"Alex Edler admitted he played with two broken fingers. Christian Ehrhoff admitted that he had to get a troublesome shoulder shot up and it will need addressing in the offseason. Chris Higgins admitted that his foot was never quite right after blocking a shot in the second-round series with Nashville and will need further attention. And Dan Hamhuis wasn't around to admit that he was probably sidelined in the Stanley Cup final series opener by a torn groin muscle.

Ryan Kesler? He wouldn't admit to anything.

Despite playing on one leg and having his teammates marvel at his resolve to take shots to endure the pain of a suspected groin tear and hip labrum tear, the Vancouver Canucks bit his tongue when he could have leaned on a crutch of convenience following a bitter 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 at Rogers Arena.

"I'm not going to sit here and complain about injuries," said Kesler, who had a game-high six shots but just one assist in the series despite 18 shots. "I gave it everything I had tonight and I'm proud of that. I can walk out saying that it didn't happen and it's emotional to talk about right now.

"For me and for a lot of guys in this room, we can hold our heads high."

What Kesler won't talk about is how he was held together — or how he was shot up to dull the pain — to continue to play. It often didn't look like it because at various points that strong stride and his strength on the puck would appear. But not often and not long enough. The guy who dominated the Nashville series by figuring in 11 of the last 14 goals and was gaining Conn Smythe consideration, suffered a groin strain in Game 5 of the conference final but returned to force overtime with 13.2 seconds remaining. It would be his last goal of the postseason. Against the Bruins, he lacked strength to hold off Brad Marchand on a Game 3 shorthanded goal and couldn't corral Rich Peverley on a Game 4 charge to the net for a rebound goal."