Sunday, June 12, 2011

Friday’s Three Stars: Luongo rebounds, Canucks a win from the Cup

No. 1 Star: Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Well, that's one way to rebound after allowing 12 goals in two games. Luongo was spectacular as his 31 saves put the Canucks a win away from the Stanley Cup after a 1-0 shutout of the Boston Bruins in Game 6. It was the third straight shutout for Luongo these playoffs that ended 1-0 and fourth overall.

No. 2 Star: Maxim Lapierre, Vancouver Canucks

One of the most-disliked Canucks in the series, Lapierre gave Bruins fans one more reason to hate him as he scored the only goal of the game 4:35 into the third period on a perfectly executed set slap-pass by Kevin Bieksa and a good bounce off Thomas:

No. 3 Star: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins

Despite his offense failing him, Thomas posted yet another stellar effort making 24 saves in the loss. Thomas has allowed six goals in his last six games and his last four losses in the playoffs have been by one goal.

Honorable mention: The Canucks flipped the script from Games 3 and 4 and out-hit the Bruins 47-27 with Alex Edler being credited for 10 of them ... Vancouver rookie Chris Tanev played his first game of the series in place of Keith Ballard and played 12:15 ... Tomas Kaberle played in his 100th NHL playoff game ... Raffi Torres' assist on Lapierre's goal was his third point of the series ... Vancouver's penalty kill is at a 85.7-percent success rate for the series.

Did you know? "Roberto Luongo is the 2nd goalie in Stanley Cup Final history to win two 1-0 shutouts in a single series (1945 Frank McCool for TOR)." (Elias via ESPN Stats & Info)

Dishonorable mention: Once again, both power plays were limp as Boston finished 0-for-4, while Vancouver went 0-for-3 ... Tanner Glass was the happiest man in the building when Lapierre scored after his whiff in the second period:

Alex Burrows and Milan Lucic were reacquainted before a faceoff in the first period with both going off with matching minors:

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins; 2. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 3. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 4. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks; 5. Alexandre Burrows, Vancouver Canucks; 6. Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks;�7. Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 8.Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; 9. Michael Ryder, Boston Bruins; 10. Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins.

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