Some thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Saturday night:
The overtime ending of Saturday night's Game 2 was really bizarre because the Boston Bruins won the faceoff and it looked as though everything was under control. Andrew Ference had the puck and tried to move it through the neutral zone to Mark Recchi, only to have his pass picked off.
Once the puck was picked off, it was basically a comedy of errors between the over aggressiveness by Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara chasing on the outside, as Alex Burrows was able to tap it in for his second overtime winner of these playoffs.
Everybody is going to be talking, at least the Bruins fans are going to be talking about why Burrows was even in this hockey game. In their minds, they feel Burrows bit Patrice Bergeron in Game 1 and he should have been suspended.
Burrows wasn't suspended and he ends up with a multiple goal game, including the winner in overtime.
The Aftermath
Burrows played a terrific hockey game, there is no question about that.
You can debate back and forth whether he should have been suspended or not, but it's tough to suspend a guy in a Stanley Cup Final game for something that during the regular season would cost you one regular season game. A Stanley Cup Final game may be worth four or five regular season games, so that's why he wasn't suspended.
Overall in this hockey game, I thought Burrows was terrific. He had a physical presence, he scored the early goal, he made good defensive plays and great offensive plays and ultimately he was there for the game winner.
Second Period Mystery
It's hard to say what happened in the 2:35 second span in the second period that saw the Bruins score both of their goals. I can't figure it out.
Did the Canucks go to sleep in the second period or did the Bruins wake up? It's hard to say.
Sometimes Vancouver has a sleepy element to their game, and right around the time you think that Bruins are never going to score another goal, they get two with Milan Lucic and the struggling Recchi, on the power play no less, scoring.
In that short span of time, Boston looked to have Vancouver on the ropes, but it was short lived and the Canucks got it going again.