The Bruins continued to keep the league's most dangerous power play quiet for another night, as Vancouver failed to convert any of its three chances with the man advantage and is now just 1-for-25 in the series.
But in Game 5 on Friday night at Rogers Arena, the difference in Boston's 1-0 loss to push the Bruins to the brink of elimination in the Stanley Cup Finals was their own inability to convert on the power play.
"Every time you get the chance to be on the power play we've got to find a way to either get the momentum or score a huge goal for us," Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said. "It's always important. We have to make sure we do the job, especially on the power play."
The Bruins had the first four chances with the extra man, including three in the opening period. They managed just seven total shots in eight minutes of power-play time rarely challenging Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo. That's the same Roberto Luongo whom the Bruins torched for 12 goals in just over five periods in the two previous games in Boston.
Two of those goals came on the power play in Game 3. In Game 4, the Bruins didn't score on four opportunities, but still created chances and the man advantage helped them maintain momentum. On Friday, the failed power plays were momentum killers, with the Rogers Arena crowd getting more excited and animated with every kill.
"The other night, although we didn't score, we had much better chances than we did tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Tonight was certainly not a good night for our power play. It wasn't a good night for our whole team, as far as creating good, quality scoring chances. We had some, but the thing, again, that we need to do a lot better is get to that front of the net. We had guys there, but on the side. We need to be a little more aggressive in that area than we were tonight. That's so huge for a hockey club and we need that."
Julien tried to create more of a net-front presence by putting fourth-line forward Gregory Campbell on the second power-play unit. That didn't help much though because of the Bruins' struggles to even get possession in deep and set up in the Canucks' zone.
"He's done a pretty good job in front of the net and he certainly is good at tipping and, obviously, screening," Julien said of Campbell. "But, you know, I don't think we were capable of doing much with him in front because we weren't getting the set that we wanted to get in the offensive zone. So [that] certainly didn't play in our favor. Had we managed to get control of the puck and move it around and create some shots, he would have been a valuable player up front there where he normally does a good job."
The Bruins' struggles on the power play were a microcosm of their difficulties all night. They were outworked, outhit and outhustled when it mattered most, and that was never more obvious than when the Canucks were playing with one less player on the ice.
"Obviously, we got out-battled a couple times," Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. "Most of the time we got in and they cleared the zone right away. We just have to do a better job of retrieving pucks and battling harder in those board battles. And from then we have to move the puck crisper and just be a little more selective with our shots."
