2011 Stanley Cup Finals: Vancouver Canucks shutouts Boston Bruins, 1-0, in Game 1 –NHL Update
The highly anticipated Game 1 of the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Finals began yesterday, June 1st, at the Rogers Arena, Vancouver, and was more thrilling than it was perceived to be. Both, Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins
battled it out, but Canucks emerged victorious in the final seconds to take the first game and shutout Bruins,1-0, taking a 1-0 series lead as well.
Both teams had nearly equal opportunities on the net as both, Boston and Vancouver, took 36 and 34 shots on the net, respectively.
Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas were extremely tight in the net all night and couldn’t move an inch since it would have resulted in an open opportunity.
Vancouver and Boston remained level in their scoring chances throughout the three periods of regulation game-time but Canucks scored the lone goal in the closing seconds to take the match.
Both were given equal power-play opportunities as well as each got 6 power-plays in the full 60 minutes, but the goalkeepers ensured making the kill.
Patrice Bergeron and Alex Burrows were penalised at the 20:00 mark of the first period for roughing up, resulting in both not being able to play in the opening two minutes of the second period.
The second period went by and still there was no goals scored by either team which had the fans on the edge of their seats waiting for who would be the first to score.
"I thought we were going to play all night the way it was going", Luongo said, who earned the first shutout of the finals series. "It was an exciting way to start the series. It was such a close game. It could've gone either way, a flip of the coin".
Canucks and Bruins remained at par with their defensive stance and had either opposition forces fully locked down until finally Vancouver scored.
Raffi Torres was fed a pass from Jannik Hansen, Canucks’ recall from its farm team, Manitoba Moose, from the left side and slid the puck past Thomas, washing away his 33-save performance with 19 seconds remaining in the final period of the game.
Game 2 is scheduled to be played on Saturday, June 4th, again at the Rogers Arena, where either Vancouver will have the chance to take a dominating 2-0 lead or Boston can tie-up the series and wait until Game 3 which will be played at its home
stadium.
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