Before game four, the NHL came down with an iron fist: any player caught putting their fingers near the mouth of another player after the whistle would be given an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and a ten-minute misconduct.
So the Bruins and Canucks decided to go after each other the old-fashioned way.
Vancouver took the body early and often, but it was Boston that responded by upping their physical play to try to knock the Canucks off of their game. In doing so, each team created a lot of open ice for their opponent, and Tim Thomas was challenged early by a couple of good looks from the visitors, but stood up to the task.
The back-and-forth play continued, with the Bruins best chances coming when the counterattacking Brad Marchand skated the puck through the legs, around the feet, or simply past the Canucks' defense.
The period went at a fairly even pace until Rich Peverley got the puck from David Krejci to start a partial breakaway in the Canucks zone. When he got there, there was nothing to stop him from beating Luongo five-hole to give the Bruins the early lead.
A phantom cross-checking call sent Brad Marchand to the box with 3:50 to play in the period. The once-potent Vancouver power play stumbled for the second time in the period, however, dropping to 1-for-18 on the series,