“Chris, every time we’ve needed him this year, he’s showed a lot of poise,’’ said Vigneault. “He can take a hit to make a play and move the puck real well. I was confident that putting him in and putting him with Andrew, that it would work out real well for us and it did.’’
The 21-year-old Toronto native, who played the 2009-10 season at Rochester Institute of Technology, the only time the school reached the Frozen Four, said his goal was just to keep things as simple as possible.
“It’s always stay simple, stay calm, and don’t do too much,’’ he said. “Don’t do what you can’t do out there, let the guys who have 100 points try and score. I’m just trying to get the puck up to them.’’
He said it was helpful to have gotten his feet wet in the Sharks series so he would have some idea what to expect.
“It’s fast, it’s the Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s emotional out there,’’ said Tanev. “You’ve just got to have fun out there. It was definitely faster [than the previous series] but you just try to enjoy it.’’
When asked what it was like to be part of a shutout in the Cup Final, Tanev’s eyes lit up.
“It was incredible,’’ he said. “[ Roberto Luongo] is an incredible goalie and he made some real big saves tonight to help us get the win.’’
Not so special One of the Canucks’ strengths all season has been the power play. Not so in the first four games of the Cup Final. Vancouver was a combined 0 for 14 in Games 3 and 4 in Boston. In Games 1 and 2 here, they were only slightly better (1 for 8). Last night they were 0 for 4.
“It’s kept the opposition honest,’’ Vigneault said before the game. “We’ve got some really skilled players that can make it work and go to the areas where it can work, and it’s been real good all year. We’ve run into a patch here of a little bit more of a challenge. But I’ve got a lot of faith in these guys.’’
Vigneault wanted is team to continue to have good starts, but not fall off after the opening 20 minutes.
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