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Bruins host Canucks in Cup Finals rematch

Jan 7, 2012 - 4:17 PM (Sports Network) - With the rest of the hockey world looking forward to today's Stanley Cup Finals rematch between the Canucks and Bruins, the two surging clubs showed how focused they are on the long-term in their last trips to the ice.

Once again two of the top teams in the NHL, Vancouver pays a visit to Boston for the first meeting between the club's since the Bruins hoisted the Cup nearly seven months ago.

The Canucks and Bruins engaged in a spirited matchup in last year's Finals, with Boston emerging with a 4-0 victory in Game 7 at Vancouver on June 15 for its first title since 1972. Thomas made 37 saves to cap his Conn Smythe Trophy-winning playoffs, while Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand had two goals each in the title-clinching game.

Today is the lone regular-season matchup between the clubs this year, but the Bruins and Canucks could very well collide again this June. Boston leads the Northeast Division with 53 points, three back of the New York Rangers for the top spot in the East, while Vancouver is leading the Western Conference with 53 points, one more than Chicago.

The Bruins are 3-0-1 in their past four regular-season matchups with the Canucks, taking two of the past three at home.

If Boston was looking past Thursday's meeting with Calgary, it didn't show as the Bruins rolled to a 9-0 victory. Bergeron and Nathan Horton had two goals and an assist each to pace an offense that featured points from 13 different skaters, while Tuukka Rask made 25 saves for his third shutout in four starts.

David Krejci had a goal and two assists to stretch his point streak to six straight games (3 goals, 6 assists).

"I thought our team played real well tonight, obviously," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. "For us it was a matter of coming out strong, establishing a lead early and then hopefully taking any hope away from them to even think it would be a game they could win."

Though Rask is coming off his 11th career shutout and leads the NHL with a 1.49 goals-against average and .949 save percentage, Julien could still opt to go with Thomas tonight.

Boston has surged no matter who is in net. The Bruins have outscored their opponents 49-13 while winning nine of their last 10 and are 23-3-1 since the start of November.

The Bruins won the opener of a four-game homestand and have potted 17 goals in their last two home games. They have captured 12 of their past 14 in Boston and can now turn full focus onto visiting Vancouver.

"It's going to be a huge game," said Bergeron. "Obviously, it's a tough team. We've seen last year it's a team that's very physical with a lot of talent, great power play and now we know them more than we used to."

The Canucks also showed plenty of focus in their last trip to the ice, posting a 3-0 win over the visiting Wild. Vancouver snapped a two-game slide and moved to 16-4-2 in its past 22 games.

"I don't think there was a lot of talk if any in our locker room about the Boston game," said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault. "We knew that Minnesota had been practicing real hard lately. We knew that they were real focused and ready for this game, so we had to bring our best game to the ice and I think for the most part that's what we did."

Roberto Luongo made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season in what was his 700th career game. Daniel Sedin and Alexandre Burrows scored in the first period and Manny Malhotra notched an empty-net goal.

Vancouver opens a four-game road trip this afternoon and is expected to have forward David Booth on the swing. Booth hasn't played since Dec. 6 due to a right knee injury, but a return date is still unknown.