Canucks-Bruins Stanley Cup sequel is a delicious but terrifying thought
The Vancouver Canucks take on the Boston Bruins tonight in, dare I say, a possible Stanley Cup Final preview.
Been a while since anyone was able to utter that.
It’s not over-sensationalizing it either. These are the top two teams in the NHL standings and have the ability to go all the way.
The Canucks and Bruins are on top of the NHL standings.
Could you imagine?
It’s both a delicious and terrifying thought for Canucks fans, who are still haunted by Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Final loss to this day.
Sure, the rivalry isn’t what it once was, but Canucks fans are lying to themselves if they think games against Boston don’t mean a little bit extra since 2011. The players know it means more too.
Conor Garland had tickets to Game 8 but couldn’t go. Said he stopped being a Bruins fan when they didn’t draft him. Understands how big tonight’s game is to Canucks nation.
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) February 8, 2024
Just one player from that series remains on either team, but he’s an important one: Brad Marchand.
Can you think of a better way for the Canucks to end their 54-year Stanley Cup drought than beating Marchand and the Bruins?
Maybe beating the Leafs would be sweeter, but I’d argue that evening the score with both Marchand and Boston would be unparalleled.
Ok, now for the terrifying part.
Would there be a more soul-crushing way to lose than to Boston, again, in the Stanley Cup Final? You can’t convince me there is. And, as if the Canucks needed more pressure on their shoulders.
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Now, there’s a lot of work to be done before either team gets back to the Final. Nobody is practicing lifting the Stanley Cup right now.
That’s obvious. And Canucks fans will clearly take a Stanley Cup in any form.
The path to the Stanley Cup is more difficult through the Pacific Division than anywhere else this season, given it’ll mean a matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights or Edmonton Oilers, or maybe even both.
Everything has gone right for the Canucks this season, but their core is thin on playoff experience. The Canucks haven’t played a playoff game outside of the 2020 pandemic in nine years, meaning that Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Thatcher Demko have never played postseason hockey at Rogers Arena.
Boston is more battle-tested, but they’re thin at centre without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci this season. Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle are their top two centres now. The Bruins have managed to push ahead anyway, but perhaps that’ll catch up with them in the postseason.
Either way, what a difference a few months make.
Not many people thought the Bruins would remain on top of the Eastern Conference without Bergeron and Krejci. And the Canucks? They were gunning for a playoff spot, but nobody saw this coming.