With the Bruins leading 1-0 after 20 minutes, both teams entered the second period looking for the all-important next goal.
Vancouver controlled play for a majority of the first half of the period, keeping the puck in the attacking zone and getting a lot of shots on Tim Thomas, each of which the Boston goaltender had no problem seeing and keeping from getting past him.
But after the Canucks managed to kill an interference penalty on Mason Raymond, they found a new gear and started skating downhill. The Bruins' counter-attack produced a couple of opportunities, but Roberto Luongo was strong in net, stopping everything that he saw.
Everything he saw until Michael Ryder calmly gained the zone shortly after the halfway mark of the period and calmly wristed a puck high above Luongo's glove and into the mesh. The puck appeared to deflect off the stick of Sami Salo before getting to Luongo, but the Canucks all-world netminder still had time to adjust and couldn't reach it.
It was crash city for the Canucks after that, as coincidental minors to Rich Peverley and Andrew Alberts caused both teams to play 4-on-4 for two minutes. In a scrum behind Luongo's net, Patrice Bergeron emerged with the puck and found Brad Marchand who put it high and made it a 3-0 Bruins lead.
From there, the Bruins dominated the period, keeping the Canucks out of the attacking zone, putting more pressure on Luongo and pummeling the Canucks in the corners. As the game heads to its second intermission, there's still a lot of hockey left to play. But the Bruins are playing it on a completely different level.