win. There wasn't much luck involved in Saturday's 3-2 overtime win, which gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead and

put it two wins away from the city's first Stanley Cup since 1915. But, there sure as heck seems to be

karma. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault jokes periodically that he figures his team is due about 40 years worth of

good fortune to even the ledger. So, when Thomas goes walkabout on Alex Edler's point shot halfway through the third period, Alex

Burrows shrewdly dishes the loose puck laterally in the slot to Daniel for an open-netter. And when the Bruins WIN the faceoff to start overtime, Burrows somehow scores at 11 seconds because

Boston defenceman Andrew Ference gave away the puck and the Canuck, noticing Thomas standing up at

the blue line, freezes the goalie, carries the puck behind the net and tucks it in far post while holding off

six-foot-zillion defenceman Zdeno Chara. Yeah, of course he does. Why not? It's spring 2011 and the laws of physics and the Canucks' dark playoff

past don't apply. Again, there's nothing flukey about the big picture here. The Canucks rightfully earned their Presidents'

Trophy, and haven't suddenly become the second-best team in the NHL during the playoffs. But the Burrows' winner followed by a game the Raffi Torres winner with 19 seconds to go — after Ryan

Kesler gave Johnny Boychuk a head start and still beat him to a puck at the Boston blue line. The Canucks' game before that, Kesler tied it with 14 seconds left in regulation and Kevin Bieksa

eliminated the San Jose Sharks with an assist from the Magic Stanchion goal. Vancouver started that series by scoring twice in the third period to win. In Round 2 against Nashville, Kesler won Game 4 in the third after Vancouver had coughed up a tying

goal. And I believe there are already cave paintings of Burrows' Game 7 overtime goal in Round 1 against

Chicago, when the Canuck knuckled a slapshot past Corey Crawford after Vancouver had somehow

allowed Jonathan Toews to tie it shorthanded with two minutes to go. Destiny is used so often and so frivolously these days, it's hard to seriously apply it to anything. But the

hockey gods are not crazy; it's simply the Canucks' time. Finally.

Malhotra's return to lineup full of emotion and faceoff wins After playing a supporting role in the playoffs, Canuck was finally able to step onto the big stage By Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun

Man oh Manny, that was a lot of fun.

In fact, except for one lost faceoff, it was just about perfect. Centre Manny Malhotra made an emotional return to the Vancouver Canucks lineup in Game 2 of the

Stanley Cup Final, welcomed back to thunderous chants of 'Manny, Manny' from an appreciative Rogers

Arena crowd. "I got some goosebumps out of it," said Game 2 hero Alex Burrows. Imagine how Malhotra felt. "It definitely got me thinking from March 16th to where I am now," Malhotra said after the Canucks' 3-2

overtime win over the Boston Bruins. "It's a privilege to play in front of fans like this. When you come to

Vancouver, to say that the fans here are passionate would be a gross understatement. "So just to be able to be out there again, to hear them cheering, to hear an ovation like that, it definitely

makes you feel like a Canuck. You just feel like a part of this family." Malhotra never left the family. Through most of the past twoand-a-half months, as he staged a near

miraculous recovery from what was initially feared to be a career-threatening injury to his left eye,

Malhotra remained a steadying presence in the Canuck dressing room. After scoring the winning goal in Game 1, winger Raffi Torres spoke about how much help Malhotra has

been to him during this playoff run. On Saturday night, Malhotra finally was able to help his teammates on the ice, where he skated on the

fourth line with Jeff Tambellini and Victor Oreskovich. "I was telling the guys, right from warm-up, it was kind of sensory overload, just the noise, the crowd into

it, all the towels waving," Malhotra said. "It was the first time I've seen a home crowd that excited in

playoffs. "I guess I really didn't settle down till after my first shift. It was obviously a great feeling, the ovation I

got for my first shift. I think it kind of put a little bit more nerves on me, wanting to do something out

there, execute. Once I got out there, I felt a little bit better, started to skate. Vic and Tambo played well so

that made the transition coming into the lineup a lot easier." His first shift was vintage Malhotra. At the 1: 48 mark of the first period, he hopped over the boards for a neutral zone faceoff, which he won

cleanly from Boston centre Chris Kelly. On the night, Malhotra was a near-perfect 6-1 in the faceoff

circle. "What a boost to our roster," Tambellini said. "The guy steps in and didn't miss a beat. He is unbelievable

in the faceoff circle, again, as always, and is just a rock on our team. To have him back is huge, especially

for our fourth line to go out there and know we are going to win the majority of the draws and be in good

shape." The fans began chanting his name when Malhotra skated out onto the ice for the pregame warm-up. They

really got loud in the moments before the opening faceoff and after his first shift. Even some of the Bruins

seemed touched by Malhotra's return and the fans' reaction to it. "Obviously, the crowd was emotional for him coming back," said Boston winger Milan Lucic. "It's great

to see, if he's your teammate or not, it's good to see a guy come back from an injury. He did his thing.

Obviously, he's a great faceoff guy and those are the situations they used him in." Malhotra acknowledged winning that first draw helped calm some of the butterflies that were in full flight

inside his stomach. "As far as faceoffs go, it's obviously a lot of timing, a lot of anticipation. Over the last couple weeks as I

started to work toward this goal, being able to take draws against guys like Kes, Hank, Lappy, that really

pushes you to get to the next level and prepare yourself. I think the competitive level that we have at the

centre position, after practice, before or after morning skates, really gets your timing back." Malhotra, who wore a full facial Plexiglas 'bubble' to protect his eye, logged 7: 26 of ice time on Saturday

and called it a good first step. He'll take another tonight when the Canucks meet the Bruins in Boston for

Game 3.

"Obviously a long ways to go," he said. "The first one coming back from any time off is always a tough

one. Just things like spatial awareness, knowing how much time you have when you get a puck. A lot of

plays I made tonight were just chipping the puck in, chipping the puck out. "As we go forward here, I'll become more confident with the puck again, start to try to make more plays,

skate with the puck. But I think playing seven minutes in my first game back is a good transition into

things." Good doesn't even begin to describe it.

Diehard fans show up for flight to Boston before Canucks even arrive By Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun

There is no foolin' Vancouver Canuck Nation.

Despite the fact the team didn't announce its departure time for Boston, hundreds of fans were at

Vancouver International Airport Sunday morning to give their heroes a rousing sendoff as they left in

pursuit of a franchise-first Stanley Cup. Some were reportedly there as early as 5 a.m. even though the players didn't begin arriving at YVR until

9: 15 for their 10: 30 charter. Other fans came at 9 a.m. only to find themselves three-deep among the

mostly blue-clad throng of shrieking supporters. Centre Manny Malhotra, who played his first game Saturday since suffering a major eye injury March 16,

was serenaded by chants of "Manny, Manny" similar to the chants he received from the Rogers Arena

crowd during the dramatic 3-2 overtime victory. Wearing sunglasses and a huge grin, Malhotra stopped to sign a few autographs before heading to

customs. Airport personnel had an area cordoned off for the players so they could get through to the

check-in area without being mobbed. The Canucks lead the bestof-seven Stanley Cup Final 2-0 with Game 3 going tonight at 5 p.m. at Boston's

TD Garden. HAMHUIS ON BOARD: Injured Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who didn't play Saturday after

being felled in Game 1 last Wednesday, flew to Boston with the team. Hamhuis was not limping as he

strolled through YVR, leading to speculation his issue may be to the mid-section rather than to his leg or

knee, as first thought. Hamhuis was hurt early in the second period of Game 1 when he delivered a hip-check to 220-pound

Bruins forward Milan Lucic. He immediately buckled in pain and eventually glided off the ice after a

skirmish near the Boston bench. Andrew Alberts took his roster spot on Saturday. Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault has described Hamhuis's situation as "day-to-day." On Saturday

morning, he made the audacious claim Hamhuis was "a game-time decision," even though the

defenceman hadn't skated since Wednesday night. Vigneault made no apology for the manner in which he

has been dispensing injury information, some of it intentionally misleading. "I believe, at this time of year when there is a lot at stake, you don't want the opposition to know if a

certain player has this or that so they don't try to exploit something," he explained. "It's as simple as that.

At this time right now, I believe in protecting my players. This is the best way to protect them. This is

what everybody is doing in our league." ZEE FOR ZERO? Bruins 6-foot-9 captain Zdeno Chara is widely regarded as one of the best defencemen

in the NHL, a player who can truly frighten the opposition with his size and scowl. But he's off to a

frightful start in this series. He was on the ice for the winning goal in Game 1 and both the tying and winning goals in Game 2. He

was also in the penalty box for Alex Burrows' first-period power-play goal Saturday. He's attempted 12

shots on goal, had six blocked and missed the net four other times.

"Well, I guess, all of a sudden you lose a game and now we're going to start wondering about certain

players," huffed Bruins coach Claude Julien. "I think it's really about our whole team. It's not about

Zdeno. Zdeno didn't lose the game for us. Our whole team did." Chara made no excuses for his play and even complimented Burrows for his overtime winner in the

Saturday game. "I pushed him to the outside but he made a nice wraparound," said Big Zee. Canuck centre Ryan Kesler didn't attempt to conceal the fact that Chara has been, and will continue to be,

a target during the series. "Obviously he's a big player and one of their best D-men so we have to play him hard," Kesler explained.

"We have to try to wear him down as best as possible." So far, it appears to be working. LOUIE, LOUIE: Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo showed he has total recall when asked about his

personal playing history in Boston. Bobby Lou spent the first six years of his career in the Eastern

Conference and has made plenty of visits to the TD Garden. "I played my first game in Boston," said Luongo, who was a member of the New York Islanders back

then (1999-2000 season). "First win, first shutout against the Bruins. So I'd say I have a pretty good

history there, yeah." Since his near meltdown in the opening round against Chicago, Luongo has been sublime, winning 11

games against just three losses. He's 7-1 in his last eight starts. Overall, the Canucks backstop is 14-6 with

a 2.16 goals against average and .928 save percentage. "When he plays like he is now, he's the best goalie in the world," said Daniel Sedin. "I don't say that

because I'm a teammate and a friend, I say it because I mean it. I think he likes to play in these kind of

games." What Luongo may not like is his own teammates unexpectedly testing him during the heat of battle. On

Saturday, Henrik Sedin appeared to lose his bearings during the first period and put a backhander on

Luongo. "He tries to go 5-hole on me in practice all the time," chuckled Luongo. "He wasn't going to beat me this

time. I was ready for anything. When Hank has the puck in front of the net, anything can happen." Tongue-in-cheek, Henrik claimed he felt Luongo hadn't had a good warm-up, so he needed the extra

work.

OT hasn't been kind to Bruins in Cup Final By Ian Walker, Vancouver Sun June 6, 2011 The last time the Boston Bruins played in an overtime game in the Stanley Cup Final it went down as the

longest-ever game in the NHL championship. No worry of that this time, as Alex Burrows' goal at 11

seconds of overtime in Game 2 against the Vancouver Canucks was the second quickest on record.

Boston lost 3-2 in triple-overtime against the Edmonton Oilers in the 1990 Stanley Cup Final, made

famous by Petr Klima, who came off the bench to score the game-winner after sitting for most of the first

two overtime periods. The game lasted 115: 13, or nearly two full hours of hockey. The Montreal

Canadiens' Brian Skrudland scored in just nine seconds against the Calgary Flames in 1986.

A steady diet of quotes and finger foods Ink-stained wretches and talking heads from around the world have descended here in droves By Yvonne Zacharias, Vancouver Sun

When you have an army of more than 700 journalists, technicians, rights holders and game producers

flooding into the city to cover the Stanley Cup Final, near military logistics are required to ensure they are

watered, fed, transported and deployed to strategic locations as one of the hottest sports events on the

planet unfolds.

Whenever a player appears, the scribes, broadcasters, camera people and public relations types descend

like a horde of locusts, feasting on their every word. From their corner, the players do their best to give pithy quotes, but having spent most of their formative

years breathing in Zamboni fumes in the chilly confines of hockey rinks and having taken a few good

knocks to the head, they generally aren't the most eloquent bunch. Never mind, too, that hockey is just a game, although many would argue correctly that it is a national

passion. Whether justified or not, this event is as big a story in the media as the moon landing or the onset

of the Second World War. Reporters landed in Vancouver last week from far-flung places like Australia, from hockey countries like

Russia and the Czech Republic as well as from Finland and Sweden because of players like Finnish

Canucks defenceman Sami Salo and Sweden's Sedin twins. Jamey Horan, vice-president of communications and player relations with the NHL, said the league had to

modify Rogers Arena by installing two auxiliary press boxes. The NHL also deployed a staff of 16 from Toronto and New York City to deal with everything from

media requests for interviews to hiring caterers. "The logistics are intricate," said Horan. "It's almost a 24-hour cycle." Although Horan couldn't put a figure on it, it's an expensive operation with media buses and even a media

charter flight from Vancouver to Boston. Horan said the NHL and the players generally want to foster a good relationship with the media in order

to grow the game. "We're here very early in the morning before the teams practice. Our day goes long and we're here until

the very end of the evening, really more or less after the last media person leaves. The days are long but

we all love the job and it's the Stanley Cup Final, so this is what we live for." Just as hockey players are a cast of many shapes and hues, so are the people who cover them. More than a

few notables have shown up here to lend their considerable insights into a series that has the entire city

perched on the edge of its seat. Here are a few of them: Gunnar Nordstrom, a Los Angeles-based journalist who works for Expressen, one of the biggest dailies in

Sweden Nordstrom has a special relationship with the popular Sedin twins because he grew up in their hometown

of Ornskoldsvik, a small place of around 30,000 people with dark, long snowy winters. It's a town that

revolves around a paper mill and hockey. Like the Sedins, Nordstrom returns there in the summers and often runs into the twins at the town square

or the rink. He knew them as teenagers and he knows their parents, too. During the hockey season, he talks to them almost every week by phone. "They have always been very nice to me and I think they are nice to Swedish media and they are nice to

all media." So nice, that Nordstrom can't think of a single misstep by the Sedins during their growingup years in

Ornskoldsvik. No drunken hijinks. No foolish pranks. Nordstrom would have heard about any bad-boy

antics. He hasn't. He has found, too, that the Sedins are very private people, rebuffing any requests from journalists, even

Swedish ones like himself, to go into their homes and do features on their personal lives. They want to

protect their families. Nevertheless, Nordstrom has a lot of time for them and perhaps special insight into their humble

characters.

"It took them a while to understand how good they could be and how good they are," he said before a

practice last week at UBC. "They never bragged about anything and I think they always felt that they took

a step back when they were compared to the best North American players." That changed last year when Henrik won the Hart trophy, which goes to the best regular season MVP as

voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Daniel has been nominated for the same piece

of hardware this year. "They know that people from the outside rank them among the elite players in the league. I think that is a

big boost for them. They know that they are not only good enough to play at the highest level in this

league and in the world but that the media in North America, the coaches and the other players respect

them. I think that means the world to them." Peter Mansbridge, CBC news chief correspondent and anchor of The National The familiar face that beams out of television screens almost every evening across Canada, delivering

news of tragedies and triumphs from around the world, could be spotted in the bleachers at a Canucks

practice at Rogers Arena before the playoffs began. You know big things are happening in town when

The National lands on your doorstep. The veteran broadcaster reflected on the situation while waiting to interview the Sedins. This was

Mansbridge's second time covering a Stanley Cup Final. The first was the Anaheim Ducks-Ottawa

Senators matchup in 2007. He sees a lot of hockey because, remember, he has to wait for games to be over before he can go on air

with The National. Asked to name his favourite Canadian team, he replied diplomatically, "This week, it's the Canucks," but

generally, he is a long-suffering Toronto Maple Leafs fan. "I bear the pain of that," he said with a

chuckle. "Our year will come." Like just about every other prognosticator on the planet, he was predicting a Canucks win in six games. "I just think it's their year for a lot of different reasons." Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times sports columnist As the first woman to be awarded for her hockey

coverage in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, the 54-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been a

trailblazer. When she started covering sports 34 years ago, she bore the brunt of resistance because of her gender. "Thirty-four years ago, it was very different than it is now," she said at a Stanley Cup media reception

before the playoffs began. "Now you go to an event and it's a surprise if you don't see a female reporter.

Back then, it was a surprise if you did." She added, "We were treated very differently. You weren't allowed in most locker-rooms." She recalls an

incident when she was working for the Chicago Sun-Times covering a college-football game in the U.S.

At everyone's place there was an information packet and a media guide. At hers, there was nothing. "Obviously they didn't want me there and they didn't approve of my being there, but I saw that as their

problem, not mine." Every now and then, misogyny still rears its ugly head in the world of sports. A few years ago, when she

correctly predicted the outcome of one of the Stanley Cup Final, she got vicious emails calling her a

"stupid broad" and telling her "to go cook dinner because you obviously don't know anything about

hockey." And much worse. "It can be hurtful, but you have to develop a thick skin at some point." Not everyone has been so negative. When she worked for Newsday, she had the good fortune to be covering the New York Islanders when Al

Arbour was coach. Not only did the legendary Arbour steer the Islanders to four straight Stanley Cup

victories in the 1980s; he was a terrific help to female reporters, insisting they get access to locker-rooms.

"He was also terrific in terms of explaining things and in terms of just not treating me any different than

anyone else." At times, sports journalists at events like the Stanley Cup Final have to be as rugged as combat soldiers,

braving massive media scrums to get that one interview they need for their story. Elliott says it's just part

of the job. You have to be able to do it.

She admits that being a sports writer has made her personal life choppy at times. Dinners out have to be

cancelled at the last minute because of a trade, for example. Her husband, Dennis D'Agostino, understands because he is in the public relations business which can be

similar in terms of unpredictable demands on time. The one thing they don't always see eye to eye on is

her need to criticize the team she is covering to maintain credibility. His natural instinct is to put a team in

the best possible light. It's his job. Despite the sacrifices, she is grateful for her career. "I just fell in love with the game," she said of hockey.

"All of these places where people come from -places like Winnipeg and South Porcupine -sound so

exotic." Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail columnist There is nothing brash or macho about this veteran columnist and author who thinks of himself as an anti-

Don Cherry. "Almost everything Don Cherry believes in, I don't," MacGregor says with gentle humour. He doesn't disagree when it is suggested that he belongs on the left wing of the school of hockey. Maybe he is so atypical because he came to covering the sport in such an atypical way. He didn't always cover hockey. In fact, he spent 14 years covering politics on Parliament Hill. "My great

passion is for the country," says the native of the very small, very Canadian villages of Whitney and

Huntsville near Algonquin Park in Ontario. "I just don't think you can understand the country until you

understand the sport that the country is obsessed with. With this country, it's obviously hockey." The 63-year-old MacGregor isn't of the ilk who writes about hockey stats or inside trading information. He also happens to believe that sports writing is off on the wrong track. "They're convinced that the minutiae is the most important thing going on, like who got traded yesterday

and what somebody's contract is. It's just ridiculous. We're going away from the larger picture and the

storylines. All sports are filled with stories about beautiful people." He wants the world of sports journalism to "wake up and get away from Twitter and get back to some

really thoughtful, moving pieces." It's going to take a lot of will to make the pendulum swing the other way. "But a lot of us will because people love people and I'm not so sure they love contracts."

Cup battle moves to Beantown Hockey 'night' at noon in Cambodia By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun June 6, 2011 It was Hockey Night in Canada's Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. And it was Hockey Morning in

Cambodia.

By mid-afternoon in downtown Vancouver, an estimated 70,000 hockey-mad fans were gathering to

cheer on the Canucks.

At the same time in Cambodia, it was a little after sunrise when about 30 hockeycrazy boys, girls and

their dads clustered around a computer screen in the community centre in Proyouth. The village is on the

outskirts of Siem Reap, the closest city to the spectacular 12th-century Khmer temple, Angkor Wat.

At 4: 30 p.m. Vancouver time via Skype, Brian McConaghy and his two Cambodian-born sons made

contact with Reaksa Himm in Cambodia before setting their laptop up in front of the big-screen TV in

their Richmond, B.C. living room.

As Mark Donnelly and 18,000 fans in Rogers Arena belted out O Canada, the Cambodian children sang

their own national anthem.

They didn't get to see the whole game. Because of a problematic Internet connection, they missed Alex

Burrows scoring the winning goal just 11 seconds into overtime.

But Himm said the children and their fathers were amazed at just how fast the game is when it's played on

ice.

Until January, none of them even knew what hockey was.

Until January, none of them even knew what hockey was. But Himm changed all that.

"I am too crazy about the Vancouver team," Himm tells me in an email, adding that he's convinced the

Canucks will win the Cup.

A Canadian who recently moved back to his birthplace, Himm brought hockey to the village and to a

country where 37 per cent of the population is under the age of 15.

He did it with the help of McConaghy's Ratanak International, a nonprofit that funds child-focused

programs in Cambodia.

Himm has already built a school in Proyouth and the community centre. With Ratanak's help, the library

will be completed by late fall.

"When I built the community centre, I thought about having basketball, volleyball, badminton and captain

ball games," he says. "But early this year, when I returned back from Toronto, I thought about bringing

hockey into the community centre."

In December, he contacted Ratanak staffers Beth Davis-Lauer and her husband, Stephan Lauer.

Could you bring hockey sticks when you come in January?

It was an odd request from a tropical country where 20 C is considered cool.

But Stephan called Ron Smith -yes, the same Ron Smith who was assistant coach when the Canucks

made Stanley Cup runs in 1992 and '94. Smith had been on the board of another nonprofit the Lauers had

worked for.

Smith connected them to his son, Devon, who works with the NHL Players Association. In January, the

Lauers delivered what Devon had given them -24 top-of-the-line sticks with Sidney Crosby's name on

them, two sets of NHLPA jerseys in different colours and lots of balls.

Meanwhile, Himm had built an arena with a cement floor, boards and even hockey nets. He and the whole

village were practically hopping up and down with excitement when the Lauers arrived.

"It was chaos," Beth said in a telephone interview from their home in Ontario. "Everybody was picking

up sticks and balls. There were too many men and boys and girls on the ice. I was refereeing. It was crazy

and it got really rough because nobody knew what to do with the sticks. . . .

"The next day we went to the market and bought eye protection for everybody. But it was an absolute

blast!"

There are now two organized teams of 15 boys aged eight to 10 and two 15-member teams of 11-to 15-

yearold boys. Even in the heat with the sun beating down on their arena, they wear the NHLPA jerseys.

From 3 p.m., if there is no rain, many boys begin to pour in for the game that lasts until 5 p.m., says

Himm. "From 5 until 6: 30, we have many adult players.

"You know what? I am one of the players too. I love the game ... We make our own rules. We do have the

same line and net, but different rules."

Learning the rules is part of the reason the Cambodians are keen to watch the Stanley Cup Final.

But it's mainly because even though they don't really understand hockey, they've been infected with

Himm's passion for the Canadian game.

One recent afternoon, more than 100 boys and girls showed up to play in the little village arena.

Sadly, most could only be spectators. Because in all of Cambodia, there are only 24 hockey sticks and 24

jerseys.

Canadian troops 'proud of the Canucks' In far off Afghanistan, they're watching the Finals via, at times, shaky satellite feeds By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News June 6, 2011

Whether the Vancouver Canucks have become "Canada's team" during their dramatic run for the Stanley

Cup remains a matter of hot debate back home.

But 10,000 kilometres and 11-anda-half time zones away from Vancouver, in the extreme heat and

choking dust of Kandahar, there is absolutely no doubt that the Canucks are No. 1 with Canada's desert

warriors.

"How can it be otherwise?" said Maj. Gaetan Bedard, who trains Afghan troops at an American outpost at

Tarnak. "We are Canadian patriots. We're proud of the Canucks."

Summing up that attitude, Capt. Jamie Arbuckle, a pilot from Brighton, Ont., ferrying to and from Europe

at the moment, manned up to being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

"You cheer for your team and then whatever Canadian is still left in it," he said.

At Masum Gar, where a large number of combat troops from the mostly French-Canadian battle group are

based, one heavily armoured combat vehicle sports a Canucks' flag on one of its antennas. The Stanley

Cup Finals are shown live every morning here in a makeshift chow hall fashioned out of several tents.

"We've been pushing pretty hard and sleep is important, but I got up at 4: 30 [a.m.] so that I could watch

the entire game," said Sgt.-Maj. Alain Grenier of Valcartier, Quebec, who helps oversee several hundred

Canadian troops who train Afghan security forces and fight alongside them when they take on the

Taliban.

When the Canucks won the first game of the Stanley Cup Final with a last-minute goal on Thursday

morning (local time), not one but two cheers erupted from the scores of Canadian soldiers watching the

game as they ate breakfast at Masum Gar. The first whoops of joy were from those watching the game in

French. The second celebration was from those watching the game in another tent a few metres away in

English because, inexplicably, the signal to their TV set bounced down from the sky about two seconds

later than the French-language feed.

One of the most ardent Canucks' fans serving in Afghanistan is Cpl. Therese Stark. An army logistician

from Victoria, now based in Edmonton, she wore a Canucks jersey and twirled a towel that she had

received in 1994 when her team won in the western conference finals as she watched Game 2 in a double

trailer known as Old Canada House that was packed with about 30 soldiers at Kandahar Airfield.

"I've been waiting 17 years for a new towel!" the corporal said before adding that her entire family was

equally devoted to the Canucks. "I got to a game in March, but I'm just not in B.C. enough to see many

games."

Stark's favourite player is Roberto Luongo. She gleefully recounted the time she got the Vancouver goalie

to sign a jersey and hat for her when the goaltender was in Edmonton.

Sgt. James McRoberts, who's posted to CFB Comox, said he became a Canucks fan when he was just six

years old, when his family moved to nearby Campbell River, during the team's first year of existence 41

years ago.

"Look at how many guys took less money to play in Vancouver," said McRoberts, who showed up in an

old black and gold Canucks sweater.

McRoberts' favourite player at the moment might be Raffi Torres "because he plays with a lot of heart

and to the maximum of his ability."

Canadian Forces Radio and Television transmits live English and French feeds to Afghanistan and to

peacekeepers in the Middle East and northern Africa as well as to aircrews and sailors involved in

military operations against Libya.

The games are courtesy of Hockey Night in Canada and the National Hockey League. Although the

crowds for hockey are not nearly as large or as passionate, similar arrangements are made for U.S. troops

in Afghanistan who can watch NBC's live feed of the final.

The soldiers, like most Canadians, have a special link to hockey, and not only because Don Cherry

mentions them in almost every telecast and has travelled to Afghanistan to personally thank them for their

service and autograph a few artillery shells.

Several of Canada's bases in Kandahar have ball hockey rinks. At the big base at Kandahar Airfield, there

are leagues, with A and B divisions and international matches against generally inferior Slovak and

American teams.

Former NHL players such as Guy Lafleur and Dave (Tiger) Williams -the latter of which once played for

the Canucks -have been to Afghanistan multiple times. Prime Minister Stephen Harper brought Jarome

Iginla of the Calgary Flames with him when he dropped by a few days ago to say hello to the troops.

Even the Stanley Cup paid a visit to Afghanistan a few years ago with General Rick Hillier and Defence

Minister Peter MacKay. There is no word yet on whether there might be a return journey to Afghanistan

for the Cup and some of Canucks if they win the National Hockey League championship.

Such a trip would have to be undertaken quickly because Canada's troops in Kandahar end their combat

mission next month, shifting to a much smaller and safer training mission, mostly in northern

Afghanistan.

'It's like the Olympics, but even better' By Yvonne Zacharias and Laura Kane, Vancouver Sun

"We want the Cup. We want the Cup."

That was the rallying cry across downtown Vancouver Saturday as ecstatic Canucks fans flooded the

streets after a 3-2 overtime victory against the Boston Bruins at Rogers Arena. Main arteries like Granville and West Georgia were clogged with hockey fans who whooped, danced,

highfived each other, waved flags and set off firecrackers. The din of the crowd roared over drums and

horns. "It's a pretty unifying thing," said Kitsilano resident Scott Cressman, noting the Canucks' stretch of

victories is turning perfect strangers into friends overnight. At the corner of Beatty Street and West Georgia, a man played the bagpipes while a few people danced to

his music. At the same intersection, a man stood on top of a car, waving a giant Canucks flag. People clambered onto light standards and garbage cans to wave flags. Others leaned out of open car

doors to high-five pedestrians. Inside Rogers Arena, the crowd rocked the whole night long, seesawing between elation and quiet as the

tables kept turning. The place went wild when Alex Burrows scored the first goal of the night with 7: 36

remaining in the first period. Tension returned in the second period when the two B.C. boys on the Boston Bruins, Milan Lucic from

east Vancouver and Mark Recchi from Kamloops, scored goals in rapid succession, pushing the Bruins

ahead by one. Then, euphoria when Daniel Sedin tied the game with 9: 37 left in the third period. But that was nothing

compared to the crowd reaction when Burrows scored 11 seconds into overtime. Other high points were the deafening welcome for Manny Malhotra, who had been sidelined since a

devastating eye injury in a March 16 game. And the crowd cheered as wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen

and former Canuck captain Trevor Linden's images were flashed from their seats in the crowd up onto the

scoreboard. During intermission, the concourse area was a kaleidoscope of colours as people were dressed from head

to toe in Canucks finery. Face painters were doing a brisk business with customers like Ben Kertész, who was having colour

applied not just to his face but to his bald head. The party began downtown well before game time, with fans crowding into a blocked-off section of

Granville Street and outside the CBC studios on Hamilton Street. By mid-afternoon, people were camped out in lawn chairs in the warm sunshine waiting for the game to

be broadcast on enormous TV screens. They had brought with them Canucks flags, blue-and-silver

cheerleading tassels and gaudy blue and silver wigs. Others had painted their faces and dyed their hair

blue and green for the occasion. Everywhere were Canucks jerseys of seemingly every style and era. Drivers honked, cowbells rattled and

horns blew as downtown streets turned into one giant party. On Granville Street, a mime artist dressed in sleek silver hockey gear from helmet to skates posed for

photos. And a loud cheer greeted sheet metal worker Patrick Rhomberg from Nanaimo, who walked along

Granville hoisting a homemade Stanley Cup that looked remarkably similar to the real one. He said it took about eight hours in his sheet metal shop to fashion the facsimile. "I live, eat and breathe

Canucks," he said. Lineups were forming outside downtown bars at least two hours before the puck was set to drop at 5 p.m. Sticking out like sore thumbs were Bruins fans Kyle Michaels and Alex Esterson, who flew in from

Boston just for the game. Michaels is a huge fan of Bruins player Patrice Bergeron, who is from Quebec, while Esterson is a big fan

of Bruins player Michael Ryder, who is from Newfoundland. They said they were getting some hassles for supporting the Bruins, but this was their first visit to

Vancouver and they were enjoying it. Jonathan Brown and his father, Harold, flew to Vancouver from Fort McMurray, Alta., mostly to see and

support Ryder, who is Jonathan's cousin and Harold's nephew. "I used to kick him in the a-quite a few times when he was a kid and I helped his dad coach him," Harold

said of Ryder. Ryder was just a Peewee player then, but already his talent was apparent, said Harold. For many Vancouverites, the celebratory mood was reminiscent of another big sports event a year earlier. "It's like the Olympics, but even better. It's our game, our city. This has more heart," said Jill Anderson.

Bieksa reacts to Peverley slash

By CHRIS STEVENSON, QMI Agency

BOSTON - Kevin Bieksa went down like he had been shot.

The Vancouver Canucks defenceman was coming out of the corner during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final as the puck went to the other side of the ice when he went down clutching his right knee.

He writhed in pain on the ice.

Turned out Boston's Rich Peverley had given him a nasty slash as he trailed Bieska coming out of the corner. It looked like Peverley turned the blade of his stick over and got Bieksa with the point.

Ouch.

"I'm sure everybody knows what happened and they'll keep a better eye on him next time," said Bieksa of Peverley, whose slash went undetected by referees Kelly Sutherland and Dan O'Halloran.

"There's such a thing as karma. Whether it's next year or the year after, he'll get something from somebody else. He got me on the back of the knee. Luckily, it's okay."

Might be something to keep an eye on if Bieksa and Peverley wind up in the same corner again in Game 3.

Winnipeg Sun LOADED: 06.06.2011

Bowness looks back at Bruins firing

By CHRIS STEVENSON, QMI Agency

BOSTON - There was a time when Rick Bowness hated going to Boston.

The circumstances are a little different now.

Bowness arrived in town Sunday with the Vancouver Canucks, almost exactly 19 years to the day that he was fired by the Boston Bruins in one of the most unfair dismissals of a coach in recent memory.

As a 37-year-old rookie coach, Bowness had taken a Bruins team to the Stanley Cup semi-finals in a season in which he used 55 players over the course of the 1991-92 season, with star defenceman Ray Bourque battling a broken thumb and star forward Cam Neely playing just nine games.

Despite the success, Bowness was fired shortly after the season by Bruins honcho Harry Sinden.

"The team was going into a rebuilding year and was unsure if it was going to make the playoffs. We finished in second and moved into the final round (in the East). There was nothing to complain about. There was lots of ups and downs during the course of the season with me being a rookie head coach and so many players coming in and out. A lot of ups and downs, but we survived every one of them," said Bowness.

"When you get fired under those circumstances and it's the first time you're fired, it hits hard."

It took a long time for Bowness, now the associate coach of the Canucks, who own a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup final heading into Game 3 Monday night, to get over that firing.

So did the Bruins. They didn't get back to the semifinals until this season under Claude Julien.

At the time of Bowness' firing, Sinden could offer only a vague explanation for the change.

"Other than that kind of a slippery ingredient (that's) tough to put your hand on, we felt that Rick did a good job," he said. "There's an element and an instinct in coaching that come to few, and we hope that we can find that in whomever we select."

"(The firing) was a shock. It shocked everyone. The fans. Media. Everyone," remembered Bowness in his Canucks office in the hours before Game 2, won 3-2 in overtime by the Canucks.

Shortly after the firing, it became more clear. Sinden wanted to hire Brian Sutter, who had been let go by the St. Louis Blues after a first-round loss, for the job.

"They were humming and hawing. They couldn't clarify why the move was made until they actually hired Brian and then it was clear. If you read Harry's comments - and you can go back and judge for yourself - they were very vague, right?

"It wasn't anything specific. Then when they hired Brian, it was crystal clear why they fired me. They wanted Brian. Okay. That's easy to deal with than the vagueness of not knowing the specifics of why you were fired. When they hired Brian, that made it easier for me. They wanted the other guy, that's life. That's the profession I've chosen. They want him? Go ahead. That made it easier, it took some of the sting away."

Bowness was quickly snapped up the expansion Ottawa Senators which turned out to be one of the worst expansion teams of all time, winning just 10 games that first season and losing a record 38-straight games on the road.

"You got two choices: you're going to get knocked down and get back up or you're going to stay down. I was lucky. I got fired on the Monday and Wednesday I was on the plane to Ottawa going to be interviewed. You've got pick yourself up quickly, but that Monday was tough. The first time getting fired, going home and telling the wife and kids you got fired. They were young and we had just moved into the house in Boston. That was hard pulling them out of school, but that's what life is."

That Senators team hardly gave Bowness a chance to extract any revenge.

"I remember going back into Boston that first year and that's when it hits hard because you're with an expansion team with not a whole lot of chance of winning going against a very good team at that point. You want to go in and beat them. Things are pretty well stacked against you, but that's okay," said Bowness.

"Going back the first time was hard. Going back the second time was hard and then it just got easier. You learn in life you turn the page and move on. Easier said than done."

Now Bowness returns here, helping head coach Alain Vigneault, whom he had hired as an assistant in Ottawa that first year.

They are two wins away from a Stanley Cup.

It's been a long, winding road for Bowness since he left here, Ottawa, Long Island, Phoenix, Vancouver.

Now he's here, back to face the Bruins.

"It's all a long time ago. I look forward to going back to Boston. I know the passion that city has for their team and I love going into those atmospheres and those rinks," he said. "Our city is going crazy with the finals and I know Boston will be the exact same way. I think it's great for our league and great for these two franchises. I'm actually looking forward to going back. It's going to be fun."

Winnipeg Sun LOADED: 06.06.2011

By Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun June 5, 2011

BOSTON - Like excited youngsters being told by their parents that there are just two sleeps until Christmas, the Vancouver Canucks are just two wins away from the Stanley Cup.

But unlike those kids who can't stop thinking about what they might find under that tree Christmas morning, the Canucks know they can't focus on their big prize.

They may be up 2-0 in their Stanley Cup Final with the Boston Bruins, but the players insist they have accomplished nothing more than protecting their home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.

"It's huge, but at the same time we haven't won anything yet," winger Alex Burrows cautioned after Vancouver's 3-2 overtime win in Game 2. "We have only taken care of home ice. They are a really good team over there. They are going to feel the energy of their crowd and we have to make sure we go in there and get ready for Game 3. It won't be easy. Until you win a road game you aren't in control of any series."

Game 3 goes at 5 p.m. PDT today at the TD Garden in Boston and the Canucks, although tantalizingly close to bringing the franchise its first Stanley Cup, insist their focus will be squarely on tonight's game.

"You just can't go there because there is so much work that has to be done," winger Jeff Tambellini said to suggestions it might be tough to block out just how close the team is to its ultimate goal. "Now you have to go win two games on the road. Every game is such a huge event and we just have to prepare for the next one. Each game is so hard to win that you can't even go there mentally."

Winger Jannik Hansen said the team has learned some valuable lessons in these playoffs about not looking past the next game.

"Right now we are going into a tough building and it's Game 3 that we need to take care of," Hansen said. "If we start looking ahead we've kind of seen what that can do to a team, even ours, which we saw not too long ago."

That is a clear reference to Vancouver's first-round series against Chicago, when the Canucks blew a 3-0 series lead to the Blackhawks and had to win Game 7 in overtime to advance.

Burrows got that goal and was the hero again on Saturday night when he scored on a wraparound 11 seconds into overtime.

That Game 2 goal, Burrows' second of the night and ninth of the playoffs, capped yet another comeback by the Canucks, who had trailed 2-1 after two periods.

The Canucks have proven time and again in these playoffs, and throughout the season, that you can never count them out. The team seems to have an inner belief it can manufacture that big goal when it needs it.

It happened midway through the third period of Saturday night's game, when Burrows dished a beautiful pass to Daniel Sedin, who buried it behind Boston goalie Tim Thomas to tie the game 2-2.

"Every game we go into we believe we can win and if we play up to our best we will have a chance," Hansen said. "It's the fact that we have been through this so many times, not just this year but previous years. All the experiences, all the ups and downs this team has been through, have made us stronger. It's what has prepared us for these moments right now."

Daniel Sedin doesn't think it's a coincidence that the Canucks play so well in the third period.

"We get pucks deep, we forecheck really hard, it wears teams down," he said. "It's been like this the whole season. It's nothing new for us. I think when we're at our best, we usually have a lot of success in the third period."

"I think the team has just grown over the years and has kind of got that mentality of never giving up," added defenceman Sami Salo.

Until the late-game heroics by Sedin and Burrows, it looked like the Bruins, who had received second-period goals from B.C. natives Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi, just might get their split on the road.

Now the Bruins instead face the daunting task of coming back from 0-2 down in the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins are 1-26 in franchise history when losing the first two games of a best-of-seven playoff series.

They'll hang their hat on the fact that the one time they did it occurred earlier in these playoffs when they lost the first two games of their first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens at home before rallying to win in seven games.

"We've seen it happen in front of our own eyes," said Boston coach Claude Julien. "We were down 2-0, came back and won the series. I don't think there's any reason here to not be positive. You don't get this far, guys, and all of a sudden hang your head.

"They had home-ice advantage, won their first two home games. We've got to go back home and do the same. One game at a time, as you hear always. We win the first game, it builds up momentum, and you get yourself back in the series. It's not the end of the world here, guys. We lost the game, but we're a better team than that, and we're a team that's bounced back all through the season. I don't see an issue here."

Still, beyond the two losses, there are troubling signs for the Bruins. The Canucks have forced Boston's defencemen into costly turnovers and on two of their three goals Saturday night took advantage of the fact that Thomas likes to play way outside his crease.

"He is one of the best goalies in the league and the way he challenges that makes him a vey good goaltender," Burrows said. "But sometimes when you over-challenge you can get caught off guard and obviously on the second goal and the third goal he over-played it."

Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Bruins: 'We're down but not out'

Vancouver Sun

By Ian Walker

VANCOUVER - If you didn't know it before entering the Boston Bruins locker room on Saturday, you certainly did upon exiting the cramped quarters.

The Bruins were quick to remind anyone with a microphone that this isn't their first rodeo. It was only five weeks ago when Boston lost its first two games to the Montreal Canadiens - at home no less - before winning the opening-round Eastern Conference playoff match-up in seven games.

"In the Montreal series, we were going on the road down 2-0 so we're going home to our crowd now," said winger Mark Recchi, in the moments following the Bruins heart-breaking 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. "I mean, the city is electric right now as well, like Vancouver is, and it's going to be an unbelievable atmosphere on Monday for us. We have to take that and go and use it to our advantage. We have to take all the positives from the first two games. I mean, we pushed them hard and now we have to do a job at home. There is a long ways to go here and we're looking forward to being back in front of our home crowd."

And that's not the only thing in Boston's favour. Monday is not only Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, but it also marks the 25th anniversary of the trade that sent Cam Neely from the Canucks to the Bruins. Then, they stole a player. This time, all they're looking for is a win.

"You've got to seize the moment," said Milan Lucic, who led the Bruins with 30 goals in the regular season and tied for first in points with 62. "There's still an opportunity here. We're not out. Obviously right now it sucks and it hurts that we weren't able to get this win. But we can't dwell on it. We have to move on. We have to look forward to what we need to do in order to win a game to get ourselves back into this series."

Lucic's goal nine minutes into the second period was the Bruins first of the Stanley Cup Final and just as importantly served as a catalyst to Boston's best 20 minutes of the best-of-seven series.

"It was good," said Lucic, who turns 23 on Tuesday. "Obviously it sucked that we weren't able to score in the four periods prior, so it was nice to get that one. It was kind of an emotional lift. It felt like we were able to play more confident and play the way we wanted to play after that goal. That second period is the way we need to play in order to win."

But just like in Game 1, it was the third period that let the Bruins down. Daniel Sedin scored with 10:23 left in regulation setting the stage for Alex Burrows' game-winner on a wrap-around just 11 seconds into overtime.

"It is what it is, so you just have to move on," said goalie Tim Thomas, whose aggressive style of play cost him on the final goal. "We have to play this [series] a lot like we played in the Montreal series, except the difference is we lost two at home and had to go on the road [against Montreal]. If we look back and figure out what our approach was in Game 3 in Montreal I think that's a pretty good blueprint to go off of in this series."

The Bruins won Games 3, 4 and 5 against the Canadiens, but needed overtime in Game 7 at home to close out the series.

"It does give you some consolation to know that you've done it before," said Thomas. "But, you know, having said that, tomorrow it will be time to stop talking about it, it will be time to start doing it. Tomorrow is a big game for us. We have to come up on top to get back into this series one game at a time."

Vancouver Sun: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Will home ice help struggling Bruins?

The Province

By Gord McIntyre

The Boston Bruins have more questions than they do answers.

Stuck in a game of Whack-a-Mole they've so far been unable to win: Various Canucks popping up elsewhere every time the Bruins think they've stuffed one Vancouver threat back down its hole.

The Bruins have been left to sputter and squawk about working harder, getting back to playing "Bruins hockey" and otherwise grasping for every cliché they can.

None of which answers the question: What are they going to do to win a game?

Home ice will help.

Claude Julien won't be as tempted to make mistakes like he did Saturday night by starting Andrew Ferrence on defence in overtime.

Slow to adapt at the best of times, Julien can be downright stubborn in the high stakes of the playoffs, but he finally did return Zdeno Chara to the point on the Boston power play Saturday and it resulted in a goal (Chara's shot being redirected by Mark Recchi for the Bruins' first man-advantage goal of the series).

But with Manny Malhotra back contributing, Julien is running out of options.

Malhotra not only forces Julien to limit the ice time his fourth line gets - and the Boston coach has been rolling four lines most of the playoffs - but the returning centre also gives the Canucks the puck to start with after most faceoffs.

"I don't know, but we have to fix it," Julien said when asked what the Bruins can do. "It's as simple as that.

"In the last two games here we've lost by one goal and still I don't think we've played the way we can.

"We're a better team than we've shown and we've got to go back home and start showing that, get ourselves back in the series."

You can point to the 30 seconds that have, on the surface, cost the Bruins - Raffi Torres's goal with 19 seconds to play in the third period in Game 1 and Alex Burrows' goal 11 seconds into overtime in Game 2.

But those goals weren't isolated incidents, they were the result of 60 minutes of play, of stage-setting hits, forechecking and forced turnovers that create odd-man rushes.

To be frank, the Bruins could have lost both games 16-0, it wouldn't change anything Monday night.

"I think it all starts in the neutral zone and in our end," Nathan Horton said on Sunday. "That's where we need to be better and get the pucks out and no turnovers.

"And we still, we talked about it after the game where we still made mistakes.

"If that gets better, I think we'll get more offence."

It's been interesting in these playoffs that not the Chicago Blackhawks, not the Nashville Predators, not the San Jose Sharks and now not the Boston Bruins have given the Canucks credit, instead all claiming they weren't playing their own games, that if/when they did, things would change.

But that's part of the Canucks' secret to success: They force other teams into making mistakes because they have so many weapons themselves, from utility parts like Victor Oreskovich and Jeff Tambellini, to their core stars.

"It's not over until it's over," Horton said, "until one of the teams gets the fourth win.

"And I think, we're down two games but, as long as we start to play the way we can we'll be fine."

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Fun-loving Burrows makes play for Conn Smythe

The Province

By Ben Kuzma

BOSTON - It wasn't the "Half-Clapper, Top Cheddar" effort that's trending to describe a half-slapper that catches the top corner of the net.

However, the manner in which Alex Burrows gave the Vancouver Canucks a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final with a spectacular overtime wrap-around effort Saturday should have a lingo of its own. It spoke loudly of focus and finish and should silence the winger's critics. Yeah, right.

How about "Half-Baked-Criticism, Top-Shelf Player"? Cory Schneider knows his teammate won't get enough credit for his Game 2 winner, but will get a rude reception here Tuesday. And he knows Burrows will soak it all up.

"I'm sure it won't be pretty," said the Canucks back-up goaltender, a Boston College grad. "I've seen how A-Rod and Jeter and those guys get it in Fenway and I'm sure there is going to be a lot of hate toward him, but he's the kind of guy who revels in that and enjoys the spotlight. Hopefully, it will motivate him to play harder. Want to go after him, he'll take it and shove it in their face or do something to quiet them down."

It shouldn't be surprising that Burrows is the talk of this town because the fun-loving, trash-talking and hard-working Frenchman has always had a flair for the dramatic. Whether biting Patrice Bergeron's finger, pulling Duncan Keith's hair, being called a clown by Adam Burish or questioning the competency of referee Stephane Auger for targeting him for a plethora of penalties, this is not front-page news in Vancouver. It was in Chicago and it is in Boston, but the lede in those cities has been buried.

It's not the supposed demon in Burrows that's the story. It's his will to win that has spawned a career-high nine playoff goals, including two game-winners that are placing him in Conn Smythe consideration. Martin St. Louis and David Krejci have scored a playoff-high 10 goals and Henrik Sedin is only four points ahead of Burrows in the postseason scoring race with 21 points. And that overtime move on Tim Thomas was no fluke.

"I did my pre-scout and I know he likes to challenge and I was able to fake," said Burrows. "I wanted to walk around and shoot, but he kind of tripped me. But I was able to wrap it quick and I'm not even sure how it went in - probably the tip of my blade."

Regardless, many believe Burrows is nothing but a yappy freeloader, just the latest to ride the coattails of Henrik and Daniel Sedin like Anson Carter. He scored 33 goals in the 2005-06 season. When Canucks coach Alain Vigneault experimented with Burrows and the twins in the third period of a Feb. 10, 2009 game in St. Louis, something clicked. Burrows bagged the equalizer to make it 4-4 and the Canucks triumphed 6-4 to keep Burrows on the line for the remaining 30 games. He finished with 35 goals last season before offseason shoulder surgery.

"He's a tremendous player and when he plays with confidence, he can make those plays," said Henrik. "I don't know if other people watch enough of our games. We felt right away he was a good fit. There's a lot pressure to produce on the top line and he's been able to do that.

"A lot of times, people focus on the wrong things with him. If you want to focus on that, he's happy with that."

Craig Heisinger was the Manitoba Moose general manager when he discovered Burrows on an ECHL scouting trip in 2002-03. He knew the kid had potential. But this?

"If we thought Alex was going to be what he is today, we'd be lying," said Heisinger. "Alex is not a "Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous" kind of guy and you won't see that in 10 years. He's earned everything he's got. He's just a hockey player and he's got to be having the time of his life."

Still, many grudgingly give Burrows credit for doing the dirty work, being on the top penalty kill pairing and being smart. Listen to NBC analyst Mike Milbury, a former Bruins defenceman, on his Bite-Gate take.

"If I knew back in the '70s that it was OK to pig out on human flesh, I would have eaten Guy Lafleur," Milbury said after the NHL chose not to suspend Burrows. "Somebody should have given him [Burrows] a slap in the head. This guy should have been suspended."

None of this seems to affect Burrows. If it does, he's not showing it. He's married, a first-time father and appears to have everything in balance when to the outside world it looks like he doesn't.

"I don't go on nhl.com or any sports sites," said Burrows. "I focus on my fantasy baseball team and I take care of my family. I talk to my parents and friends. I don't want to get over-excited, that's when I get away from my game. If I can keep my poise and composure, I will be alright."

That didn't seem like it was going to be the case. When you don't play junior hockey until age 19, aren't drafted and claw your way onto the rosters of the Greenville Grrrowl, Baton Rouge Kingfish and Columbia Inferno of the ECHL, those bus rides are a good story. So is threatening to quit the game because $28,000 for playing in hockey outposts wasn't worth it and who knew what getting a tryout with the Moose would really mean. Maybe supplanting grinding winger Jimmy Roy one day in the AHL.

"It wasn't always easy for him," said Heisinger. "He got sent down and the first year he got called up four times and might not have played four shifts. The second time, in the NHL lockout year, he got sent down, too.

"But when he came back when Wade Brookbank got hurt, that was the last he saw of the East Coast League."

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Luongo has 'good history' against Boston

The Province

By Jim Jamieson

How loose is Roberto Luongo right now?

Well, his one-liners are almost as good as his goaltending in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Here are some samples, following a 3-2 overtime win over Boston in Game 2, where the rock-steady Luongo stopped 28 of 30 shots as the Canucks took a 2-0 series lead:

Asked about the no-look back-pass made by Henrik 2:25 into the game that ended up as a puck right on his own goaltender. Henrik, jokingly said he'd done it on purpose because he didn't think Luongo had looked good in the pre-game warm-up.

Said Luongo: "I thought I had a good warm-up. He tries to go five-hole on me in practice all the time, so I was ready for it. He wasn't going to beat me this time. When Hank has the puck in front of the net anything can happen."

Luongo, who played his first six NHL seasons in the Eastern Conference, was also asked about his history of playing in Boston, where the next two games of the final will be played.

"I played my first NHL game in Boston, first win against Boston, first shutout against Boston," he said, smiling. "It's a pretty good history, I'd say."

Luongo has every reason to feel confident. He's been on an outstanding run since the latter portions of the Chicago series. Yes, there were some goals from behind the net in the Nashville series, but the numbers are compelling.

Starting with the 2-1 OT win over the Blackhawks in Game 7 of that series, Luongo has given up as many as four goals on just two occasions in the 14 games.

And in those 14 games, he's surrendered a total of just 27 goals.

"He's been awesome all year," said Daniel Sedin. "He likes to play in these kind of games. When he plays like he is right now, he's the best goalie in the world.

I don't say it because I'm a teammate and a friend. I say it because I mean it."

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Heavy hitter Alberts in top form

The Province

By Ben Kuzma

BOSTON - Boom. Boom. Boom.

The television camera caught Andrew Alberts delivering three crushing first-period checks Saturday - including bone-rattling, running-right-through-you explosions on Mark Recchi and Tyler Seguin - and there was method to what was considered some lineup madness.

However, Alain Vigneault knew what he was doing in pairing the former Boston Bruins defenceman with Christian Ehrhoff in absence of the injured Dan Hamhuis.

Keith Ballard might have been a logical replacement, but the Vancouver Canucks coach believed he had enough puck-movers but needed another banger in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final. Despite not playing since May 3, Alberts led all players with six hits Saturday in nearly a dozen minutes of ice time during a 3-2 overtime victory and will get the call again if Hamhuis can't go Tuesday.

"He played well," Vigneault said Sunday. "Physical and was high percentage with the puck. He was pretty intense and that's what we expected. He has played with Christian before and that's a good pair and we thought that was the way to go."

Vigneault made it sound so simple, but in reality it wasn't. Alberts had to pick his hitting spots with adrenalin at an all-time high in the Stanley Cup final. It would have been so easy to misstep and make the wrong move at the wrong time.

"He played great and it wasn't really a surprise to me,' said Ehrhoff. "When you step into the finals, you're ready to play, but you definitely need good timing and he showed that. He was perfect on his hits and was a great physical presence. But we expect a real big push on Tuesday. We've got to match the intensity and be ready from the start, have good breakout passes and work the puck out of our end - get the offence going."

That hasn't been a problem, even without Hamhuis. He appeared to injure his left ankle in Game 1 of the final while delivering a sideboards hip check on Milan Lucic and did not return that night. But the sudden arrival of Alberts has been another one of those good-news stories to go along with Alex Burrows, Manny Malhotra and Roberto Luongo as the Canucks need just two wins to secure the franchise's first league title.

Alberts is a Boston College grad and knows the Eastern Conference with career stops in Boston, Philadelphia and Carolina, but knew he had to pick up his pace and conditioning if he was going to survive in the fleet-footed Western Conference. Alberts had a penchant for taking too many penalties because he simply couldn't get there in time.

However, Alberts came to camp leaner and quicker and played so well in the pre-season that Shane O'Brien became expendable. However, a shoulder injury and broken wrist kept the Minneapolis native sidelined and he logged 42 regular-season games. That will be enough to get his name on the Cup if Vancouver wins the series. Playing Saturday also ensured that.

OF NOTE - Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Malhotra will see a doctor daily to ensure he doesn't experience additional pressure around his injured eye that has now undergone three surgical procedures.

"He's doing well, well beyond our imagination and we aren't taking any chances," said Gillis. "We're comfortable where he's at. It's a remarkable story."

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Fourth line's minutes could increase with Malhotra as anchor

The Province

By Jim Jamieson

All but lost in the emotional return of Manny Malhotra to the Canucks' lineup in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final is the strategic boost he offers at a point where his teammates have been playing hard hockey for seven weeks.

Malhotra was greeted with a thunderous ovation in his first game since a serious eye injury suffered on March 16 appeared to end his season and threaten his career.

But he also had an immediate impact in the face-off circle -- winning six of seven on a night when the Canucks' other centres weren't having a great outing. Ryan Kesler, usually in the mid-50s, was at 47 per cent and Henrik Sedin, at 45.4 per cent in the playoffs, was at a miserable 31. Third-line centre Max Lapierre wasn't much better, at 33 per cent.

The Canucks led the NHL in the circle in the regular season, at 54.9 per cent. They're at 49.9 in the playoffs and a lot of the drop-off is because Malhotra and his 61.7 per cent win rate -- second only to New Jersey's David Steckel (62.3) -- have been on the sidelines until Game 2.

"Faceoffs is obviously a lot of timing and anticipation, but over the last couple of weeks as I've started to work towards this goal, being able to take draws against guys like Kes and Hank and Lappy really pushes you to get to that next level," said Malhotra. "The competitive level we have at centre really gets your timing back."

Malhotra missed much hockey and was parachuting into the most intense competitive environment possible: a Stanley Cup final. He played remarkably well in 7:26 of ice time that was tightly controlled by head coach Alain Vigneault. Malhotra played 13 shifts, killed penalties and took a left-wing shift on the third line in relief of Raffi Torres.

He said after the game that he purposely kept his game simple and saw the 7:26 as a good transition back into playing. In the regular season, as one of the best third-line centres in the league and in the conversation for the Selke Trophy as top defensive forward, Malhotra averaged 16:09. Clearly, he wants to move toward that and so does Vigneault.

"It was a real happy moment for our whole group," said Vigneault. "He did exactly what was expected. He was real good on faceoffs, he was good on the ice, created a scoring chance. That line played more minutes than throughout the San Jose series and the first game against Boston. I'm excited to have him back and he's only going to get better as we move forward."

Vigneault has made it clear he won't be touching his third line, which has been a force since the coach decided to stick with Lapierre at centre there since Game 7 of the Chicago series. So the fourth line getting more minutes only benefits the other three in terms energy conservation.

In the last two playoff rounds, the fourth line's ice-time had been shrinking. It hit its lowest ebb in Game 1 of the Cup final, when Alex Bolduc played 1:39, Victor Oreskovich had 1:54 and Jeff

Tambellini had 2:30. In Game 2, Oreskovich and Tambellini were up to 6:20 and 5:50, respectively. Oreskovich had a huge shift early with some big hits and Tambellini nearly scored at the open side with 4:46 left in the second period.

To their benefit, the Bruins have been able to play a lot of four-line games in these playoffs. But their fourth line's minutes became fewer in Game 2, while the Canucks' unit got more.

It's another trend going the wrong way for the Bruins in the Stanley Cup final.

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 06.06.2011

Ed Willes's airport edition of the musings and meditations on the world of sports

The Province

By Ed willes

BOSTON - Beantown, as you might have expected, is abuzz over tonight's Game 3 - and while we're on the subject of hopeless causes, here's a special Stanley Cup final edition of the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.

¦ The more time you spend around Bruins coach Claude Julien, the more you appreciate his no-BS approach to the game and his job. Julien, for example, was asked after Game 2 if the NHL had made the right decision in not suspending Alex Burrows after Bite-Gate in Game 1.

"That has nothing to do with it," Julien said. "I never thought about that. They made a decision. We moved on. For us, if we start using that as an excuse, we're a lame team."

That said, Julien has some big decisions before Game 3. He has to find a way to get more offence from his team, and that means moving Mark Recchi out of his top-six forwards. He also needs to find more playing time for Tyler Seguin, one of the few Bruins who's capable of breaking down the Canucks defence with his skill.

But whatever he decides, he can't continue to trot out the same lineup and hope things will get better. The games in the final have been close thus far but the series isn't. The only way for Boston to change that is to make some changes.

¦ Both Julien and Bruins goalie Tim Thomas got testy with the media when the subject of Thomas's roving ways was raised.

Thus far in the final, three of the four Canucks goals have been scored with Thomas straying from his crease and, on Burrows' game-winner in overtime of Game 2, he was badly out of position.

Right Claude?

"For us to be sitting here having to answer those kind of questions is ridiculous to me."

OK, maybe not.

"That question is really looking for something to talk about," Julien continued. "[In Game 2] he made some unbelievable saves to keep us in the game. So if we want to focus on that last goal, which I think a lot of players could have done a better job, is focusing on the wrong thing."

Thomas, for his part, was asked if he has to make adjustments to his game. You can guess how that went over.

"I have a pretty good idea of how to play goalie," he said. "I'm not going to be taking suggestions or advice at this time. I'm just going to keep playing the way I have."

¦ One of the lines of questioning from Sunday concerned the, ahem, physical toll the Bruins hitting is taking on the Canucks.

It was pointed out to Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, for example, that both Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kesler appear to be labouring under the Bruins' physical attack.

"I think if you look at the stat sheet, at the end of the day we're hitting as hard as they are," Vigneault responded. "Kevin didn't get hit by [the Bruins' Rich Peverley]. He got a cheap shot on the back of the knee so that's totally different. He went down because of something you don't want to see in the game."

¦ Julien on the Canucks' domination of the third period in both games.

"I thought even the first half of the third period [of Game 2] we were a pretty good team. Maybe the last 10 minutes after they scored they picked up a bit of momentum.

"But let's not talk about overtime. It didn't last long enough, right?"

¦ Let's see. It took Winnipeg 72 hours to sell 13,000 season tickets. The NHL's newest team also capped its wait list on season tickets at 8,000, which is more actual season tickets than the Atlanta Thrashers sold.

Anyone still think it's a bad idea the league is back in the Manitoba capital?

¦ If you were wondering if the twins have their game face on, we refer you to the comments Henrik made after Game 2 when he opined the second period was the worst Canucks period of the playoffs.

Worse than the second period of Game 4 against Chicago when they surrendered four goals? Worse than the first period of Game 5 against the Hawks when they gave up three more?

"The worst," Henrik said.

Tough room.

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 06.06.2011

CNN/Sports Illustrated / INSIDE THE NHL Bite incident in Canucks' rear-view mirror after Burrows' OT heroics

Sarah Kwak

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Naturally, this is what it would take to get them talking about something else. Alexandre Burrows knew it; his father even reminded him this week. If everyone had to talk about his son, Rodney Burrows would prefer it have nothing to do with that now-infamous (though according to the NHL, still inconclusive) bite on Bruins center Patrice Bergeron.

"My dad listens to everything, and he told me to score some goals," Burrows said after Game 2 at Rogers Arena on Saturday. "I listened to his advice tonight, and it worked out."

Indeed, one goal wouldn't be enough. Though Burrows had opened the scoring 12:12 into the game, punching in a shot through Boston goalie Tim Thomas on the power play, he'd still have

another. As the game moved into overtime with the score knotted at 2-2, Burrows saw another opportunity, another moment to show that he is more than a pest or a punk on the ice.

Taking advantage of a Bruin turnover in the neutral zone, he skated hard to the net and faked a shot. After Bruins goalie Tim Thomas bit, so to speak, the winger flew around behind the net and slipped the puck into the goal, a feat all the more impressive considering he outreached 6-foot-9 Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara to do it. And just like that, a mere 11 seconds into the extra frame, the 30-year-old winger gave the Canucks the 3-2 win, and a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup finals.

"Some players just have a knack [for the big goals]," Vancouver center Ryan Kesler said. "He's one of them. He's scored huge goals for this organization."

Burrows may have been the hero, but the sentimental star was undoubtedly center Manny Malhotra, who returned to the Vancouver lineup for the first time since March, when he took a puck to the eye. Many wondered if the 31-year-old forward would ever play again, much less this season.

When he stepped onto the ice for warmups for Game 2, the arena spotlight followed his every stride. The man who has been the Canucks' biggest cheerleader behind closed doors heard the roars of the 18,860 at Rogers Arena, heard them chant his name in feverish excitement. As he skated to center ice to take a faceoff just 1:48 into the game, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. He won the draw cleanly, his first of six wins in the circles.

"It was a sensory overload, just the noise, the crowd, all the towels waving," he said. "It was the first time I've seen a home crowd that excited in the playoffs. ... To hear them cheering, to hear that ovation, it makes you feel like a Canuck. It makes you feel like part of this family."

In limited ice time -- just 7:26 -- his contribution to the team wasn't necessarily the kind that jumps out on the score sheet. But for his teammates, however, who have leaned on the 12-year veteran even in his absence on the ice, his return was an even more amazing comeback than the one they pulled off Saturday. Still, down a goal in the third period, the Canucks were determined not to lose their fight.

"We've always had really strong second halves in games," Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo said. "It shows this team's strength and mentality. We have the kind of mentality of never giving up."

For the second game in a row, the Canucks' game only strengthened as the night went on, and at 9:37, Hart Trophy finalist Daniel Sedin, the Canucks' leading scorer during the regular season, took a quick pass from Burrows in the slot and tied the game with an easy wrister. Using their speed to create odd-man rushes and generate more traffic in front of Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, Vancouver outshot Boston 11-5 in the third period, overtaking the momentum the Bruins had gained from a solid second period, in which they scored twice, and putting them on their heels.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're taking responsibilities for this loss," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "It's our own fault, but we're a better team than that, and we're a team that's bounced back all through the season. ... We've been through it. We didn't come here just to roll over. We're going to go back home, regroup and bounce back."

In particular, they will have to address their neutral-zone play, especially their decision-making and puck management, Julien said. The turnovers in the middle of the ice, like the one committed by defenseman Andrew Ference on the game-winner, are the kind of errors that a team with speed like Vancouver can and will capitalize upon.

"We know that they thrive on it," Julien said. "Yet we kept turning pucks over in the neutral zone. We have to be better in those areas."

With just a day to regroup, the Bruins will have to take whatever positives they can muster from another dramatic defeat. Their power play, which has struggled mightily all postseason, was able to beat Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo once they moved Chara from the front of the crease back to the point. He flung a shot toward the net, which forward Mark Recchi was able to tip as he streaked across the slot. It was the 43-year-old winger's first goal since Game 1 of the Bruins second-round series against Philadelphia, and just the sixth power-play goal the team has scored in these playoffs.

One goal may not silence the critics of Boston's power play, but as Burrows' father said, success can get them talking about something else.

THREE STARS

1. Alex Burrows, Canucks -- Saturday's wrap-around goal will only add to the winger's legend, as he has long had a knack for big moments. Two years ago, he scored a series-winning overtime winner against St. Louis. More recently, he blasted the winner in overtime of Game 7 against the Blackhawks in Round 1. With a hand in each of Vancouver's three goals, scoring two and getting the primary assist on Daniel Sedin's tying goal, Burrows stole the show.

2. Roberto Luongo, Canucks -- Withstanding early pressure from the Bruins, the goalie again made the saves that allowed a Vancouver comeback to be possible late -- even if he had to make them against his own teammates. He stopped a between-the-legs pass/shot by Henrik Sedin in the opening minutes. Less than five minutes later, he stoned Bruins center David Krejci who had a wide-open, golden opportunity right in front of the net. His early saves ultimately rescue the team in the end.

3. Manny Malhotra, Canucks -- It's impossible not to consider the center a star of the game. From his first strides in warmup to his first draw at center ice, all eyes were on him and rooting for him. He was effective in the face-off circle, which has always been his strength, and his return brought life to Rogers Arena throughout the night.

CNN/Sports Illustrated LOADED: 06.06.2011

ESPN / Faceoff: Conn Smythe candidates

By Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun

ESPN.com's Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun handicap the candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Burnside: Well, my friend, the Vancouver Canucks are halfway to their first Stanley Cup, and, I have to tell you, the idea of trying to come up with a Conn Smythe Trophy winner from the Canucks is a bit of a challenge. At least from my vantage point having watched from afar prior to the final series, there are a handful of guys you can make a case for from Roberto Luongo to Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin to Alex Burrows and, of course, Ryan Kesler.

Sedin Twins

Will either Henrik or Daniel Sedin take home the Conn Smythe Trophy this postseason?

The problem is that different guys have risen to the occasion at different times during this playoff run.

You've seen the Canucks closer up, so what is your take on the playoff MVP race as the final series shifts to Boston with the Canucks holding a 2-0 series lead?

LeBrun: First of all, I'm not ready to write off the Boston Bruins just yet. I think this series is far from over. But if we're going to handicap the Conn Smythe on June 5, then there's no question the Canucks will dominate the conversation.

As of today, my pick just might be Luongo. Take away two brutal games in the first round and Luongo's playoff run has been sensational. I spoke with a former NHL goaltender Sunday who said he's never seen Luongo this confident and this comfortable in his own skin. And what a shocker if Luongo does end up winning the playoff MVP award when you consider his long list of doubters.

Obviously, you can't have this conversation without keying on Kesler and the Sedin twins, as well. Funny thing is, the twins struggled against Nashville in the second round, and Kesler wasn't quite as dominant versus San Jose. In the end, since you and I usually get to vote on the Conn Smythe Trophy committee, you wonder if there wouldn't be a way for the twins to share it?

Burnside: I am fully aware that the Canucks are still two wins away from a Cup win. As recently as 2009 the Detroit Red Wings owned a 2-0 lead over Pittsburgh and lost in seven games, so we get that this isn't done. Still, the confidence shown by the Canucks suggests the Bruins have dug themselves a mighty hole. Perhaps because they have yet to win a game in this series, it's hard to imagine a Bruins player that you would tab as a Conn Smythe candidate. But I will go out on a limb and suggest Dennis Seidenberg, who has been a rock for the Bruins playing alongside captain Zdeno Chara and playing significant minutes every night. And of course if the Bruins do get back in the series, Vezina Trophy nominee Tim Thomas figures to be a huge factor.

But back to the series-leading Canucks. Yes, Luongo would be a pretty dramatic choice given all his playoff foibles. But for me, I might lean toward Burrows. Yes, a lightning rod for controversy given his bite of Patrice Bergeron and his yapping, etc., but he has delivered on the power play and penalty kill and, more importantly, in the clutch all spring.

LeBrun: Burrows is a nice dark horse choice. He's tied for the team lead with nine goals and some them couldn't have been more clutch. Remember that the Canucks would have been golfing long ago had Burrows not scored in overtime of Game 7 against the Blackhawks in the first round. Of course, Burrows doesn't get to score that goal unless Luongo stones Patrick Sharp during a Chicago power play in overtime in what was a heart-stopping moment for both teams. But as for Burrows, I think if he pots a few more goals in this series, he'll get some Conn Smythe attention.

"He's a great hockey player," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "He scored 35 goals last year. The coach didn't put him once on the power play. Imagine if I would have put him on the power play.

"For me, I just think that Alex gets the game. He understands not only the game on the ice, but he understands the game off the ice. I think that's why he's been able to make himself into a very good hockey player," the coach said Sunday.

"He was one of the hardest workers I had when I had him in Winnipeg. Came here to Vancouver, and he just kept plugging away, kept working at his game. He's a great example of, you know, if you stick with it and you work at it, things will come around."

Burrows' detractors, of course, will point out that he's playing with the Sedin twins. Would he be producing this offense on any other line?

What about Kevin Bieksa as a long-shot candidate? The hard-nosed Bieksa has been Vancouver's best blueliner this spring, and we all remember his overtime goal against San Jose that got the Canucks into the Cup finals. He's a long shot, but there's still time for him to make his case.

ESPN LOADED: 06.06.2011