Missed Chances Costly Against Bruins

For the first time all season, the Canucks were held off the score board. But it certainly wasn't for lack of chances as Tuesday night, Vancouver wound up being blanked 1-0 by the visiting Boston Bruins.

The game wasn't by any means a hi-lite reel performance from a fan's perspective. It took a while to get the entertainment level up at GM Place as the visitors from Beantown weren't afraid to crawl into somewhat of a defensive shell from their own side of the red line.

The only goal of the night came just past the midway point of the first period and it occured just as a penalty was about to be assessed to the Canucks. A shot from close range would be knocked down in front of the crease of Roberto Luongo. He was able to poke-check the disc into the slot but it came right to an untouched Michael Ryder. He made no mistake snapping it home for his 2nd of the season. Marco Sturm and Marc Savard chip in with the assists at 10:16.

Before the period was out, Daniel Sedin had a clear-cut breakaway from his own blue line after he picked off a pass from Zdeno Chara. However Sedin's chance would be denied by Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, the first of many key saves he made to help his team preserve the lead.

There were not many great chances for either club in the middle stanza. The best did come to the Canucks as on a power play, Jason Krog failed to convert with wide open net staring him in the face.

Seven minutes into the third period, Vancouver had another power play opportunity. This time Daniel found his brother Henrik alone in the right face off circle, but his one-timer would be foiled by Thomas who did a great job to slide from one side of the crease to the other to make the save.

A scary moment did come in the Canucks zone with roughly nine minutes remaining in regulation. Milan Lucic, who led all skaters in this game in hits (8) let go a bullet of a drive down the left wing that wound up pinging off the mask of Luongo. Although he needed a bit of treatment, he would be alright and stayed in the game.

Eventually Luongo would be pulled to the bench for the extra attacker, but Vancouver failed to get one by Thomas, who skated away with his second straight 1-0 shut-out in as many nights.

The Canucks did out-shot Boston 31-30 in Vancouver's first home ice loss of the campaign. Neither team converted on the power play as the Canucks went 0-for-3 while Boston went 0-for-2.

Now with a record of 4-5-0, the Canucks prepare to play three games over a span of four nights. Their first two tests will be in California as Thursday they take on the Los Angeles Kings before battling the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.