First period quick hits

– Like the past five games, the Bruins allowed the first goal of the game. Vancouver got on the board off Shawn Matthias’ 11th goal of the season just 1:41 into the game. With Torey Krug caught up ice and the Canucks on a 2-on-1, forward Zack Kassian fed a beautiful saucer-pass over to a wide open Matthias, who quickly one timed it past a sliding Tuukka Rask, giving Vancouver the early 1-0 lead.

– Trade Chara? Over the last handful of games, Dougie Hamilton has made some questionable decisions. Just minutes after Matthias’ goal, the third year defenseman misfired on a cross ice pass from behind his own goal line which was picked off by Matthias who waited out Boston’s defensive front to give the Canucks the 2-0 lead, just a little over five minutes into the game.

–  After Matthias’ second goal, Bruins head coach Claude Julien called a timeout and had a few choice words for his club during the break. Following the timeout, the Black and Gold once again found themselves in a predicament. At the 7:21 mark, shorthanded messiah Patrice Bergeron tripped up Canucks forward Henrik Sedin, giving the Canucks their first power play opportunity of the night. After killing off the man-advantage, Bergeron quickly jumped back into the B’s zone, winning the puck battle just inside his own blue line and went end-to-end to the Canucks net, following up his own rebound opportunity to cut the deficit in half to 2-1.

– Again, the Bruins handed momentum back to the Canucks after Gregory Campbell went off for a four-minute double minor for high sticking Daniel Sedin. Once again, Boston’s resilient short-handed units stood tall, killing off Vancouver’s power play.

– Just 24 seconds after killing off the double minor, the Bruins received their first power play opportunity after Canucks defenseman boarded David Pastrnak. Although a much improved looking power play unit, Claude Julien’s group failed to muster a goal past goaltender Ryan Miller.

– The Bruins led in shots-on-goal, 10-7, as well as in hits 9-7, but this was on the verge of being a blowout. A lot will be said by how the B’s respond in the second period.