It didn't take long for the Bruins' defense to abandon Tim Thomas, who calmly turned away a number of early Canucks' chances - 4 of them in the first two minutes alone - before the Bruins' offense was able to generate some chances, getting pucks right to Robeto Luongo without much objection from the Vancouver defense.
When Daniel Sedin caught Zdeno Chara with a high stick behind the Boston net, it gave the Bruins a four-minute man-advantage, most of which saw Chara in front of Luongo. Boston was able to get a lot of pucks to the net, but struggled to really make Luongo work and didnt' score, despite 8 shots.
Chris Kelly later returned the favor with a high-sticking penalty of his own, but the Bruins penalty kill came out covering their lanes with sticks moving the entire time, before Andrew Ference drew a holding penalty on Alexandre Burrows to cancel out the Vancouver advantage.
The second Bruins power play was fruitless, too, as the Canucks' physicality started to pick up with the Bruins spending a lot of time around Luongo. Not long after killing the penalty, Vancouver went back to the power play when Brad Marchand went to the box for holding the stick.
Boston killed that penalty, as well, and when the two teams returned to full strength, both showed the effects of their extended special teams play, struggling to get any flow going.
Pushing and shoving punctuated the end of the period, with Patrice Bergeron and Burrows going at it and Chara fending off two Canucks on his own as the rest of their teams headed for the locker room. Bergeron seemed to indicate that Burrows bit his finger during the scrum, which had a linesman in the midst of it the entire time. Both received minors for roughing, with Burrows getting two extra in a double-minor.
SOG Boston 17 Vancouver 12
Penalties: Boston: Chris Kelly (High-Sticking), 8:47; Brad Marchand (Holding the Stick), 13:25; Patrice Bergeron (Roughing), 20:00. Vancouver: Daniel Sedin (High-Sticking), 4:03; Alexandre Burrows (Holding) 10:18; Burrows (Roughing) 20:00; Burrows (Roughing), 20:00.