Poppin' Bottles: Bruins win first Cup in 39 years

The Boston Bruins celebrated their first Stanley Cup in 39 years last night.

ESPN's Barry Melrose once said that the great thing about ice hockey is that "will beats skill."

I heard Melrose coin that phrase on a Sportscenter broadcast several years ago, and it's stuck with me ever since. More so than any other sport, the effort, determination and will of a hockey team can, and usually do, overcome the shear talent of another.

Melrose's saying rang true once again this year, as the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals last night, 4-0, to claim their first Cup since the days of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito.

In the interest of full disclosure, I only caught the first half of the game, as I had my weekly Wednesday night men's hockey game (another 6-5 victory, in case you're keeping track) to play in. I will defend myself by saying, if there's one viable excuse for missing Game 7 of the Cup finals, it's your own hockey game.

Anyway, after our game we headed to our usual post-game watering hole and caught the highlights and Cup presentation. I was kicking myself, because I was close to posting a little Game 7 preview yesterday, in which I would make my bold prediction that the Bruins -- yes the road team -- would pull an '09 Penguins and win Game 7 on the road.

You're probably thinking, "Yeah, whatever dude. Keep pretending you know what you're talking about."

To which I'd say, you're right. I really don't know what I'm talking about. But I'll tell you what I do know:

Throughout these Stanley Cup finals, I watched a supremely talented team in the Canucks outworked, out-hit and out-hustled by one of the grittiest and nastiest hockey teams I've seen, the Bruins.

Roberto Luongo will forever be remembered for his choke job in 
these Stanley Cup Finals. 

Make no mistake. I'm not some front-running sports clown. It pains me to see yet another Boston sports team win a title, tightening the city's stranglehold on the Title Town, USA championship belt. But I do admire how the Bruins won their first Cup in 39 years and the brand of hockey they exhibited.

As skilled as Vancouver was as a team, the Bruins exposed the Canucks with their physicality and energy, not to mention a serious take-no-mess-from-no-one attitude.

Sure, the Bruins won the Cup on Canucks' sheet of ice, but this series was over Monday night in Boston, when the B's once again knocked embattled Vancouver goalie Robert Luongo out of the game with three first period goals (on just eight shots). The Bruins would take Game 6, 5-2.

With the Cup on the line in Game 6 -- what would have been the Canucks' first championship in its 41-year existence -- Luongo & Co. laid a complete egg in Beantown. No team had won a road game this series until last night, so I guess that made it OK for the Canucks to mail in Game 6, right? Well, that was all the daylight that the blue collar Bruins needed and they sure took advantage, winning their first Cup since 1972.

Despite two shutouts this series, Luongo's Stanley Cup meltdown (17 goals allowed) made LeBron James look like a prime time performer in the fourth quarter of the NBA Finals. Forget the curious comments he made about Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, Luongo's topsy turvy play throughout these finals will be remembered for all the wrong reasons for some time.

But enough about the Canucks. It was the Bruins who won, after all. If Luongo was the ultimate goat of this series, his counterpart, Thomas, was the hero. Unlike Luongo, Thomas was stellar even in Boston's three defeats and turned in two shutouts of his own. He even set an NHL record for most saves in the  Stanley Cup finals (238).

Perhaps the coolest part of Thomas' Stanley Cup finals performance was that he became only the second American-born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy -- the first since my guy Brian Leetch won the award with the Rangers back in 1994.

Tim Thomas made USA Hockey fans proud, becoming only

the second American to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

How about Bruins rookie Brad Marchand? When this guy wasn't yoking up the Canucks' Daniel Sedin, he kept busy ripping twine on Luongo. Marchand had an absolute breakout series with five goals, including two in Game 7.

Or how about the job that Boston's top defensive pairing Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg did on the Sedin twins, as they limited the Swedish brothers to just two goals combined.

But beyond the match-ups, x's and o's and on-ice strategies, this series came down to differing styles and attitudes. The Bruins were bigger, tougher and meaner than the Canucks -- and both teams knew it. Aaron Rome's blindsided hit on Nathan Horton proved to be the wake-up call the Bruins needed. From that point on in Game 3, the Bruins looked like a team out for blood.

And they found it.

While I wasn't around to watch the Broad Street Bullies terrorize the NHL in the 1970s, this Bruins team seemed to play with some of that old-school nastiness that those Flyers teams are remembered for.

On paper, the star-laden, Presidents Trophy-winning Canucks had the clear talent advantage. But Boston showed that there's more to hockey than just talent. Attitude, physicality and energy can be more important than physical skill.

No, the Stanley Cup finals don't always play out like they did this year. But these finals remind us that hockey is played on a sheet of ice, not a sheet of paper.

Bruins even Stanley Cup Finals at two games apiece

Boston Bruins' Tim Thomas throwin' down with Alex Burrows

of the Canucks in Game 4 last night. Thomas posted his third

 shutout of the postseason, a 4-0 Bruins win.

Following his team's overtime loss in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien sat stoically at the podium and calmly answered questions from the media, despite the 0-2 hole that his team faced.

Julien pointed to the first round matchup against the Canadiens, when his Bruins erased a 0-2 series deficit and won in seven games -- surely a signature moment for a Boston team that's now proving its championship mettle.

I guess the composure that Boston's head man showed in his press conference was no front, because with another dominating performance from his Bruins -- a 4-0 drubbing of the Canucks in Game 4 -- the Stanley Cup Finals are suddenly knotted up at two games apiece.

It would appear that the two teams are heading in opposite directions, and that especially rings true for both Vezina-nominated goaltenders.

Boston's Tim Thomas has been nothing short of spectacular these Cup Finals, having allowed only five goals against through the first four games. Last night,  he stopped all 37 shots he faced to post his third shutout of the postseason and is sporting a pristine 2.11 goals against average in the playoffs. Even in the games the Bruins lost, Thomas allowed only four goals against.

Vancouver's goaltending situation on the other hand is in flux. Roberto Luongo, who is also nominated as the league's top goaltender, has been embarrassed in the two games played in Bean Town. After surrendering only two goals in Games 1 and 2, Luongo has given up 12 tallies the past two games.

Vancouver's Roberto Luongo was pulled from
last night's game after allowing all four goals. 

Boston has lit the lamp so many times against Luongo in TD Garden, I wouldn't be surprised if he's got a nasty sun burn on the back of his neck to go along with his rising goals against average.

Luongo, who allowed all four goals last night on 38 shots, was pulled from last night's game for backup Cory Schneider. That wasn't the first time this postseason that Canucks coach Alain Vigneault has opted to yank the veteran netminder. Luongo was benched after allowing 10 goals (on just 40 shots) in two straight losses to the Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs, as the Canucks saw its 3-0 series lead cut to 3-2. Luongo responded brilliantly though, as he allowed just one goal on 32 shots in Vancouver's emotional Game 7 victory.

So where does this leave us as the series heads back to British Columbia for the all important Game 5? The Bruins appear to have ALL of the momentum right now, and rightfully so. They lost the first two games by the slimmest of margins, as Game 1 was decided in the final minute and with Game 2 going to overtime. Their victories -- 8-1 and 4-0 -- have been far less dramatic, to say the least.

But I'm not going to count the Canucks out just yet. Perhaps some home cooking back in Pacific Northwest is what the Presidents' Trophy winning team needs to find itself once again. Remember, Vancouver nearly coughed up that 3-0 series lead it had on Chicago, but prevailed with a resurgent Luongo in net. I look for Luongo to bounce back on home ice.

A Sedin twins sighting may help as well. Boston has put the clamps on the talented Swedish forwards, as Henrik has zero points in these Finals and a -2 rating, while his brother, Daniel, has only two points and a -1 rating. They'll need to get going if Vancouver is going to win its first Cup in franchise history.

In a slightly less-anticipated game, played on a slightly smaller stage, my men's hockey team erased a 5-1 second period deficit last night to win 6-5, proving that wild finishes are another part of this sport.

Which begs the question: What type of a finish will we see to these Stanley Cup Finals?