VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Boston Bruins couldn’t have enjoyed the scenery late Saturday night while their team bus crawled through the raucous street party that consumed downtown Vancouver after the Canucks moved halfway to their first NHL title.
Maybe the Stanley Cup Finals’ move to the East Coast will give the Bruins something to celebrate.
With Game 3 looming tonight at TD Garden after a cross-continent trip Sunday, the Bruins realize the jam they brought back from Canada isn’t sweet.
Only four teams have rallied from an 2-0 finals deficit in 46 tries. Boston must win four of the next five games to beat the Canucks, the NHL’s best regular-season team and the winner of seven of their past eight playoff games.
“We’ll be disappointed, and we’re allowed to be,” said 43-year-old Mark Recchi, who ended an 11-game goal drought with a power-play score in Game 2. “But we’ll take a lot of positives out of these games. When we get off that plane, we’ll forget all about it.”
Recchi is right: The Bruins probably shouldn’t spend any time contemplating the historic depth of their plight.
Boston has rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series just once in 27 tries — although it happened in the first round of this postseason against Montreal.
“Now is not the time to squeeze your stick and to panic,” Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said after the team arrived in Boston on Sunday. “It’s time to go back to what’s been giving us success. We’ve got to go out there, play our game, make sure we play loose, and at the same time play hard and desperate.”
The Bruins are still smarting from their late struggles in Game 2, in which they lost for just the third time in 41 games this season when they had a lead after two periods. Vancouver dominated the third period for the second straight game, with Daniel Sedin tying it midway through before Alex Burrows won it with his thrilling wraparound goal 11 seconds into overtime.
