“I think it makes a statement to the rest of the league that we’re back and we’re looking forward to getting back to where we were,’’ Vancouver goalie Corey Schneider said.
The Canucks are second in the NHL with 55 points and the Bruins are third with 53.
Boston’s Milan Lucic drew a game misconduct for leaving the bench to join in the altercation, but Bruins coach Claude Julien insisted he had taken the ice on a legal line change.
“I’m not blaming (the referees). They’re in the middle of a scrum there,’’ Julien said. “What’s unfortunate is that we lost a pretty good player early in the game.’’
The NHL said after the game that the game misconduct to Lucic was rescinded.
The league said in a statement “a video review of the incident revealed that Lucic did not leave the bench to join or start an altercation but rather had entered the ice legally over the boards and was about to step back onto the bench through the door when he changed course and joined a scrum.’’
Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault, whose team was outmuscled in the Stanley Cup finals, thought the Bruins were still too physical.
“Our guys played whistle to whistle,’’ he said. “It’s hard to play that way when the other team gets two or three extra (hits) in after the whistle.’’
That may be a spillover from last year’s ill will.
Boston’s Nathan Horton missed the last four games of the finals after suffering a concussion in Game 3 on an open-ice hit by Aaron Rome. The Bruins were the much more physical team, pushing stars Henrik and Daniel Sedin around with little response.
“Let’s not kid ourselves here. These are teams that don’t like each other,’’ Julien said. “I think the buildup from last year is still there.’’
Last year, Boston fans chanted “Luongo! Luongo!’’ about Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo, who struggled much of the seven-game series and was pulled in the first period of Boston’s 5-2 win in Game 6.
They did it again just 1:55 into Saturday’s game even though Schneider played the entire game.
