No. 1 Star: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
Thomas was given a big cushion early on and defended his ground stopping 36 shots as the Boston Bruins forced a Game 7 with a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Boston scored four times in a 4:14 span in the first period as the home-team dominance in the series continued. Thomas kept the Canucks from gaining a bit of momentum at the end of the first with this denial of Jannik Hansen on a breakaway:
No. 2 Star: Mark Recchi, Boston Bruins
The 43-year-old Recchi was active in the first period helping set up two of Boston's four goals and later added his third assist of the night on the Bruins' fifth and final goal of the game. Recchi now has 13 points in 24 games in these playoffs.
No. 3 Star: Michael Ryder, Boston Bruins
After going pointless in Game 5, Ryder returned to the scoresheet potting a goal and adding an assist in the first period. Ryder now has six points in his last four games.
Honorable mention: Boston's four goals in 4:14 was a Stanley Cup record ... In relief of Roberto Luongo, Cory Schneider stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced ... Brad Marchand continued turning heads in the Final with this snipe to open up the scoring early:
David Krejci scored his NHL-leading 12th goal of the playoffs ... Henrik Sedin scored his first point of the series with his third goal of the playoffs ... Chris Kelly won 14 of his 19 faceoffs ... Nathan Horton was in attendance and waved a rally towel to fire up the Bruins fans inside the arena:
Did you know? Six of the last 10 Stanley Cup Finals have been decided in seven games.
Dishonorable mention: As he did in Games 3 and 4, Luongo struggled at TD Garden, allowing three goals in a 3:04 span and was quickly chased in favor of Schneider ... The Canucks were dominated in the faceoff circling losing 46 of 74 draws ... Finally, scary moment early in the first period, Mason Raymond needed to leave the game after this awkward hit by Johnny Boychuk:
Raymond left the arena on a stretcher and was taken to a local hospital.
Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins; 2. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 3. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 4. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks; 5. Alexandre Burrows, Vancouver Canucks; 6. Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 7. Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks; 8. Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins; 9. Michael Ryder, Boston Bruins; 10. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins.
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