After Game 7 Canucks forward Ryan Kesler, who was rumored to have a groin injury, would not discuss any injuries or use them as an excuse. “I’m not going to sit here and complain about injuries,” he said. “I was out there. I gave it everything I had tonight and I’m proud of that, I’m proud of the guys that were in this dressing room. It’s disappointing, but we are going to stick together through this one.

Kesler did give the Bruins credit for their victory, especially Tim Thomas. “We had our shots, we definitely had our shots,” he said. “Thomas played great. He stopped everything he needed to. They are a good team. They didn’t get here by chance, we didn’t get here by chance. Game 7, anything can happen. We had a chance to put them away in their building [in Game 6] and we didn’t.”

“It’s hard to swallow, it’s emotional, it’s tough. Hopefully we can reflect on this for a couple of days and get over it,” Kesler said.

There has been plenty of suspicion this series that Canucks forward Ryan Kesler is playing with some sort of injury. The Conn Smythe candidate has been hit hard a number of times and hasn’t looked 100 percent the last few games. The injury theory gained a little more traction Sunday when Kesler, who ranks second on Vancouver with 19 postseason points, wasn’t on the ice for practice.

As expected, though, coach Alain Vigneault wasn’t going to divulge any information about a possible injury. Maintenance days are very common, so the coach assured Kesler’s absence was just that.

“He’s fine,” Vigneault said when asked about Kesler’s absence. “Just giving him a day off, that’s all.”

Defenseman Dan Hamhuis, who has missed the last four games after injuring himself on a hip check in Game 1, was also absent from practice. It appears unlikely that he’ll be back for Game 6.

VANCOUVER — The Bruins are three days into the Stanley Cup finals, and they’re already sick of the way it’s being perceived.

David Krejci and Milan Lucic aren't getting down on the Bruins. (AP)

After losing Game 1 in a contest that was scoreless for all but 18.5 seconds, a couple of members of the Bruins’ first line made it clear Friday at the University of British Columbia that the press might not be giving them a fair enough shake.

“You know, it’s clear that you guys aren’t giving us much of a chance,” Milan Lucic said. “We’ve just got to do whatever we can to prove people wrong.”

The B’s top line has played against the Canucks’ second line of Ryan Kesler between Mason Raymond and Christopher Higgins. How the Bruins will deal with Kesler, a 41-goal-scorer in the regular season, has been a popular topic in the series. The series may be young, but Krejci is already sick of hearing about Kesler.

“He’s the best player in the world, right? That’s what it looks like,” Krejci said when asked about playing against Kesler. “That’s why everybody’s asking me about him. It’s not about him. Obviously, he’s a great player. He’s a really good player, but my game is to focus on my game and what I have to do, and not about other guys.”

Kesler poked a puck past Johnny Boychuk at the blue line Wednesday and hit Jannik Hansen with a pass, who then set up an easy Raffi Torres goal with Tim Thomas respecting Hansen’s shot. Krejci noted that for all the attention the second line receives, Kesler was playing with third-liners (the team was in the midst of a line change) on the game-winning goal, and that it was a closer game than he feels people are remembering.

“It was a zero-zero game all the way,” Krejci said. “You guys are making such a big deal that we lost. I mean, it could have gone either way. His line, I know he got an apple, but he was with the two other guys from another line.”

Krejci and Nathan Horton each had five shots on goal in Game 1, which tied for tops on the Bruins. Many of those shots came on the power play, but the play of the line in general was a strong point for the B’s on a night in which nobody could beat Roberto Luongo.

“It’s still good,” Krejci said. “We’d like to have over 10 shots every game, but I feel like we can maybe bring a little more to our game, especially create some chances. I don’t think we had that many great scoring chances the last game.”

Due to concerts at Rogers Arena, the home of the Canucks, the teams have had to deal with a two-day gap between Games 1 and 2. Lucic noted that he’s blocked out any chatter in that time and is focused on giving the media something positive to talk about after Saturday’s Game 2.

“Obviously we can’t control what you guys say,” Lucic said. ”That’s why we try not to watch or read too much of what you guys say. For us, it’s definitely a big opportunity going into Game 2. We know we have to play better. We need to play better. We need to play the way we did prior coming into this series to give ourselves a chance to win.

“They finished first in the league, in the standings, for a reason,” he said of the Canucks. “They beat the three teams before us to get here for a reason.  They’re a really good team. They beat us in Game 1 because they played better than us.”

Whether or not the media has actually been hard on the B’s, it looks like the two days off have the Bruins itching to get back on the ice in Game 2 and show that they can hang with the Canucks. For 49 minutes and just over 17 seconds, they did on Wednesday.

Former Boston College standout and current Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider joined the Mut & Merloni show Monday morning to talk about the upcoming Stanley Cup finals. To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.

Schneider said that although the Canucks didn’t learn all that much about the Bruins from their 3-1 loss in February, what he’s noticed most from watching the playoffs is Boston’s depth.

“They have three deep lines, and offensively even their fourth line is effective in what they do,” Schneider said. “On any given night for them a different guy can step up and be the difference.”

Schneider also said the Canucks would need to keep track of Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron in particular. He called Lucic a “big guy who can disrupt a lot of plays and go to the net and create problems.” He compared Bergeron with Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler: a multi-talented player who contributes on offense, defense, faceoffs and special teams.

“He [Bergeron] can really burn you if you’re not paying attention,” Schneider said.

Schneider also complimented Zdeno Chara’s defense, calling him a “No. 1 guy”.

“He’s got such a long reach that it doesn’t matter who you put out against him, he’s going to try and find a way to shut them down,” Schneider said. He added that the Canucks’ Swedish twins, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, might be able to beat Chara.

“You probably haven’t seen anything like them when they’re playing down low,” Schneider said. “They’re cycling the puck and they make these soft passes to each other, you have no idea how they made it. It’s pretty incredible to watch. That will be a great matchup.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The start of the Stanley Cup finals is still four days away, but it’s never too early to start studying up on the Bruins’ opponent. The Canucks finished the regular season with the best record in the NHL (54-19-9), the best offense (3.15 goals per game), the best defense (2.20 goals against per game) and the best power play (24.4 percent).

They nearly blew a 3-0 series lead to the Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs, but they bounced back to win Game 7 in overtime to avoid suffering the same disastrous fate that befell the Bruins last year. From there, the Canucks won a tight-checking series against the Predators in six games, only one of which was decided by more than a goal.

They then punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup finals by knocking off the Sharks in five games. The Canucks were badly outshot in each of the last two games — 35-13 in Game 4 and 56-34 in Game 5 — but they managed to come away with a pair of wins thanks to some great goaltending, an opportunistic offense and a lucky bounce in double overtime of the final game.

Here are five more things you should know about the Canucks, along with what the Bruins can do to counter them. Read the rest of this entry »

Boston kept the Canucks defensive in the second period by getting on the power play early. Vancouver forward Mason Raymond went to the box for a delay-of-game call at 1:58 and was joined by Henrik Sedin for a slash at 3:50. The Bruins had opportunities in front of Roberto Luongo but could not bury the puck that would give them a 3-0 advantage.

The Bruins would pay for it later in the period when Raymond was fed off the back wall by Ryan Kesler. Raymond handled the puck and took two steps left before putting it passed Tuukka Rask at 8:51.

Boston took two penalties in the period but were able to kill them both. The first was a trip against Michel Ryder at 5:36 and the second interference against Zdeno Chara at 10:12. The Bruins had a couple more opportunities on the power play when Canucks defenseman Shane O’Brien interfered with Bruins forward Mark Recchi (really, he checked him into the back of the net behind Luongo) but the Canucks were able to earn the kill.

Bruins still lead, 2-1 at the end of two.

Shots:

Bruins — 25

Canucks — 12