On this day in 2011: Maxim Lapierre’s goal puts Canucks up 3-2 in Stanley Cup Final
By Sam Nestler
18 days agoNo, the Vancouver Canucks will not play in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final tonight. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing special about this day for Vancouver and its fans.
When looking back at the club’s long history, 2011 will come up quite often. The Canucks had their best season, won the President’s Trophy with the most points in the regular season, and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins.
On June 10, 2011, the Canucks and Bruins took the ice in Vancouver for Game 5 of the Final. The series was tied 2-2 after both teams won two games in their home rinks. After dominant 8-1 and 4-0 wins for the Bruins, Game 5 was a completely different story. A good thing for the Canucks.
The star of the night in Game 5 was Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo. The Hall of Famer stopped all 31 shots he faced as the game was tied 0-0 heading into the third period. Early in the third, it was Vancouver forward Maxim Lapierre who blew the roof off of Rogers Arena.
Just after being robbed by the right pad of Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, Lapierre was able to find a rebound off the end boards of Kevin Bieksa’s long wrist shot and sneak the puck short side on Thomas to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. It was the only goal they needed, along with Luongo’s shutout to earn the victory and take a 3-2 series lead with a chance to win their first Stanley Cup in Boston in Game 6.
Game 5 was the second 1-0 win for Vancouver in the series, as a dramatic late goal by Raffi Torres and a 38-save Luongo shutout also clinched a 1-0 victory in Game 1. Luongo joined Frank McCool (1945 – Toronto Maple Leafs) as the only goalies to have two separate 1-0 shutouts in a Stanley Cup Final. Boston won the series in seven games.
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