Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron each scored twice for Boston and Roberto Luongo continued to struggle as the Bruins swiped Lord Stanley’s Cup away from the Canucks on their home ice in Game 7.
Boston had a 3-0 lead by the end of the second period and the Cup was already being polished for goaltender Tim Thomas, who was superb in yet another shutout. The journeyman veteran from Flint pitched his second shutout of the finals and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff’s most valuable player. Many in the media believed Thomas would have won the Conn Smythe whether he won or not.
Thomas and the Bruins made the decision for them. By the end of the second, the Stanley Cup’s first visit to Boston since 1972 seemed inevitable.
Bergeron quieted the raucous crowd with five minutes left in the first period, redirecting a pass from Marchand past a stunned Luongo, who barely moved on the play. Bergeron broke the Canucks’ back with a shorthanded tally at the end of the second that made it 3-0, a goal that was reviewed and upheld by officials.
Vancouver pulled Luongo in desperation with three minutes left, but Marchand potted his 10th goal of the playoffs into the empty net to seal the deal.
Much is usually made of who the captain passes the Cup off to first, and this year the winner was 43-year-old Mark Recchi. Playing on his seventh team, Recchi took the Cup from Zdeno Chara and then passed it off to Thomas, who took the Cup for an extended hike around the ice.