I have said before that I am a fairly optimistic fellow, a guy most people would likely refer to as "glass half full". Wherever possible I try to see the positive in a given situation and put that spin on it.
So that begs the question: how the hell does one put a positive spin on the last two games for the Vancouver Canucks?
It's not an easy question to answer, but we can give it a shot. In Games 3 and 4, the Canucks were outscored by the Boston Bruins by a combined total of 12-1. Wait, that's not very good.
How about this: in Games 3 and 4, the Canucks went a combined 0-for-18 while racking up a whopping 96 penalty minutes of their own, misconducts included. Damn. That's not very good either.
How about the fact that our star goaltender got lite up for 12 goals against in two games, eventually getting the hook in favour of rookie backup Cory Schneider for the first time since the opening round against the Chicago Blackhawks? Nope, that's not very good.
Okay, so maybe finding a silver lining for the past two games is more difficult than I thought. Call it a side effect of the team mailing in two poor efforts.
But I think I finally have it: the Canucks head back to Vancouver not trailing in this series, but tied. That's right! Tied. The Boston Bruins have not yet won the Stanley Cup, we didn't miss a parade, and the Vancouver Canucks' season is not yet over. The series is all even at 2-2 heading back to home ice.
It was only a few short days ago that the Canucks headed to Boston with all the momentum on their side on the heels of two dramatic victories. Canuck Nation was whispering "sweep" as the frustrated Bruins headed back to the TD Banknorth Garden.
And now, several days later, it's a whole new ball game. Tim Thomas is the goaltender who has the most recent shutout now, not Roberto Luongo. And Brad Marchand has usurpsed Alexandre Burrows as the most annoying French Canadian pest on the ice who also happens to be able to burn you with some teriffic hockey skills.
But in spite of all this, the series is tied. It's easy to forget, given the manner in which the Canucks lost the last two games, that they won the first two. Yes, it is easy to get caught up staring at the 12-1 combined score of the last two games and miss the fact that--where it counts--this series is tied at 2-2.
But the bottom line is that there is still hockey to be played, and on home ice at that. The Canucks are 9-3 as the home team in the playoffs to this point and have not lost a game at Rogers Arena since the second round series against the Nashville Predators. They save their best for the home rink, and that is a decided benefit at this point.
Granted, decided benefits are tricky. Yesterday I speculated that with the NHL announcing they would be calling things tighter, that this would work in Vancouver's favour. Frankly, the NHL never followed through on its pledge and yesterday's game was just as much of a gong show as Game 3 before it. (I don't necessarilly think the officiating was tilted in either direction--it was simply awful, period)
So, if there is some positivity to take away from the past few days it is that the Canucks are returning to the (hopefully) friendly confines of Rogers Arena in a series tied 2-2. The Canucks now have to take a Best-of-Three to win the Stanley Cup. If any of us was approached before the season to ask if this sounded like a good deal, would any of us say no? Would any of us say "well, what order were the games won in to get to Game 5"?
I didn't think so. Anyone in Canuck Nation would have taken that deal in a heartbeat.
One other thing I noticed last night was a bizarre sound. It was probably louder in Vancouver than it was up here in Kitimat, but it was still distinct and instantly recognizeable. I'd grown accustomed to it after facing the Chicago Blackhawks in the last three playoff seasons: the sound of the knives coming out and being sharpened for Roberto Luongo.
I'm the first to admit, the last two games were not pretty for him. I couldn't actually fault him for Game 3, but I thought he had a poor outting in Game 4. His failure to stop a fairly lousy five-hole shot by Rich Peverley on the game's opening goal, and whiffing completely on a long knuckle-puck from Michael Ryder for the second goal were both deflating moments for the Canucks. The last two goals weren't really his fault--a miscommunication by Keith Ballard and Henrik Sedin ended with the puck behind Luongo for the third goal, and an unfortunate bounce off a Bruin glove resulted in the fourth. But it was those first two that were costly.
But putting that aside--I can't believe that after everything this team and this goaltender have been through that Luongo's fans are still so...fair weather.
This is a guy who rebounded from the darkest moments of his professional career in the first round. He was lit up like a Christmas tree by the Blackhawks before being benched in favour of Cory Schneider for Game 6. He then returned in the all important Game 7 and played one of the best games of his career, punctuated with a season-saving stop off Patrick Sharp while the Canucks were shorthanded in overtime.
He was solid against Nashville, and he completely shut down the San Jose attack in Games 4 and 5 of the Western Conference Final, playing what certainly was his finest game as a Canuck with 54 saves in Game 5. He earned a shutout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, and had another fine performance in Game 2.
So the team, as a whole, has a collective brain fart and drops two consecutive games in Boston. All of a sudden everyone is turning on Luongo again?
Give me a break. He has bounced back from worse than what he is facing now, and so has this team. The Boston Bruins, all due respect, are not the Chicago Blackhawks. They are not the defending Stanley Cup Champions, and they are not the team that built a hotel inside the collective psyche of the Vancouver Canucks and remained their on a semi-permanent basis for three years.
The Canucks will bounce back. Roberto Luongo will bounce back.
The Canucks have gotten past too many demons to get to this point and come home empty handed. They have too much pride, skill and will to simply burn out or fade away against this chippy Boston Bruins team.
And I think they'll prove it in Game 5.
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