PITTSBURGH – The first Pittsburghers that Brock Boeser had to overcome Wednesday were stationed outside the Vancouver Canucks’ hotel. There was a union of autograph hunters, and they all wanted Boeser.
The 20-year-old rookie signed for them, then climbed on the team bus to the arena, the house that Mario Lemieux built for the Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Upon arrival, Boeser walked to the players’ bench and looked up in awe at the empty stadium.
It was his first time here to play a National Hockey League game. Tuesday was his first time in Philadelphia to play the Flyers. Now Boeser travels to New York to play the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers and Islanders.
Every NHL rookie, especially those who play in the Western Conference, remembers his first visit to these big American cities, their first games against famous franchises whose storied histories include Stanley Cups.
The difference with Boeser’s first tour is many people watching it may remember it as well as he does.
The winger from Burnsville, Minn., scored twice in Wednesday’s 5-2 win against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, bringing Boeser’s goal total on the trip to four in 24 hours during the Canucks’ rare sweep of Pennsylvania. Boeser also scored twice in Tuesday’s 5-2 handling of the Flyers.
Boeser heads to New York as the best Canuck rookie since Pavel Bure, whose spectacular career ended with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden when Boeser was six years old. Boeser has scored in four straight games, as Bure did in his first season.
"It’s a blast, but I try not to get too confident," Boeser said Wednesday, again the media’s centre of attention. "But before the game, I’ll walk out to the bench and look around and see how cool it is, and then I try to focus."
Bure scored 34 goals as a rookie and won the Calder Trophy in 1992. Boeser has 11 goals in 19 games and leads Vancouver with 21 points. And not one of his goals has been a dud.
He roofed another wrist shot over Penguins goalie Matt Murray to open the scoring 3:52 into the game, then a period later unleashed a rocket one-timer from the top of the circle that was as close to unstoppable as anything we’ve seen this side of Alex Ovechkin.
"Yeah, he hasn’t missed a shot in two weeks," Canucks centre Brandon Sutter said. "He’s going well. He’s confident; that’s the biggest thing. When he gets the chance to shoot the puck, he’s going to shoot it. And when he shoots, he scores."
It was Boeser’s first slapshot goal this season. His heavy, quick wrist shot had fulfilled all his scoring needs until now.
"Going back to college, I had some one-timer goals," he explained. "I don’t really aim it. I don’t know if a lot of the guys who take one-timers aim it. I’m just trying to get a lot on it. Most of the time I think I’m trying to take the blocker side, but mostly I’m just trying to get a lot of it."
Canucks defenceman Alex Edler said: "He scores with everything he gets. It’s nice. I just know that he scores. That’s what Brock does."
The Boeser Show overshadowed a lot of other fine entertainment by the visitors.
Former Penguins defenceman Derrick Pouliot, who appears to be using his pre-season trade to Vancouver as a turning point in his young career, scored his first Canucks goal against his old team and logged 25:08 of ice time on a night Vancouver blueliner Erik Gudbranson suffered a wrist or hand injury.
Loui Eriksson scored his second goal in 24 hours after going nine months without any, while Sutter, into an empty net, scored his first goal since opening night seven weeks ago.
Vancouver goalie Anders Nilsson made 43 saves, the Canucks improved their road record to 8-3 – they didn’t win their eighth road game last season until February — and the rebuilt power play went 2-for-3 and is 7-for-15 since it was configured and unveiled without practice during a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings last Tuesday.
But it’s hard to get past Boeser and what he is doing because no one in Vancouver has seen this the last quarter-century.
Canucks captain Henrik Sedin remembers his first visit to these cities as a rookie during the 2000-01 season.
"It’s exciting… these are good teams with a lot of history, so there’s a lot of respect, too," Sedin said. "But I don’t think Brock’s thinking about where he is playing; he just goes out there and plays. He has a great shot, which he uses all the time. He’s one of the purest finishers I’ve seen."
"Everything is new and you’re just kind of numb to it," Sutter said. "He’s just playing well and having fun. It’s nice to see the way he is playing, but I think he’s having a pretty fun time off the ice with us. He’s a good kid."
And a potential star. Broadway, here he comes.
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