Bruins Breakout at Home for First Win
The Boston Bruins got themselves back into the Stanley Cup finals with a bang.
Boston’s offense exploded for eight goals as they reduced their series deficit to 2-1 — but rather than the 8-1 scoreline it was Aaron Rome’s first-period hit on Nathan Horton that is the main talking point.
Rome was assessed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct for the collision that left Horton in hospital overnight.
Canucks coach Alain Vigneault refused to be drawn on whether he expected Rome to be suspended, saying: “We'll let the League deal with that.
“I mean, that hit was head on hit, player looking at his pass. It was a little bit late. I don't think that's the hit that the League is trying to take out of the game.
“This is a physical game, you have big guys. Fraction of a second to decide what's happening out there.
“It's very unfortunate. Again, like I said, you never want to see that. But this is a physical game.
“You know, obviously you never want to see any player leave in that situation. I think our whole team and myself and the whole organization hopes that he's all right.
“The hit obviously seemed to be a little bit late, so…
“He got five minutes for interference and was kicked out of the game.”
Emotions were running high in the game after the nature of Rome’s hit and with the game getting away from the Canucks, Ryan Kesler and Dennis Seidenberg dropped the gloves for the first fight of the series in the third.
Vigneault added: At the end of the game the emotions were running high on both teams. I saw a couple finger pointing on their part. It's an emotional game. Stuff happens.”
Bruins coach Julien had a different perspective to Vigneault and felt the hit on Horton was of the nature that the NHL is trying to remove from the game.
He said: “Looking back at the hit, you say was it a dirty hit.
“I think what I would call it is it was a blindside hit that we've talked about taking out of the game. He made the pass. It was late.
“He came from the blindside. Whether it's through the motion of the hit, it appeared he left his feet a little bit.
“You know, again, that's my view on it. I'm not going to comment more than that. Say what I always say: let the league take care of it.
“We're trying to clean that out. Let's see where they go with that.”
Julien was from far impressed with forward Milan Lucic behaviour toward’s Alexandre Burrows during a third-period scrum.
Lucic pushed his fingers towards Burrows’ mouth, taunting and daring him to bite him and Julien wants to put an end to it.
“I'll tell you what,” said Julien. “I said this morning that I wouldn't accept it on our team. It happened a couple of times tonight. They've been told that I don't want any of that stuff.
“You know, like I said, you got to live by your words. It was disappointing for me to see that happen after what I said this morning.
“But part of it is my fault for not bringing it up to the guys. They did it. Emotions got the better of them. I'm going to stand here and say I'm not accepting it. The guys have been told.
“I don't want that stuff in our game. I think we have to be better than that. Emotions are running high. It was a very physical game.
“There was a lot of stuff going on. You can live with that kind of stuff. But the other stuff, as you mentioned, I don't want to see.”
Vigneault is determined the Canucks will put this loss to the back of their mind as they move forward and concentrate on Game Four on Wednesday.
He said: “In the playoffs, a loss is a loss. You lose in OT or you lose like we did tonight, it's a loss in the loss column.
“We're going to take tomorrow to analyze certain aspects of our game, then we're going to come here on Wednesday and we're going to get ready to play a good game.”
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