VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Raffi Torres ended an ugly Stanley Cup finals opener with a dramatic flash of beauty for the Vancouver Canucks.
Torres scored on an exceptional pass from Jannik Hansen with 18.5 seconds to play, and the Canucks stunned the Boston Bruins 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Roberto Luongo made 36 saves in his third shutout of the postseason for the Canucks, but Boston’s Tim Thomas matched him until Torres — the only Vancouver player with previous finals experience — slipped through the Bruins’ defense for an eye-popping goal that launched a wild celebration at Rogers Arena.
“I thought we were going to play all night the way it was going,” Luongo said. “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.”
Game 2 is Saturday night in Vancouver.
Thomas stopped 33 shots for the Bruins, who went scoreless on six power plays. Boston also killed six Vancouver power plays in an outstanding defensive game against the NHL’s highest-scoring team until the final minute.
“I heard Raffi yelling,” Hansen said with a grin. “It was easy to hear him.”
With uneasy fans anticipating overtime, the Canucks’ third-line wings connected. Hansen spotted Torres streaking toward the net and floated a pass right to him, and Torres slipped it past Thomas for his third goal of the postseason.
“We brought him in because he was an emotional, physical player,” Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said of Torres, who lost the 2006 Stanley Cup finals with Edmonton. “He’s had nothing but a great attitude and a great work ethic with us all year long. He comes to play, prepares himself real well. We need him to play the way he does. You know, he’s a little bit sometimes outside the box, but you’ve got to let him be who he is.”
Torres’ goal ended the 37-year-old Thomas’ shutout streak at just under 129 minutes. He hadn’t allowed a goal since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, shutting out Tampa Bay in Game 7.
Ryan Kesler also got an assist for forcing Johnny Boychuk’s turnover that set up the final-minute scoring sequence in a tense, tight-checking game that featured stellar defense and bad-tempered play by both clubs.
Canucks forward Alex Burrows even appeared to bite the gloved finger of Boston’s Patrice Bergeron after the first-period buzzer, raising the possibility of a suspension for the Canucks’ rambunctious first-line wing.
“I don’t mind the rough play and those scrums at the end, as long as it’s just pushing and shoving and all that,” Bergeron said. “But biting? I mean, come on.”
Both teams entered their first playoff meeting looking to end lengthy Stanley Cup droughts. Vancouver has never won the NHL title in four decades of existence, losing its only two trips to the finals in 1982 and 1994. Boston has lost five straight finals since winning in 1972.
After a full week off, the Canucks came out with palpable energy from a crowd that shook the arena violently enough to dislodge a bit of confetti left over from the Western Conference finals onto the ice before the game.
But the officials kept both teams on a steady parade to the penalty box in the first two periods, a big change from the Bruins’ penalty-free Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay.
The Bruins again were hurt by their terrible power play, which managed just five goals in 61 chances in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Boston got nine shots without a goal during an early four-minute power play against Vancouver before failing to convert a two-man advantage for 1:32 early in the second period. Luongo was outstanding in the opener of his attempt to win the Stanley Cup on the same ice where he backstopped Canada to the gold medal in last year’s Olympics.
The Canucks started to turn the game in their favor in the third period.
Christian Ehrhoff’s pinpoint pass set up Hansen for a breakaway early in the third, but Thomas coolly stopped his low shot, prompting Hansen to slam his stick into the glass in frustration. Maxim Lapierre had a point-blank chance with 8½ minutes left, but Thomas stopped his deflection.
Alex Edler then made a slick move for quick shot with 5½ minutes to play, but the puck rang off the crossbar above Thomas’ right shoulder.
“You have to be patient,” Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. “They don’t give up a whole lot. Even when we’re getting shots on net and chances, their goalie makes great saves. When he’s making big saves like that, you can’t get down on yourself. You’ve got to keep shooting the puck, and that’s what we did.”
Vancouver was the NHL’s best team in the regular season, setting franchise records with 54 wins and 117 points while winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Boston finished third in the East and survived a nail-biting first-round series with Montreal before outlasting the Lightning to reach its first Stanley Cup finals since 1990.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.