Bruins looking for a fresh start

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The Boston 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 their first NHL title.

Maybe the Stanley Cup Finals' move to the East Coast will finally give the Bruins something to celebrate.

With Game 3 looming Monday night at TD Garden after a quick cross-continent trip Sunday, the Bruins realize the jam they brought back from Canada isn't sweet.

Only four teams have rallied from an zero-games-to-two 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, and we're allowed to be," said 43-year-old Mark Recchi, who ended an 11-game goal drought with a power-play score in Game 2. "But we'll take a lot of positives out of these games. When we get off that plane, we'll forget all about it. We'll worry about Monday, and doing our job at home."

Recchi is right: The Bruins probably shouldn't spend any time contemplating the historic depth of their plight.

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

Dudley out as GM. Rick Dudley won't be retained as general manager of the former Atlanta Thrashers team that is moving to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 National Hockey League season. After meeting with Dudley, the team "decided to go in another direction" in running its hockey operations.

The sale must be approved by the NHL's board of governors on June 21, but the team reached a goal of selling 13,000 season tickets.