|
 Matthias' third goal at 6:05 of the third period drained any life
out of a Boston Bruins' comeback as the Canucks staged a convincing
5-2 win Friday night.
"I got some puck luck tonight," said Matthias, a 26-year-old who
came to Vancouver last year from the Florida Panthers as part of the
trade for goaltender Roberto Luongo.
"It was a fun night and it was cool to see my old man up there (on
the big screen). I didn't want to look because I didn't want to
start laughing. Then he threw up the three (fingers)."
Matthias's dad Brian was part of a group of fathers of Canuck
players who joined the team for a recent road trip.
Boston center Chris Kelly's goal at 5:41 of the third had made the
score 3-2. Matthias restored a two-goal Canuck goals when he
shoveled the rebound of his own shot past Bruin goaltender Tuukka
Rask.
Matthias celebrated while hats rained down from the crowd.
"It was surreal," said Matthias, whose last hat-trick came in
junior.
 "Such a fun rink to play in, in front of our home fans. To just see
them on their feet throwing their hats, it was pretty cool. I'll
remember it for a long time."
Matthias has five goals in the last four games. The center scored
just once in the previous 17 games.
"We have so many great players on our team and I'm just happy to
contribute and be part of this team," he said. "I want to be part of
this moving forward and keep getting better.
"It's brought the best out of me."
Matthias opened the scoring with goals 3:22 apart in the first
period.
Canuck coach Willie Desjardins liked what the young center showed.
"He played hard for us," said Desjardins. "We needed that start."
Right winger Radim Vrbata also continued to show his hot hand,
scoring a goal to extend his points streak to eight games (3-6).
"Sometimes it seems like everything is going in," said Vrbata, a
former Arizona Coyote who signed with the Canucks this summer as a
free agent.
"You have streaks when you have even better chances and the puck
doesn't go in. You want to keep it going as long as you can."
Right winger Jannik Hansen scored into an empty net while right
winger Zack Kassian added two assists as the Canucks won
back-to-back games for the first time in nearly a month. Vancouver
defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in overtime Thursday night.
"When you look at the standings, you need to keep getting points,"
said Vrbata. "It's always better to keep the winning streak going
than starting a new one."
Center Patrice Bergeron also scored for the Bruins, who lost their
third straight game.
[to top of second column] |
The Bruins dug themselves into an early hole, training 2-0 before
the game was barely five minutes old. Bergeron scored midway through
the first but any momentum Boston had seemed to evaporate in the
second period when the Canucks outshot them 12-4 and took a 3-1 lead
on Vrbata's goal.
"We fell behind right away," said defenseman Zdeno Chara. "We made
some mistakes that cost us goals.
"Pretty much the whole game we were chasing from behind."
Rask said the Bruins were their own worst enemies. Matthias's first
goal came on a two-on-one and the second was the result of a
horrible giveaway by Boston defensemen Dougie Hamilton.
"Those mistakes we did in our own zone, you can't do that in pee wee
hockey, let alone in the NHL," said Rask. "If you make those
mistakes nothing good is going to happen."
The win was Vancouver's third in the four meetings between the teams
since Boston beat the Canucks in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup
final.
The win left the Canucks with a 31-30-3 record for 65 points, good
enough for third spot in the Pacific Division.
The loss left the Bruins 28-20-7 for 63 points and hanging onto the
last wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
NOTES: Vancouver C Nick Bonino missed his second game with a
lower-body injury suffered in Monday's loss to Minnesota. ... The
Canucks claimed LW Brandon McMillian, a Vancouver native, off
waivers from the Arizona Coyotes. ... The last time the Canucks had
consecutive wins was a three-game streak between Jan. 15-19. ...
Vancouver plays in Calgary on Saturday night and returns home to
face Minnesota on Monday. ... The two teams have seen 16 players
leave since Boston beat Vancouver in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup
finals. ... Bruins RW David Pastmak, 18, has been the youngest
player in both the NHL and AHL this season. ... C Patrice Bergeron
is the 13th player to score 500 or more points in a Boston uniform.
... The Bruins' five-game road trip is their longest of the season.
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