After 59 minutes and 42 seconds of fantastic goaltending, that featured 69 shots without one getting by Tim Thomas or Roberto Luongo the entire night, and in many cases those saves being spectacular. That said, Thomas' lone flaw is at times his over-aggressiveness, and it burned him, as Raffi Torres got the games only goal with 18.5 seconds remaining, and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final by a score of 1-0, to take the same lead in this best-of-seven series.
The third period saw the whistles thrown into the referees pockets, after 28 minutes of penalties were called through the first two periods. The goaltenders were terrific as mentioned, with Thomas especially holding the line desperately throughout the third. A Janik Hansen break-away was pure robbery from Thomas. Roberto Luongo was solid and steady for the entire game, never giving you the sense that the net was in any trouble of being penetrated.
It was in the final minute that you finally got someone to blink. Ryan Kesler drew to Boston defenders to him as he entered the Boston zone, and found Hansen for a mini-2-on-1 with Raffi Torres. Hansen made a split-second pass to Torres, with Thomas outside the net just enough to be off his angle, and Torres simply buried it. A controversial player throughout the post-season, Torres plays the hero this evening. It was his third goal of the playoffs and Kesler's 12th assist on a great play as he continues to mount a Conn Smythe campaign. A quick pull of the goaltender could do no good for the Bruins, who now have a demoralizing loss and one more chance to get something out of the trip to Vancouver during Saturday's Game 2.
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