Times wires
Monday, May 30, 2011
BOSTON — After the Bruins' final practice Monday before departing for Vancouver for Wednesday's Stanley Cup final opener, Boston players complimented the Canucks.
"Obviously, they're a President's Trophy winner, they're a great team, deep and well-coached, and we'll look at things we have to do," forward Mark Recchi said. "Any key to your team's success is how you play personally. I think we focus on what we do ourselves. Our coaching staff will give us their tendencies, and their coaching staff will give them our tendencies. It's who's going to want it more and who's going to play to their abilities the best."
The Canucks, who won the West title in five games, will have had seven days off when Game 1 starts. Boston ousted the Lightning in Game 7 on Friday.
"They have a lot of depth," Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said. "They are good on all positions, and it's going to be a tough series, and we are aware of that."
The Canucks have many weapons to focus on, most notably twin forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who, with forward Ryan Kesler and goaltender Roberto Luongo, have led a Vancouver renaissance. The Sedins have a combined 37 postseason points.
"You want to try to not be over-aggressive, because once you do that, they spin off of you and that's what they want to try to accomplish, be one guy and then two on the next," Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. "They're really good at finding each other, with the give-and-gos and the blind pass behind the back. So that's a real challenge for us, to be aggressive but not be stupid about it."
Canucks: Defenseman Kevin Bieksa, whose five playoff goals are one short of his total all season, left the ice during the second half of practice Monday, but coach Alain Vigneault said he will be back today. Center Manny Malhotra continued to practice on the fourth line after being cleared Saturday to return from an eye injury suffered in March. Malhotra said his legs and lungs are getting better. Kesler (leg) practiced and said he will play Game 1.