No Mercy

 Thanks to a spectacular offensive explosion, the never-say-die Bruins overpowered the Canucks 8-1 Monday night and now trail Vancouver  2-1 in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals series.

If Games One and Two of the Stanley Cup Finals were a battle, Game 3 Monday night was an all-out War.

And for the first time in the series, the Boston Bruins won that War by playing Boston Bruins hockey.

In one of the most thrilling, physical, rewarding blowouts in team history, the beloved Black and Gold rallied around an early devastating injury to Nathan Horton to destroy the stunned Canucks 8-1 before an electric sell-out crowd of 17,565 at the TD Garden.

Led by a pair of goals from Mark Recchi, seven different Bruins scored multiple points while Tim Thomas finished with an astounding 40 saves, including several highlight reel stops to ensure the Bruins left the ice Monday night with a resounding victory.

With the pivotal win, Boston cuts Vancouver's lead to 2-1, but, more importantly, sends a tidal wave type message to the mighty Canucks that when the Bruins dominate physically and play their brand of hockey, they're tough to beat. 

Throw in the added motivation of winning one for a wounded teammate and they're downright untouchable. 

"We talked about playing for Horty," said Mark Recchi. "He's been a great teammate all year for us, been a great guy. It's tough to see your teammate laying down there on the ice. We knew it was a late hit. But we're more concerned about his health at this time. The league can take care of the rest."

Infused by the heavenly reality that the Bruins were playing their first Stanley Cup home game since 1990, the deafening TD Garden crowd turned silent just five minutes into the game when Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome violently leveled Horton as he entered the Vancouver zone.

Making matters worse, Horton, who led the rush up ice, had already dished the puck off to linemate David Krejci on the wing and was caught with his head to the side, unaware of the charging Rome and unable to prepare for impact. Rome's shoulder buried Horton's midsection with thunderous force before the former Panther banged his head violently against the ice on the way down. 

A close-up shot showed Horton's eyes rolling back in his head, his arm extended to the heavens as he laid on his back, unable to move for several minutes. He had to be rolled off on a stretcher. 

Rome was promptly issued a game misconduct and ejected from the contest. 

"We really wanted to get this win tonight for him," said Brad Marchand of Horton. "It's a very tough situation, and everyone is worried about him, but it definitely gave us motivation to win."

Rallying around their fallen teammate, the Bruins began dictating the play in the first period but were unable to score. Taking advantage of the Canucks being down a defenseman with the ejection of Rome, the Bruins relentlessly attacked the Vancouver zone in search of the game's first tally. 

Then, just 11 seconds into the second period, the grinding paid off when Andrew Ference's blast from the point had eyes and eluded Luongo high, glove side to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. 

Continuing to pressure the Vancouver zone, the Bruins extended the lead to 2-0 just over four minutes later when Recchi hammered home a power play goal past Luongo. 

Brad Marchand made it 3-0 midway through the second on a beautiful individual effort. Leading a shorthanded break, Marchand banked the puck off the sideboards to himself, beat two Canuck defenders then went wide on Luongo before roofing the puck into the open net for a highlight reel goal. 

"Obviously, it's one I'm proud of," admitted Marchand of his shorty. "Couple lucky bounces there. Couple guys poked at it. It was kind of rolling at times. 

Scoring their fourth goal of the period, Boston made it 4-0 with just over four minutes left in the second when David Krejci buried a long rebound off a Michael Ryder shot past Luongo top shelf, glove side. 

Playing like a revenge seeking missile, the Bruins pushed the lead to 5-0 midway through the period when Daniel Paille scored Boston's second shorthanded goal of the night.

Interestingly, the offensive outburst came just minutes after Milan Lucic punched Alex Burrows along the endboards after the whistle. Even as the referees tried to break up the scrum, Lucic could be seen waving his two fingers at the mouth of Burrows, taunting the public enemy number one in Boston for his Game 1 bite of Partrice Bergeron's finger

A Jannik Hansen tally just over two minutes later would put Vancouver on the board, but it was quickly forgotten as Recchi, Chris Kelly and Michael Ryder scored on three consecutive shots in the final three minutes to put the finishing touches on an 8-1 blowout. 

Sparked by the hit on Horton, as well as the classless mockery of Alex Burrows bite on Patrice Bergeron in Game 1, the Bruins played possessed all night, relentlessly dominating the physical battles at every turn. Consistently burying any Canuck who touched the puck, the Bruins made Vancouver play timid and scared, negating their speed and talent as they had no choice but to play gun shy. 

One reason for the increased physical play was the insertion of tough guy Shawn Thornton into the lineup for Tyler Seguin. For anyone who had the priveledge of watching the game, it was obvious Thornton's physical presence after being scratched seven consecutive games brought a special edge to the team. 

"I thought he was awesome tonight," explained Recchi. "He has a physical, veteran presence. He's won a Cup before. He knows what it takes. 

The Bruins owned Vancouver in the special teams battle, holding the Canucks scoreless with the man advantage (0-8), while Boston also scored a power-play goal and two shorthanded goals. 

The win marked the first Stanley Cup finals victory on home ice for Boston since 1978. 

More importantly, the win epitomized exactly the way the Bruins need to play in order to be successful in the Stanley Cup Finals: with a chip on their shoulder. 

"We play our best hockey when we play on the edge," concluded Recchi after the game. "When we play that way, we play physical, we're passionate about it, we're involved. We played this like a Game 7." 

In the end, Game 3 will go down in Bruins history as the moment Boston fought back in their first Cup Finals appearance in 21 years. They played like gods all night, battling adversity, overcoming a frightening injury to one of their best players and making mince meat of the NHL's best regular season team both physically and on the scoreboard.

Vancouver now has a series on their hands. And with Game 4 set to begin Wednesday night in Boston, a return to the Garden ice can't come soon enough for Bruins fans who will no doubt be riding high for days after watching their team play like gods Monday night.