Game one of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals is in the books now, and it was a goaltender’s duel from the opening puck drop right down to the final buzzer. Vancouver, in only their third appearance in the finals, came out like they expected to win. They spent most of the first period in Boston’s end, and while the Bruins eventually came out on top in the “shots on goal” category they certainly seemed to come up woefully short in the “intensity of play” category.
For me, it was a game that seemed full of promise and had no real surprises. Boston, which has a history of making bad plays in their own end and a dearth of impact players on the powerplay this season, continued doing the very same. There were several turnovers in the Boston end, a couple of those by veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara, but again this is something I’ve become accustomed to in watching the Bruins all season long. The inability to make effective clearing shots while on the penalty kill also was no surprise. Nor was the continued inability to capitalize on a five-on-three advantage.
The thing that really surprised me, though, was the little face-washing incident between Bergeron and Burrows. Now, Canucks fans can say what they like but I will emphatically state as a long-time hockey fan that biting another player is a suspendable infraction. It does not matter one little bit (yes – pun intended) that Bergeron had a glove on or that said glove was actually in Burrows’ face – I’ve played ice hockey, and believe it or not the gloves are leather on the underside. You CAN bite through it.
It would be interesting to see if there are teeth marks on that glove, but it is frankly a moot point – watch the video replay if you doubt that Burrows bit him. He did, there’s no denying it so there’s nothing to be said in defense of it. Just like there is nothing to be said in defense of Bertuzzi’s sucker punch, or Cooke’s blindside hits, or Marty McSorely’s broadsword attack on Donald Brashear’s head. It is, in short, one of the things that falls under “unsportsmanlike conduct” at best. Murphy needs to suspend him for two games at least and let’s move on.
As far as officiating goes, I’d be hard-pressed to complain about the officiating in the first game of the finals – because there wasn’t any. There were very few penalties called, as it seemed the refs were going to continue their vows of silence in this year’s second season. Several infractions were simply ignored, which means that this series is going to start getting nasty in a hurry as players figure out that almost anything will be allowed.
Oh, and for those who have read some of my prior posts on this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, please note that I picked the Bruins and Canucks to be meeting in the finals before Round 2 even started. Huzzah! I did pretty good, all things considered.
Get ready for game two on Saturday. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be more physical, but even if it isn’t I hope the Canucks’ players will limit their mouthing off to actual verbal exchanges.
