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Bruins face uphill battle from 0-2 deficit

The Bruins couldn't have enjoyed the scenery late Saturday night while their team bus crawled through the raucous street party that consumed downtown Vancouver after the Canucks moved halfway to winning their first Stanley Cup.

The Bruins couldn't have enjoyed the scenery late Saturday night while their team bus crawled through the raucous street party that consumed downtown Vancouver after the Canucks moved halfway to winning their first Stanley Cup.

With Game 3 looming tonight at Boston's TD Garden after a cross-continent trip, the Bruins realize their situation. Only four teams have rallied from an 0-2 finals deficit in 46 tries. Boston must win four of the next five games to beat the Canucks, the NHL's best regular-season team and the winner of seven of their last eight playoff games.

"We'll be disappointed," said 43-year-old Mark Recchi, who ended an 11-game goal drought with a power-play score in Game 2's 3-2 overtime loss. "But we'll take a lot of positives out of these games [in Vancouver]."

Boston has rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win a series just once in 27 tries, and it happened in the first round of this postseason against Montreal.

The Bruins are still smarting from their late struggles in Game 2, in which they lost for just the third time in 41 games this season when they had a lead after two periods. Alex Burrows won the game with his wraparound goal 11 seconds into overtime.

Coach Claude Julien will remind his Bruins that they played well in the two one-goal losses. The defense held the Canucks' top line scoreless for the first five periods of the series, bullying the Sedin brothers into ineffectiveness.

"The positive is we basically lost both games by one goal," Boston forward David Krejci said. "That hurts, but we know we're in the game and we know we can do it."

The Sedin twins' line broke through for the tying goal in the third period of Game 2 with a beautiful passing display after forcing a turnover by workhorse Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. The same line was on the ice to start overtime when Burrows scooted past Chara, around goalie Tim Thomas and behind the net for the electrifying game-winner.

Noteworthy

* Fans in Winnipeg took just 17 minutes to purchase all 13,000 season tickets that the new franchise made available in an online sale on Saturday.