Vancouver Canucks vs. Boston Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup Final Series: A Showdown of the Goalies
Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins have proved to the entire hockey world that they are the best teams of Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively. The next challenge ahead of both teams is to prove which one of them is the best in the whole National
Hockey League (NHL) which does not appear to be an easy task as once thought to be for either team.
Unlike previous Stanley Cup Finals series with numerous shots and goals being scored, to the extent that the games would go into overtime and no one would have any idea which team would win, this series is totally different.
The 2011 Stanley Cup Final between the Western top team, Vancouver Canucks, and the Eastern top team, Boston Bruins, is all about defence and which team emerges successful in penetrating a defensive lockdown.
Game 1 finally started on Wednesday night and each and every ice hockey fan was glued to his/her television set as Canucks and Bruins fought a nerve wrecking battle.
The first two periods were nail biters but nothing like the third period, expected to go into overtime. After a scoreless 19 and a half minutes of the final period, Raffi Torres stepped up and scored the winning goal for Vancouver that game them a hard earned
victory and an early lead in the series.
"It was just as exciting as an overtime goal", Luongo said of the late game-winner. "There was not a lot of room on the ice, as we saw. At one point I thought we might be playing all night here".
The first match of a series is always represents how the series will turnout during the remaining six matches and from the outlook of Game 1 it appears to be an extremely defensive final.
Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas, Vancouver Canucks’ and Boston Bruins’ goalies, respectively, are currently two of the best goalies in the league.
Both are very well experienced and well versed with the playoffs, but it is the clash of the two titans that has this series in a stalemate. If every match turns out this way than the series can become pretty theatrical and predicting a winner will be near
to impossible.
Vancouver lost Dan Hamhuis, its veteran defenseman, after he made a hit on Milan Lucic which sent both players flying in the air.
He went back to the locker room during the second period and did not return. His status still remains unknown and if Hamhuis does not return for Game 2, Vancouver may suffer a major blow to its defence, which at the moment is the key to winning.
Luongo, who has three years of experience in the major league more than Thomas, made 36 perfect saves to earn the first shutout of the series.
Thomas fell short as Torres washed away his near shutout in which he made 33 saves on 34 attempts, letting the final shot go through with 19 seconds remaining.
Both goalkeepers will be extremely important for their teams in the upcoming games and especially Game 2 as Canucks will try to extend its lead while hosting Boston again on Saturday.
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