Best of Radim Vrbata #3: Brewin’ the Bruins
Well, this goal makes the list as one of the best goals a Canuck has scored against the Big Bad Boston Bruins as part of the never-ending post-riot rivalry. Remember the game that saw Cody Hodgson rip a slapshot past the dumbfounded Bruins? This was just as good, if not better from Vrbata.
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Playing with the Sedins taught him to go to the front of the net. This was not an exception. Welcome back Chris Higgins, you return to the highlight reels with a great Henrik Sedin-like assist on a Radim Vrbata goal.
Funny how all three of the players who contributed to that goal are set to leave the Canucks. Would Linden Vey and Chris Higgins even play a single game as a Canuck next year?
This goal actually is a great one. Vrbata pulls the puck across his body to his backhand and eludes Tuukka Rask’s desperation reach for the puck that came from a great no-look, between-the-legs pass from Higgins behind the goal mouth. A moment of patience was all that Vrbata needed to let Rask slide out from the goal mouth and score.
Sad that the Canucks-Bruins rivalry is starting to get lost, but this goal will go down as one of the nicest against-Bruin goals in the Canucks’ memory.
Of course, the Canucks got past 5-2 against the visitors as ex-Canuck Shawn Matthias scored a hat-trick and got more hats than Daniel Sedin got earlier this year. Funny, as Zack Kassian also recorded a point that night. Look where they all are and where Vey, Higgins, and Vrbata are going to end up next year. Not with the Canucks.
Next: Best of Radim Vrbata #2: A Goaltender's Nightmare