It took nearly 60 minutes, but Vancouver got the only goal it needed when Raffi Torres scored with 18.5 seconds remaining in the third period for a 1-0 victory Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals at Rogers Center in Vancouver.
Jannik Hansen took a pass from Ryan Kesler, who made Bruins goalie Tim Thomas challenge a would-be shot due to a 2-on-1 situation, and fired the puck to Torres for the easy one timer. Thomas had no chance on the play.
Kesler made an exceptional play to chip the puck past the Boston defense and stay onsides in the process.
Thomas was great, stopping 33 shots and was 18.5 seconds from posting 120 minutes of shutout goaltending, but Roberto Luongo was a tad better.
Luongo made 36 saves for his third shutout this postseason and was the game's No. 1 star. Thomas was No. 2 and Torres 3.
The game was a tight, defensive battle with some chippy moments. Vancouver's Alex Burrows appeared to bite the gloved finger of Boston's Patrice Bergeron during a scuffle after the first-period buzzer.
As of this writing, nothing has been addressed to whether Burrows will be punished. I believe a one-game suspension is warranted.
Failures on the power play were another story as neither team scored with the man advantage. Both teams were 0-for-6, and the Bruins failed to score on a lengthy 5-on-3 in the early stages of the second period.
This victory is very encouraging for the Canucks. A low-scoring, tight checking game is more suited for the Bruins. They score many goals by putting the puck on net with traffic. I don't think Boston needs to change anything for Game 2, however it has to score on the power play and keep Vancouver from scoring with the man advantage. They accomplished one part of that in Game 1.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, I don't see the Canucks' PP being held down again in this series.
Game 2 is Saturday and I give the edge to Vancouver, 3-2.
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