1) The Bruins rebounded with avengeance, or should I say to avenge the nasty/dirty hit on Nathan Horton by the Canuck defensemen early in the 1st period last night in game 3 of the Finals. In our estimation the Bruins were ripe for the picking up until that point. If the Canucks had scored first there is little doubt that the Bruins would have folded like a cheap suit and we wouldn't be having this discussion right now.
2) What Rome did was to unleash the fury (sorry Caps fans) in the Bruins. They already were steaming at the Burrows bite and subsequent LaPierre taunting of Patrice Bergeron that this was the last straw. Even after they failed to convert on the Rome 5 min penalty you could still see the fire in their eyes, determined to have the Canucks pay for their team mates indiscretion, and that they did in a big way! To their credit, despite a few scrums the Bruins were restrained in their retaliation and scored early and often from the beginning of the 2nd period on despite the Canucks bizarrely getting tons of PP time.
3) In my opinion the Canucks have played right into the hands of the Bruins with this approach. If they simply played a solid, albeit tough game without the nonsense they would probably easily dispatch the offensively depleted Bruins quickly. However by playing an abrasive style they effectively eliminated the Sedins because the brothers are not going to play that way and you could see them wilt in the heat last night.
4) If Alain Vigneault is the great coach we have been led to believe, he will do what Caude Julian did prior to and after last night's game and tell his team to knock off the nonsense and simply play hockey. Talent wise, player for player the Bruins can NOT keep up with the Canucks, but if the Vancouver denizens persist in playing it close to and over the edge then the Bruins will stay with them and perhaps even make this a series after all. If the Bruins somehow won the Cup after being down 0-2 we can look back on Rome's hit as the turning point. It remains to be seen if Rome will in fact burn the Canucks chances of winning their first Cup, ever
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