Around The NHL: SC Finals Game 3 Thoughts

The Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 8-1 tonight. The Bruins cut the Canucks' series lead in half, as Vancouver leads 2-1 going into Game 4 Wednesday night in Boston. 

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CH: I needed to get my thoughts together before I wrote this post because there were so many storylines to this game. Let's start with the Aaron Rome hit on Nathan Horton. What an absolute disgrace that was. I was completely speechless when I saw the hit. It was unnecessary, reckless, harmful, and with a total lack of respect for the opponent. Rome, in my opinion, should be suspended for 5 games. He should not have the privilege of potentially raising the Stanley Cup with his teammates on the ice. Mike Murphy will certainly have his hands full with this one.

Moving onto the Recchi and Lucic taunts: I have to admit I laughed, but realistically there is no place for that within the context of the game. You can't say that you're over the biting incident and then go and mock the Canucks about it. This should have been dead and buried after the NHL opted not to suspend Alex Burrows. It needs to be completely dead now.

As far as the play on the ice, it was a complete domination. I felt the Canucks had a chance to steal the game after the Bruins did not score on their major powerplay, but that never happened. Boston just took it to Vancouver, even though the Canucks did have 40+ shots. Roberto Luongo should have been pulled after the fifth goal, but Alain Vigneault gave Luongo the option to stay in. That's a point where the coach  needs to take control and pull the goalie for the sake of his confidence. However, on the flip side, Tim Thomas was outstanding tonight.

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Without saying much else other than the fact Boston put up an 8-spot in the Stanley Cup Finals, it's time to look ahead to Game 4. Vancouver has a ton to prove here. Roberto Luongo has a ton to prove here. However, this is not a terribly pivotal game. Vancouver has the chance to take a commanding series lead, but they will still hold home ice advantage regardless. I believe the Canucks will recover nicely and win Game 4, but no matter what this series has taken on a whole new landscape after Game 3.

AT: Man, what I would've done to be a fly on the wall in the Bruins locker room after the first period. I can only imagine what Julien said to this team. Obviously, it created a whole new perspective for the players and he encouraged them to play their hearts out the entire game and take it to them until the final buzzer. As the final score shows, they certainly did.

The taunts need to end. Okay, it's the Stanley Cup finals, but I fear it's going to turn into something a lot worse if the NHL doesn't put an end to it. As for the hit, absolutely disgusting. There was no chance for Horton to react to that. A shoulder to the head is never, ever acceptable.