VANCOUVER -- The Canucks are just as close to winning the Stanley Cup as the Bruins, but Thursday afternoon at Rogers Arena was a rather gloomy affair for the home team. 

Sure, they jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, but it's the back-to-back embarrassing losses to the B's in Boston that are fresh in many people's minds. Only four Canucks players were made available to the media Thursday: goaltender Roberto Luongo, and a trio of defenseman in Alexander Edler, Keith Ballard and Alex Edler. All four players sat at the podium trying to convey that they have confidence in where they stand.

"Last time I checked, it's 2-2 in the series, so I don't see why we should  be  depressed  or  whatever it may be," Luongo said. "We're in a two-out-of-three Stanley Cup Finals. If I was told that before the start of the year, I would be asking, 'where do I sign?' That's the bottom line for us."

If the Canucks want to continue to the trend of the home team winning, they'll have to return to being the team that hung around with, and eventually beat, the Bruins in Games 1 and 2. What is undeniable in watching the series' first four games is that that issues present in the Bruins' game in their two losses were far less concerning than those of the Canucks in Games 3 and 4.

The Bruins played worse than, but neck-and-neck with the Canucks throughout regulation in Games 1 and 2. Among the issues that stood out were Andrew Ference having trouble moving the puck out of the defensive zone and in the neutral zone, the team struggling to get chances on Luongo and Tim Thomas being caught in his risky style of play. They lost two low-scoring one-goal games as a result of those issues.

Yet the B's showed in Boston that some of those things shouldn't be expected from game-to-game. Ference simply had a bad game in Game 2, and Thomas proved in Games 3 and 4 that more times than not, his risky style pays off. They've gotten going offensively, and part of that has to do with the concerning play of the Canucks of late.

In the first two games at Rogers Arena, the Canucks limited the Bruins' chances, didn't allow them to establish anything in front, and when the B's did make bids, Luongo was solid enough to shut them down. 

Yet in Games 3 and 4, it was just the opposite. The defense, which has since lost Aaron Rome after already being without Dan Hamhuis, has been uncharacteristically soft. Kevin Bieksa, the team's top blueliner without Hamhuis, has made it look more and more like Hamhuis was a large reason for his success. 

Patrice Bergeron sees it as a case of the Bruins' just taking advantage of things more than they did early on. 

"I think we're taking what's been given to us a little more than we were [in Games 1 and 2]," the assistant captain said. "We were kind of forcing some plays in the first two games, and I think that's the biggest key. We're working smarter."

Smart enough to know that the Canucks have been a mess defensively for the last six periods. Then there's Luongo. Teams know that if you can beat him high and beat him often, you can get to the ultra-talented Vancouver netminder. The Bruins have beaten him often, and they've been able to beat him all over the place. Were it not for Luongo's insistence that he stay in for all eight goals in Game 3, the Vezina finalist would have been pulled from both games in Boston. 

To make up for suspect defense and shaky goaltending, one would think the Sedins and Ryan Kesler, among others, would shine. Yet the Sedins have played softer than their reputations, while Kesler has had more of a hand in Bruins' goals than he has in Canucks' goals. The power play has gone 1-for-22 in the series (0-for-14 the last two games), and their three leading point-getters have totaled three points in four games in the finals. All three of them have negative ratings this series, and have combined for a minus-6. The Canucks as a team scored only one goal in Boston, and neither the first nor the second line had a hand in it.

"They're elite players, and if we've gotten to where we are today it's because our top players have been, on most nights, the best players on the ice.  We're no different than anybody else," Vigneault said of his slumping superstars. "Obviously we need those guys to play up to their standards, and they will."

Unless they can get Hamhuis back at any point, the Canucks will deal with the same roster (give or take Tanner Glass) for the rest of the way. That means the same defenseman whom the B's have taken advantage of will have to tighten up and return to forcing the B's to take shots from a farther distance. The Canucks have the benefit of playing at home, but if they turn in the type of performance that Bruins fans became so fond of in Boston, the B's could find themselves in a situation in witch they could push Vancouver to the brink.