FINAL: Bruins 4, Canucks 0 - Bruins rebound after loss and tie Vancouver in standings

The Bruins rebounded after one of their worst losses on Tuesday night with one of their best wins Thursday night, blanking the Vancouver Canucks 4-0. Boston has now tied the Canucks with the most points overall in the NHL at 73. In the pregame notes I wrote about how Boston needed to get off to a fast start, as you can't play from behind against Vancouver, and the Bruins answered the bell as Brad Marchand scored short-handed :32 into the first period to give the B's a 1-0 lead. 

Danton Heinen also scored short-handed at the 15:37 mark to put Boston up 2-0 at the first intermission. 

The Bruins came out firing again early in the second period as Morgan Geekie scored :34 seconds into the period and Pavel Zacha added another goal :15 later which made it 4-0.

Boston did a great job of winning puck battles and had great goaltending from Linus Ullmark, who finished the night with 17 saves and his first shutout of the season. Boston did a fantastic job in the third period holding Vancouver scoreless and not allowing them to have many good scoring chances. This was a great rebound win after a bad loss to Calgary on Tuesday. I do believe that coming out of the All-Star Break has impacted the play of different teams. For example, Boston fell flat to Calgary Tuesday night at home and then Vancouver got embarrassed tonight. 

The Bruins will be back in action when they host the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Great rebound win tonight versus a strong Vancouver team. The Bruins have now tied the Canucks atop the overall league standings with 73 points. 
• Ullmark had an excellent game in net tonight recording his first shutout of the season. 
• Marchand had a key first period getting everything started. 
• Boston was impressive on the penalty kill, cashing in on two short-handed goals. 

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

3. Pavel Zacha (1 goal and an assist)

2. Charlie Coyle (Two assists)

1. Linus Ullmark (17 saves and a shutout)

____________________________________

WHO: Canucks (34-11-5) at Bruins (31-10-9)
WHEN: 7 p.m.
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston. 
TV: NESN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
LIVE BOX SCORE
ROSTERS

BOSTON
 Marchand –  Coyle –  DeBrusk
 Van Riemsdyk –  Zacha –  Pastrnak
 Heinen –  Geekie –  Frederic
 Lauko –  Boqvist –  Steen

 Grzelcyk –  McAvoy
 Lindholm –  Carlo
 Forbort –  Wotherspoon

 Ullmark
 Swayman

CANUCKS
Suter-Miller-Boeser
Mikheyev-Pettersson-Lindholm
Joshua-Blueger-Garland
Höglander-Åman-Lafferty

Hughes-Hronek
Cole-Myers
Zadorov-Juulsen

Demko

PREGAME NOTES

The Bruins welcome the Vancouver Canucks to TD Garden Thursday night at 7 p.m. The Bruins announced Wednesday night that rookie Matt Poitras underwent a right shoulder shoulder surgery that will force him to miss the remainder of the season. “There was a lot of discussion about what was best for Matty Poitras", Jim Montgomery told reporters. “I think in the end, [ Don Sweeney] and I had talked with Matty and Donny and Matty talked with his family and the people that advise him. Everyone was on the same page that this is what would be best for him moving forward since he’s 19," Montgomery continued. “Next year, he’s gonna have a full summer to get prepared for next year. If we waited, then the summer gets compromised,” Montgomery concluded.  Boston recalled Anthony Richard from Providence today to fill Poitras' spot on the roster. 

Brad Marchand did not participate in morning skate today due to maintenance and Parker Wotherspoon will sub in for Kevin Shattenkirk tonight. Boston will face a tough test tonight against the best team in the NHL in the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver has a lot of star power this season including Brock Boeser, who leads the squad in goals with 30 and owns a three-game point streak. J.T. Miller leads Vancouver with 68 points on the season.  Elias Pettersson has recorded 22 points in his last 15 games and Quinn Hughes has 11 points in his last five games, good for 64 points this season. The Canucks have the highest goal differential (+62) in the NHL. Vancouver is tough to beat when leading after two periods with 29 wins, good for the most in the NHL.  They have also scored first in games 33 times (first in the NHL) and have the most wins when scoring first (26). Boston will have to get off to a fast start tonight to get the crowd involved and can not afford to play from behind at all tonight. The Bruins trail only two points behind Vancouver as the best team in the league. Boston defeated the Canucks 3-1 last season back on February 25th. 

The Canucks are first in the league this season in goals for (3.78) and second in goals against (2.54) trailing only the Winnipeg Jets. Vancouver is seventh in the NHL on the power play at 25.8%. Hopefully the Bruins can expose Vancouver's penalty kill which ranks 16th in the league at 79.6%.