Home ice advantage once again showed that it was alive and well after the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 tonight from the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Now both teams will head out west one more time for a do or die game 7 from Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Roberto Luongo once again proved that he simply cannot play away from Rogers Arena after giving up four goals in only 4:14 which is a new Stanley Cup record. in fact this record has stood since 1956 when the Canadiens scored four on the Red Wings in 5:29. He (Luongo) allowed two soft goals within 35 seconds of each other in the first period. Brad Marchand scored 5:31 into the game with Milan Lucic scoring his fifth of the playoffs shortly after that. Andrew Ference ended up chasing Luongo with a power play goal just minutes later. Michael Ryder ended up scoring the 4th goal of the period on Canucks backup Corey Schneider.
Luongo has been a totally different player on the road. During three games in Boston he has allowed 15 goals on 66 shots while at home he has stopped 85 of 87 shots.
Unfortunately for Luongo tonight the taunting from the fans didn’t stop when he was yanked. Instead of focusing on Schneider, Bruins fans continued to chant “Luoooongo” while he sat defeated on the Vancouver bench. The TD Banknorth Garden organist even got in on the fun by playing “Chelsea Dagger,” which is the Blackhawks goal song that Luongo heard quite often in the first round.
What’s truly remarkable is that despite the two shutouts on home ice, Luongo still has a chance to win the Stanley Cup on Wednesday after being yanked twice in this series.
Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas however has been a completely different story.
He continued his bid for the Conn Smythe tonight holding the Canucks scoreless for the first two periods of the tonight’s game coming up with big save after big save. He has been the most consistent player on the ice and certainly deserves the Smythe recognition regardless of what happens in game 7.
Source: TSN.ca, Sportsnet.ca, ESPN, Yahoo Sports
