Game 4 Preview
We are one hour away from a pivotal Game 4 in the Stanley Cup Finals. A win tonight for Vancouver would see them take a commanding 3-1 series lead, while a Boston victory would tie the series up at 2-2 and send it back to Vancouver with the momentum 100% in the Bruins’ favour. Lets take a quick look at tonight’s line-up news and key questions.
Boston
Nathan Horton is gone for the series, so Tyler Seguin is expected to be back in. How will Claude Julien organise his lines though? He probably won’t trust his rookie to play a full shift on the top line, in fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him spelled even if he is only played on the third line. Michael Ryder is arguably the most like for like replacement for Horton on that unit. He possesses a strong shot and has decent size. Rich Peverley spent a lot of time there in Game 3 and gives the line speed and defensive responsibility, there is also the suggestion that a third line of Seguin, Peverley and Chris Kelly might be a little under-sized matching up against the Canucks. Regardless of the combos, the two important factors for this forward group in Game 4 are: 1) Bergeron’s line must play as they did in Game 3, they are the line that has shown the ability to set a tone throughout the playoffs, but they didn’t do it particularly well in Games 1 and 2. 2) David Krejci and particularly Milan Lucic must pick up the bulk of the offensive slack lost with Horton. It is their job to keep their line productive.
Vancouver
Well, the Canucks have lost another defenseman, but they have gotten used to that during the year and the playoffs. Still, losing two similar blue-liners in Dan Hamhuis and Aaron Rome will not be easy to cope with. It seems certain that Christian Ehrhoff will move up to join Kevin Bieksa, Alexander Edler and Sami Salo will compose a top four that plays a lot of minutes. Whether Salo will move into a shutdown role alongside Bieksa or whether Ehrhoff will move straight up is as of yet unclear. On the bottom pair, Keith Ballard is the favourite to step in, but there have also been suggestions that Christopher Tanev could also play to re-form a successful partnership from earlier in the year and the end of the Sharks series. Andrew Alberts hasn’t particularly impressed, but Tanev is still only a rookie.
Key Questions
Can Roberto Luongo bounce back?
Luongo showed an ability to bounce back earlier in the postseason when he recovered from being benched in Game 6 against Chicago, but the Canucks don’t have a margin for error in this series. He didn’t get enough help from his defense in Game 3, but he also let a couple of softies in at bad times. He was outstanding in Games 1 and 2, and his team needs a bounce back performance right now.
Who’s struggling on the power-play again?
It is hard to believe, but Boston’s power-play outplayed Vancouver’s in Game 3. The Bruins were 2-4, while the Canucks were a poor 0-8. The answer to this should be simple though, Boston has to take less penalties and cannot count on shutting down a unit with the personnel and set up of the Canucks.
Who will win the physical battle?
Vancouver surprised some people by dominating the physical battle at both ends of the ice in Games 1 and 2, but Boston upped the tempo in Game 3. Physicality is clearly going to be a huge factor in this series. Game 4 should be interesting once again, the Canucks have lost two pretty physical defensemen in Hamhuis and Rome.
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