Canucks Open the Finals With a Win

The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals opened on Wednesday night and what an opening 60 minutes of hockey it was to start the long fight to the best trophy in all of professional sports.

The intensity was off the charts, as both goaltenders at either end were absolutely marvelous, especially Tim Thomas early on, making four key stops in the first few minutes of the game, but Roberto Luongo was up to task as well, fending off a number of Bruins power plays, including one 5-on-3 situation.  The shots came fast and furious in that opening frame, but the goalies were the stars of the show.

The 2nd period of play reverted into a bit more of a tighter game, both teams knowing that the opening frame was a bit too open and so they tried to calm it down as much as they could, but still, penalties at both ends of the rink kept the special teams on the ice, likely a lot more than either coach would have preferred.  Much like the 1st period, the goaltenders were again the stars, keeping the game scoreless through two.

Through two periods, the Bruins led the Canucks in shots, 26-20, but the 3rd period saw the tides turn a little and Vancouver started to press a little bit more, especially late on.

The game was almost certain to head to overtime as the 3rd period wound down, both goalies had not let in a goal through 59 minutes, but a turnover at the Bruins blueline by Ryan Kesler started a quick strike transition sequence, passing over to Jannik Hansen, who then hit a streaking Raffi Torres and with 19 seconds to go in the final frame, the red light went on and the Canucks took a 1-0 lead, both in the game and in the series.

Luongo made 36 saves to record his 3rd shutout of these playoffs, taking sole possession of the hockey pool points lead with 32 points, but more importantly has drawn first blood in this series, which should be as tightly contested as Game One was on Wednesday night.

Early in the 2nd period, non-pool defeneseman Dan Hamhuis left the game with an undisclosed injury, after a collision along the boards.  There isn't going to be any definitive word on Hamhuis or his injury in the next few days, we'll likely know more before Game Two actually begins.

Overall Standings
Well, you can look at the standings this morning and see who has who in the pool.  The teams with 4 points only have Luongo, the teams that have 1 point in this series have Kesler, 5 points means the team has both and well, I think you can tell what the teams with 0 points have.

Since the Bruins were held off the scoresheet in Game One, it was arguably a little less interesting in the pool during Game One, but I suppose since there was only one goal scored by both teams combined, it was just less interesting all around.  There was some movement in the money, as Superstar, a team with both Luongo and Kesler, moved back into a money position for the time being, taking over 4th, thanks to some tie-breakers.

The leaders remain unchanged and the preview for Game Two will look a lot like the preview for Game One... in the top 10 of the standings, that is.