Brad Marchand lays Canucks-Bruins rivalry to rest following penalty-free game
The Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks seemed to brew a new rivalry in 2011 when the teams clashed during a bitter Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins came out on top on the ice, but the teams traded blows throughout the series both in on-ice clashes and with off-ice remarks.
Who can forget the iconic controversy over Alex Burrows seemingly biting Patrice Bergeron's finger during a scrum in Game 1? Then there were the comments from Tim Thomas about not knowing he was supposed to "pump Roberto Luongo's tires" after Luongo had complained Thomas violated an unwritten goalie rule by not saying anything nice about Luongo.
But things change as years go by, and with dramatically different rosters for both the Bruins and the Canucks, the hatred between the two teams seems to have died down. That much was evident in Thursday night's game at the TD Garden, as neither side was called for a penalty.
Penalty-free games are a strange occurrence in hockey, and it is even stranger for rivals to play a game without any infractions. But according to Bruins forward Brad Marchand, the Bruins and Canucks are no longer rivals.
"I mean, what was that, six or seven years ago?" Marchand told reporters after the game. "It’s long gone now."
The clean sheet benefited the Canucks, as the Bruins have the second-best power play in the league with a 27.0 percent success rate. But Boston's man-advantage never had a chance on Thursday, and Vancouver came out with a 4-2 win.
Arielle Aronson writes about the NHL for FOX Sports. You can follow her on Twitter @aharonson28.
