Edler's stick turns out to be break Bruins needed

BOSTON -- Alexander Edler's stick fell apart in his hands. It was the break the Boston Bruins needed.
 
The second period Monday night in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final started with Mason Raymond winning the opening faceoff back to Edler, but as the Canucks' defenseman tried to pass the puck up the ice, his stick snapped in half, leaving him helpless against the forechecking David Krejci.
 
It took the Bruins all of 11 seconds to score after that miscue, the exact amount of time it took Alexandre Burrows in overtime of Game 2 to put Boston in a 0-2 hole before the series shifted to TD Garden.
 
Now Vancouver's lead is down to 2-1 with Game 4 set for Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, Versus, CBC, RDS), and the Canucks don't have to wrack their brains too hard to figure out when and how Boston made things interesting in this Stanley Cup Final.
 
It all happened within the first 15:47 seconds of the second period. It all started with Edler's wonky stick. It all changed the series.
 
"It was only 1-0 so it shouldn't affect how we play, but they fed off that," Daniel Sedin said. "They got going and played a lot better, but we need to push back and we didn't do that. We weren't sharp enough in a lot of areas and it cost us."
 
And that's a kind way of saying it.

The Bruins led 4-0 by the end of the second period Monday night. They've scored six of their 10 goals in this series in the second period.
 
"We fell apart at the seams there," Mason Raymond said. "We had a big letdown."
 
Both Sedins and Raymond were asked if the Canucks were guilty of being lazy in the second. None of them could deny it.
 
"I don't know if it was lazy, but it's not our style of play," Daniel Sedin said. "We're usually pretty good with the puck and we get it deep, but we had some breakdowns and it cost us."
 
Edler's broken stick led to the first goal by Andrew Ference, but Boston fourth-liner Shawn Thornton beat Jeff Tambellini on a dash down the middle forcing the Canucks' winger to hook him. Tambellini went to the box and 1:40 later Mark Recchi's pass went off Ryan Kesler's stick and into the net for a power-play goal that made it 2-0.
 
Vancouver had back-to-back power play opportunities while trailing 2-0, but the first one fizzled and Brad Marchand made them pay dearly on the second with a great individual effort leading to the first of two shorthanded goals the Canucks allowed.
 
Marchand's goal started with a neutral-zone turnover. The Boston forward scooped up the puck, chipped it off the right-wing boards to get around Edler and then flat-out beat Kesler in the Canucks' defensive zone. He cut across the slot and waited for Luongo to go down before he roofed the puck into the mesh.
 
The Bruins made it 4-0 on Krejci's goal from the slot off a rebound. Nobody put a body on Michael Ryder as he cut to the middle of the zone and fired a shot that Luongo blockered away. Nobody put a body on Krejci, who was all alone to snap home the rebound.
 
Kevin Bieksa had his back turned to Krejci. He tried to kick the puck before it got to Krejci, but his effort wasn't good enough.
 
"Yeah, if you look at them, those goals are starting with a turnover and then we don't backcheck the way we want to and we make a few mistakes," Henrik Sedin said. "It all starts with the same thing, and that's not taking care of the puck. I think that's the main problem."
 
Life continued to be miserable for Luongo and Vancouver in the third as Boston scored four more times, including three goals on three shots in the final 2:10.
 
But it all traces back to that second period, to Edler's broken stick -- the lucky break the Bruins never got in either Game 1 or Game 2.
 
They lost each of those games at Rogers Arena by a single goal, with Raffi Torres scoring with 18.5 seconds left in regulation of Game 1 and Burrows potting the winner 11 seconds into overtime of Game 2.
 
The Bruins blamed themselves. They said they didn't have a good handle on the puck, turned it over too much, and as a result never could get any offensive rhythm going.
 
The Canucks were just as guilty of turnovers and overall mental lapses in Game 3. It cost them in an embarrassing loss.
 
"We didn't execute. Our game plan just fell apart," Raymond said. "We didn't do the things that make us successful -- doing the right things, special teams, putting the pucks in the right areas, a weakened forecheck. That hurt us. They played better than us. There are not a lot of answers I can come up with."
 
Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl