Stanley Cup: Bruins up 4-0 after 1 period

BOSTON (AP) - You can’t blame the Canucks if they’re starting to think it just isn’t their night.

Vancouver had its best scoring chance of the game when Jannik Hansen got behind the defense for a breakaway, with no one between him and Tim Thomas. Hansen skated in and got the goalie to commit, but he couldn’t stuff the puck into the goal as Thomas sprawled onto the ice and got a pad in front of it.

That was with less than a minute to play in the first period. The teams are off the ice now, and the Bruins lead 4-0 after one.

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That third Boston score was a power play goal _ the Bruins’ second in 26 chances in the Stanley Cup finals. For those of you new to hockey, that’s downright pathetic.

It hasn’t been much better in the rest of the playoffs. Boston entered Game 6 with just eight goals in 82 power plays over the previous 23 playoff games _ ranked 14th of the 16 playoff teams. (The only teams worse were the Rangers and Penguins, both first-round losers.)

For the record, Vancouver has three goals in the finals on 14 power plays coming into the night.

Nothing to brag about, either.

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In the middle of all that scoring, even better news for the Bruins: Injured forward Nathan Horton is in the building, and they showed him smiling and waving on the scoreboard during a timeout. The last time we saw him, he was strapped to a stretcher and wheeled off the ice after being flattened by Aaron Rome in Game 3.

Horton’s teammates joined the crowd in an emotional welcome, banging their sticks against the boards in the traditional hockey method of applause.

Horton is out for the series with a severe concussion, and Rome was suspended for the last four games of the series.

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And here we go again.

Just like in Games 3 and 4 in Boston, the Bruins are scoring in bunches. The public address announcer had just started giving the details of Brad Marchand’s goal at the 5:31 mark when Milan Lucic scored to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Lucic scored on a nice drop pass from Rich Peverley. And two minutes after that, the Bruins took a 3-0 lead when Andrew Ference scored.

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