Chase for the Cup: 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs Roundup

It was a pretty even start in Boston last night, but Rich Peverley and Brad Marchand took over in the second and third and Boston continued to throw Vancouver for a loop last night.

The Night that Was:

All of a sudden, after the series looked so close and so tightly knit in Vancouver, the Stanley Cup Final seems to be firmly in the Boston Bruins’ control. Boston got things going partway through the first period when Rich Peverley split the Vancouver defense off of a nice chip pass from David Krejci and put Boston up 1-0. The Canucks continued to pressure Boston in the first, outshooting the home side 12-6. In the second and third however, things slowed down for Vancouver and sped up for Boston. Literally.

Despite firing 13 shots on net in each of those periods, it seemed as if Vancouver was skating on different ice than the Bruins, as the Canucks failed to get nearly any second chance shots in the last two periods. On a Vancouver line change 11 minutes into the period, Tyler Seguin (back in the lineup for Nathan Horton), found Michael Ryder on a break and he snapped one past Luongo. Then it was Brad Marchand beating Luongo two minutes later, and just three and a half minutes into the third Rich Peverley scored his second of the game off of a great set-up from Milan Lucic. That would be it for Roberto Luongo, who was pulled in favour of Corey Schnieder, and while Schneider stopped all nine shots he faced, the Canucks couldn’t stop the Bruins from beating them up. Brad Marchand took out three Canucks on one shift earning himself six minutes in penalties on that one play and a misconduct, while Alex Burrows tried to get under Thomas’ skin by knocking the stick out of his hands, but Thomas retaliated as he wasn’t prepared to allow Burrows to get away with it. Thomas probably got the better of Burrows in that exchange too. The Bruins win 4-0 and take the series back to Vancouver tied at 2.

The Injury Bug:

-Dan Hamhuis’ lower body injury kept him out of the lineup yesterday.

What’s on Tonight?

Game Five of the Stanley Cup finals shifts back to Vancouver on Friday, and it’ll get underway at 8:00pm Eastern.

News and Rumours Around the League:

-Winnipeg has named their General Manager. After releasing Rick Dudley from his obligations, the team named Kevin Cheveldayoff the new General Manager. Chveldayoff has ties to Winnipeg, acting as General Manager of the Manitoba Moose (AHL), but most recently he held the role of Assistant General Manager of the Chicago Blackhaawks.

-Bill Guerin was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday. The former Penguin was named the ‘Player Development Coach’ for the franchise.

-The NHL’s General Managers are meeting and discussing rule 48. The biggest change would be the proposition they’ve made to drop the word ‘blindside’ from the rule, and have it encompass all hits to the head.

-Kris Draper is awaiting word from Detroit whether or not he’ll be looking for work in another NHL city this off-season or not.

Your Top Playoff Performer of the Night:

Rich Peverley stepped onto the top line when Nathan Horton went down and hooked up with David Krejci for two goals last night. Peverley had the game-winner as well as the goal that ended Roberto Luongo’s night.

You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.