Boston Bruins Win Stanley Cup, Tim Thomas Takes Home MVP

Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins have reached the promised land, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

After an enchanted regular season, Thomas continued his dominant performances as the B's raced through the playoffs. The Bruins goalie had 761 saves during the four rounds of the playoffs, which was the most in NHL history.

The Conn Smythe trophy was well deserved for Thomas, who has come a long way from his college days at the University of Vermont, where he played alongside Martin St. Louis. 

Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand both scored two goals apiece for Boston in the decisive game seven, putting the Bruins on the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972.

Fans were jubilant in Beantown and inconsolable in Vancouver, where they were flipping cars and throwing beer bottles at television screens after the final buzzer sounded on Wednesday night.

For fan celebration, check out Stanley Cup Of Chowder.

Stanley Cup Finals: Boston Bruins Crush Vancouver Canucks, Force Game 7

It's safe to say that the Vancouver Canucks have zero confidence at TD Garden. The Boston Bruins opened up the flood gates early and often in Game 6, and we'll be heading West for a Game 7 Wednesday...

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Stanley Cup Finals: Canucks Can Clinch First Stanley Cup With Win Monday Night In Boston

For the third consecutive year, the Western Conference has a chance to clinch the Stanley Cup on the road against their Eastern Conference foe. In 2009, the Detroit Red Wings lost Game 6 and Game 7 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, while in 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks tasted their first Cup victory in 49 years with a Game 6 road win in Philadelphia.

On Monday night, the Vancouver Canucks will most certainly be hoping their fortunes are that of the latter. After winning again at home, the Canucks can grab the first series road win and take the Cup home to Vancouver with them.

Friday's Game 5 was another 1-0 game, with noted goon, one of a few on this Canuck squad, Maxim Lapierre knocking in the only goal on a rebound. Other than that, it was another outstanding night by Tim Thomas, despite Vancouver fans' best efforts to rattle him.

Surprisingly, Roberto Luongo had some comments after the game about that goal, noting that the goal Thomas allowed was an easy save for him. Yes, there is such a thing as an "easy" save for the guy who gave up 12 goals in his two games in Boston. Nonetheless, Thomas looks to be a shoe-in for Conn Smythe Trophy, having allowed just six goals in five games.

What these next two games are going to be determined by is the success of Boston's offense. We know how stout they are defensively and how stellar their goaltender has been throughout this series. But the loss of Nathan Horton showed on Friday, as the Bruins were able to garner few chances on Luongo, despite the big head he got from the shutout.

If the Canucks do win the Cup, it could end up being one of the more tainted victories in recent memory. As a Blackhawks fan, I obviously feel the disdain for the franchise due to the rivalry that has exploded over the last couple of years, but that has become something of a national idea since these finals started.

Several hits throughout these playoffs, and most notably the Alex Burrows bite and Aaron Rome hit on Horton, have many questioning whether or not this Canucks team, with Alain Vigneault as the ring leader, deserves to hoist their first Stanley Cup.

Nonetheless, the league's Presidents Trophy winners in the regular season have proven to be the deepest team in the league, which is quite obviously a key factor in winning anything in this league. If you thought the celebrating in the Vancouver streets was a big deal, and just a little ridiculous, after Game 5, imagine what could happen should this team win on Monday night.

Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins Look To Hold Serve Against Canucks At Home

After the scoring fiesta that was Game 3, with the Bruins trouncing the Canucks by an 8-1 margin, Boston will look to do something similar when the two sides meet in Beantown for Game 4 on Wednesday night.

The Bruins will have to do so without forward Nathan Horton, who is out for the remainder of the series after taking that brutal blindside hit at the hands of Aaron Rome, who was suspended for the remainder of this series. While there are rumors Rome will appeal, the fact is that he doesn't mean nearly as much to the Canucks as Horton means to Boston.

It will most likely  be youngster Tyler Seguin taking Horton's place on Boston's top line. Seguin treated us to some top notch hockey in a couple games against Tampa Bay, but has been much quieter since, serving Game 3 as a healthy scratch.

But Boston is quite obviously capable of putting up goals, as we saw on Monday. After Horton went down, the Bruins exploded for those eight goals, with four in the second period and another four in the third, all while knocking the Canucks around physically. That physical play even extended to Tim Thomas, who leveled Vancouver's Henrik Sedin.

The Canucks have reportedly had words with the NHL about the hit, which is quite ironic, given their penchant for illegal hits in this postseason. Still, it's impossible to see any sort of anything more than a finger wave from the NHL, if that.

It will be interesting to see how Roberto Luongo rebounds after surrendering eight goals on Monday. While those weren't all entirely his fault, we know Luongo's a guy who can be shaky in the postseason if his head's not right. Playing against Thomas makes it even more intriguing as to whether or not Lu can recover.

Just as the first trio of games in this series, Game 4 gets underway at 8 EST, and can be seen on Versus.

Bruins Vs. Canucks, Game 3: Boston Sends Huge Message, Crushes Vancouver, 8-1

The Boston Bruins have arrived in the Stanley Cup Finals. They obliterated the Vancouver Canucks, 8-1, on Monday night in Game 3 to cut their series deficit to 2-1.

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Stanley Cup Finals Schedule: Boston Goes Home Down 0-2 To Vancouver

Word is over 100,000 people were in the streets of Vancouver celebrating after the Canucks beat the Boston Bruins to take a 2-0 lead in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. While we appreciate the Canadian enthusiasm, if there's one thing we know about NHL hockey it's that no lead is safe and it's not like Vancouver has dominated the first two games the way Detroit did to Phoenix in the first round. The Canucks have just a two-goal advantage through two games.

The series returns to Boston where the Bruins will hope their home crowd can provide some kind of lift. Barring that, the hope is that the randomness of hockey shifts in their favor and they get a lucky bounce or friendly call. It's interesting to see all the talk of the Canucks dominating the Bruins in this series given how close the first two games were. Let's see what happens in Game 3.

Game 3 of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins starts at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on VERSUS and CBC. If Boston can win this one, they are right back in the series.

The remaining schedule for the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals follows:

Game 4 - Wednesday, June 8 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Game 5 - Friday, June 10 at Vancouver, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC, RDS
*Game 6 - Monday, June 13 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC, RDS
*Game 7 - Wednesday, June 15 at Vancouver, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC, RDS

* If needed

Vancouver Canucks fans attempt to hang a towel on the statue of former Canuck coach Roger Neilson after the team's 3-2 overtime win over the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 4, 2011, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver leads the series 2-0. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Alex Burrows' OT Winner Bites Bruins, Gives Canucks 2-0 Series Lead

Once again, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks have played down to the wire, just as they did in Game 1 of these Stanley Cup finals. Unfortunately for Boston, this one had an oddly similar result to the last one.

After losing with 18.5 seconds remaining in Game 1, courtesy of Raffi Torres, the Canucks struck just 11 seconds into overtime, this one coming courtesy of the now infamous, Alex Burrows.

Burrows you might remember gave the NHL a little taste of his hair-pulling style in Game 1, when he grabbed the visor of and bit Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron in the hand. No suspension was handed down to Burrows, thanks to that fantastic justice system.

It was a game that was bookended by Burrows goals, with his first coming on the powerplay in the opening frame of this one. Just over midway through the period, one that saw the two sides trade shots, Burrows got Vancouver on the board on the powerplay, wristing on just between Tim Thomas and the goalpost.

After four scoreless periods of play in these Finals, Milan Lucic finally potted a goal for the visiting Bruins. Just over two minutes later, the old horse Mark Recchi, with some brilliant stick play in front of the net, deflected a shot from Zdeno Chara past Roberto Luongo for the 2-1 Bruins lead.

That would hold up until midway through the third period, when Daniel Sedin scored past a bellyflopping Tim Thomas, evening things up at two.

In the OT, all you can really say is Alex Burrows. And Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas. A formula of all three, with outstanding effort on the initial shot from Burrows, and some boneheaded defending by Chara as he allowed Burrows to wrap around the net and knock in his rebound for the winner, just 11 seconds into the extra period.

But fear not Bruins fans. The way this series stands looks similar to last year's Stanley Cup finals, which also saw the Western Conference go up 2-0 after the Chicago Blackhawks defended home ice twice. The Philadelphia Flyers went on to win their next two at home, which is exactly where the Bruins are headed going into Monday's crucial Game 3.

Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins Try To Steal One In Vancouver, Even Series Against Canucks In Game 2

For almost anyone outside of the city of Vancouver, Wednesday night must have been painful to watch. After a thrilling game in which both sides traded shots on net and on the boards, playing to a 0-0 draw for 59 minutes and 41.5 seconds of play, it had to be Raffi Torres that scored the game winner, giving the Canucks a 1-0 edge in the Stanley Cup finals.

For the most part, the nationwide audience got an idea of how these Canucks play, if they didn't have one already. Already an extremely physical, albeit not always legal, team, Vancouver really went the extra mile in trying to intimidate the Bruins in Game 1.

Despite the thriller of a game and the brilliance of both goaltenders, the big story of Wednesday night was the chomp Alex Burrows took on Boston's Patrice Bergeron's hand early in the game. Yet, Burrows will be in the lineup, due to the fact that the NHL was somehow unable to prove that he was actually, in fact, biting Bergeron's hand.

But the biting incident aside, Game 1 was exactly what we could have expected, and should continue to expect as these Cup finals plow on.

Both Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo were fantastic. Thomas made highlight reel saves throughout the night, 33 in all, while Luongo was perfect on the night, with 36 saves, as he continues to shake off his playoff demons.

Despite the loss for Boston, they can still pull out the positives. Like the fact that it took a bruiser like Torres to score that game-winning goal, rather than one of the Sedins, or Alex Burrows. The Bruins' defense was suffocating as expected, leaving little movement for the star-studded top lines of Vancouver.

But even with that in mind, the pressure still rests with the Bruins heading into Game 2, despite the fact that you're not officially in trouble in a playoff series until you lose a game at home. The Canucks have flashed the fact that they have more depth than the Bruins, and with Boston's futility on the power play that we've seen throughout these playoffs, it could be a nerve-wracking affair for those in Beantown.

Expect Game 2 to almost mirror its predecessor, with more bruising going between the two sides in what promises to be another low-scoring affair. Just as the case was with Game 1, you can catch Saturday's Game 2 on NBC, with the puck drop slated at 8 EST.

NHL Stanley Cup Finals Schedule: Vancouver Up In Thrilling Fashion, Boston In Bind

The 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals started in thrilling fashion. The Vancouver Canucks thrilled their rabid fans with a goal Raffi Torres goal with just 18.5 seconds left in the third period. The Canucks took a 1-0 lead over the Bruins which also happened to be the final score in Game 1. 

The Bruins will have a couple of days to practice and take in the beautiful city of Vancouver before they strap on the skates and hit the ice for Game 2 on Saturday.  Hopefully the Canucks will use the time to make sure Alex Burrows is well fed before the next game. He avoided suspension for biting Patrice Bergeron in a rather strange act of hockey violence. 

Game 2 of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals is set for Saturday, June 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC and RDS.

Here's the You Tube video of the Raffi Torres goal:

The remaining schedule for the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals follows:

Game 3 - Monday, June 6 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Game 4 - Wednesday, June 8 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Game 5 - Friday, June 10 at Vancouver, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC, RDS
*Game 6 - Monday, June 13 at Boston, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC, RDS
*Game 7 - Wednesday, June 15 at Vancouver, 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC, CBC, RDS

* If needed

The Stanley Cup Finals are ongoing, as the Vancouver Canucks battle the Boston Bruins. For coverage on the Finals, stick with our Stanley Cup Finals hub, our Canucks blog, Nucks Misconduct, and our Bruins blog, Stanley Cup of Chowder.

NHL Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins, Canucks Meet In Vancouver For Game 1

In a matchup of big markets, the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals will finally get underway on Wednesday night, with the Boston Bruins visiting the Vancouver Canucks to open their series to determine who wins the greatest trophy in sports. It's a series hockey fans are dying to see with the passion of Vancouver and Boston pouring into what could be an epic battle.

Boston comes in having needed seven games to down a young Tampa Bay Lightning squad, winning that final game by a 1-0 count. They are led by Vezina Trophy candidate, and probably frontrunner, Tim Thomas, who was brilliant in Game 7 against Tampa.

The Canucks are also led by a Vezina candidate, Roberto Luongo. Prior to these Cup finals, Luongo was a guy noted more for his playoff futility than success. After a rough opening round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, Luongo has been solid for Vancouver, as they knocked off the San Jose Sharks in five games to advance to this point.

The two sides met just once in the regular season, with the Bruins winning that one, 3-1. Despite that, Vancouver is still favored in the series, and rightfully so given the fact that they won the President's Trophy as the NHL's best during the regular season.

If Boston wants to have a shot in this series, they are going to have to succeed on special teams, particularly their power play. The Bruins have been miserable with the man advantage, converting just five of their 61 chances during this postseason.

For the Canucks, the key of course is their biggest offensive force, the Sedin twins. Daniel and Henrik Sedin both figure to play a major part of whatever the Canucks are able to do in this series, despite the presence of secondary scorers like Ryan Kesler. However, the Sedin twins have proven that they can be stopped, and you can expect to see plenty of Boston's dynamic defensive duo of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg.

In a matchup of physical teams, with one squad looking to break a long Cup drought (Boston) and the other looking for their first (Vancouver) we should be in for a terrific finale to an already stellar NHL season.

Game 1 of Boston vs. Vancouver will be featured on NBC, with the puck set to drop at 8 EST.