Manny Malhotra’s return boosts Vancouver Canucks and gives option to Coach Alain Vigneault –NHL Update
The return of their key defensive player, Manny Malhotra, has without a doubt raised the morale of the team and boosted the performance of Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 on Saturday, in the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Finals against Boston
Bruins.
Winners of the Presidents’ Trophy, Vancouver Canucks, was down a few defensemen entering its first finals since 1994 and another chance at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in its 40-year history as a franchise. Luckily, by the start of the series,
Canucks had received news of Malhotra’s return, who participated in a wild Game 2.
Malhotra might not have played more than eight minutes but he certainly made his presence felt on the ice. Better known as the faceoff expert, Malhotra won six of seven faceoffs he participated in which certainly lifted Canucks.
"To be able to put Manny in the lineup and to have him play the way he did. He did exactly what we all expected", Canucks’ coach, Alain Vigneault, said. "He was real good on faceoffs, he was good on the ice and he created a scoring chance".
After his return, Vancouver’s head coach, Alain Vigneault, now has a chance to play a number of players at different times and take advantage of different situations with a variety of options at his hand.
When they need a defender back in front of Luongo or to fight a faceoff, they plant Malhotra, and because he needs rest, they still have Alexandre Bolduc to back him up when he’s not on the ice.
"(The fourth) line played more minutes than throughout the San Jose series and I think obviously more than in the first game against Boston", Vigneault said. "I'm excited to have (Malhotra) back, and I think he's only going to get better as we move forward
here".
The 31-year-old is still in recovering, but would gradually play full-time and get used to the routine, the way he is most likely to continue in this series.
He might not be perfect after taking that puck to his left eye, but it is certainly better than not having him at all.
Tags: