Stanley Cup Finals: Observations from Game 1.

The Stanley Cup Finals got underway last night in Vancouver and if you like goaltending you couldn't have asked for a better game.

Tim Thomas & Roberto Luongo went toe to toe and turned away everything that was thrown at them. Watching the game you couldn't help but wonder who would be the first to give up a goal. 

We would have to wait until 19:40 of the 3rd period when Raffi Torres took a pass from Jannik Hansen to score the only goal of the game giving the Canucks a 1-0 win and a 1-0 lead in this best of seven series.

Here are a few observations I have after watching Game 1. 

1. Tim Thomas will have to be the best player for Boston if the Bruins are to win the Stanley Cup. 

Thomas played as well as he could of last night and the Bruins will need him to continue to do so. The Canucks are a much deeper team than Boston and they skate a lot better than the Bruins. In the 3rd period the Bruins looked gassed out on the ice.

The Bruins will have to use their size and strength to try & slow down Vancouver. If that doesn't work Thomas will be looking at a lot of scoring chances for the Canucks. 

2. The Bruins Power Play is Pathetic. 

Last night Boston had a four minute power play in the 1st period & a 5-3 for 1:25 in the 2nd period. The Bruins failed to score on both power plays. They were 0-6 with the man advantage.

It's amazing the Bruins have gotten this far with their power play being as bad as it has been this post-season. When you are playing against a team as good as Vancouver you need to take advantage of these opportunities.

Boston was lucky to get by Montreal, Philadelphia, & Tampa Bay with their power play being as bad as it has been. They won't beat Vancouver if it doesn't improve. 

3. The use of Zdeno Chara on the power play. 

This has been one of the more interesting conundrums in the playoffs. Chara is 6 ft. 9. His size alone makes him a valuable asset to put in front of the goaltender to set up screens on the power play.

Chara also has a 105 mph slapshot which is valuable on the blueline during power plays.

Having him stand in front of Luongo didn't seem to make a difference last night. It might be time to put him back on the blueline during power plays in Game 2 and see what happens. The results can't be any worse. 

4. Boston needs to challenge Luongo. 

The Bruins outshot Vancouver last night 36-33 but it seemed like the Canucks were making Thomas work for his saves while Boston was content shooting on Luongo hoping he would let one through.

Watching the game last night I kept waiting for Vancouver to get the first goal of the game. I never felt the Bruins were going to score first.

They need to get Luongo out of position and moving from side to side. In other words do to Luongo in Game 2 what the Canucks did to Boston in Game 1.

5. It didn't take long for bad blood to show.

There was a scrum at the end of the 1st period between Patrice Bergeron and Alexandre Burrows. During the scrum Bergeron gave Burrows a facewash which resulted in Burrows biting the glove a Bergeron.

It was announced today that Burrows would not be suspended for his actions. He did receive an extra two minute penalty for his infraction at the start of the 2nd period. As far as the NHL is concerned the incident is over & done with.

Usually in a series like this where the two teams don't have a history with each other it takes a little bit for bad blood to show. Not this time. It looks like neither team cares for each other and that usually leads to entertaining hockey.

The question now is are the Bruins in trouble?

The bad news: 55 of the 71 teams to win Game 1 in the Stanley Cup Finals have gone on to win the Stanley Cup.

The good news: It's a best of seven not a best of one.

Boston went head to head with the best team in the NHL for over 59 minutes last night before a goal was scored. The Bruins did some good things on the ice and shown they can play with the Canucks.

However they aren't going to be able to shutdown the Sedin twins like they did last night. They will get going and they will get their points. Boston needs the top line of Krecji, Horton & Lucic to play better than they did last night.

Boston will make the necessary adjustments and I predict they will come out strong in Game 2. They better. A 2-0 deficit against Vancouver might be too big of a hole to dig out of.