BOSTON -- Vezina Trophy finalist Tim Thomas stopped every shot and gave
the Boston Bruins a chance for the biggest prize of all -- the Stanley
Cup.
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Forget their 20-year absence from the final. Dont talk about their epic
playoff collapse of last season. And certainly dont mention their
powerless power play.
None of that matters after the Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0
on Friday night on Nathan Hortons goal with 7:33 left in the
penalty-free Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.
"Im just happy to see those guys smiling in the dressing room," Boston
coach Claude Julien said. "Right now were four wins from winning the
Stanley Cup."
The Bruins will open the Stanley Cup final Wednesday in Vancouver
against the Western Conference champion Canucks.
Boston won its most recent championship in 1972 and hadnt reached the
final since 1990, when it lost to the Edmonton Oilers.
The Bruins left far behind the spectre of last years playoff failure.
They blew a 3-0 lead in games and a 3-0 lead in Game 7 of the Eastern
Conference semifinal, losing 4-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
"From the beginning of the season, we knew we had some unfinished
business," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "Guys were hungry throughout
the playoffs."
This season, they squandered 3-2 series leads in the first round against
Montreal and then against Tampa Bay. But they beat the Canadiens 4-3 in
overtime in Game 7, with Horton scoring the winning goal. Then the
forward, playing in the post-season for the first time in his career
after five seasons with the Florida Panthers, came through again with
his eighth playoff goal.
"He certainly has played like a big-game player," Julien said.
So has Thomas -- all season.
The 37-year-old goalie led the NHL in goals-against average and save
percentage after missing all of last years playoffs because of a hip
injury. After off-season surgery, he was as good as ever, and that
includes the 2008-09 season when he won the Vezina Trophy as the leagues
top goalie.
"I think a lot of people thought I was over the hill," Thomas said. "I
knew it wasnt true. I put in a lot of work over the summer and Ive had
an unbelievable year. Ive been blessed."
He made 24 saves in his third career playoff shutout and second of the
Lightning series. Hortons goal spoiled an outstanding game by Lightning
goalie Dwayne Roloson, who stopped 37 shots.
Thomas playoff performance is even more remarkable because the Bruins
scored just five goals on 61 power plays in the post-season. But there
were no power plays for either side on Friday night in the clean,
hard-hitting game.
"There wasnt anything out there to call," Roloson said. "Give the
referees credit. for not disrupting the flow of the game."
Horton beat Roloson by deflecting a pass from left to right across the
slot from David Krejci.
"It is hard to explain how good this feeling is," Horton said.
His goal set off a loud celebration among Bruins fans, who have waited a
long time for a trip to the finals.
With three seconds left and the puck in the Lightning zone, Bruins
centre Patrice Bergeron raised his stick while standing in the "spoked
B" logo symbolizing the Bruins at centre ice. And when the game ended,
Thomas raised both arms and arched his back against the net that the
Lightning never reached in the decisive game as yellow and black towels
given to fans fluttered to the ice.
"Its great to be a part of something amazing. That was the highest level
of concentration I have experienced," Bergeron said. "I couldnt wait to
jump on Timmy and enjoy the moment."
The Bruins improved to 2-3 in Game 7s under Julien but have won the last
two. Theyre 11-10 overall in Game 7s.
Andrew Ference started the only scoring play on the left side behind the
red line with a pass to Krejci, also on the left. Horton was on the
same side, but when Krejci got the puck, Horton veered to the right.
Krejci skated in and threaded a pass to Horton, who put the puck in the
open side between Roloson and the left post.
"I dont think he could have stopped that puck and I dont think he could
have done better than he did tonight," Lightning coach Guy Boucher said.
"Its hard to look at. One little defensive mistake."
And the Bruins werent about to squander this lead.
"Once they went up 1-0, they really came back (on defence) with five
guys and it was tough to get anything," said Vincent Lecavalier, who had
six goals and 13 assists in the playoffs. "We got a few shots, but it
was tough to get the rebounds."
Roloson fell to 7-1 in elimination games during his career, including
4-1 this post-season. Tampa Bay rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat
Pittsburgh in the first round, with Roloson shutting out the Penguins
1-0 in Game 7 on the road. But after beating the Bruins in Game 6 to
force one more contest, the Lightnings comeback fortunes changed.
"They have guys that can put the puck in the net and defend," Boucher
said. "Obviously, theyve got it all."
Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos was struck in the face by a puck early
in the second period and briefly left the game. He was hit on the left
side of the head off a hard shot from the right point by Bruins
defenceman Johnny Boychuk and he immediately dropped to the ice. There
was some blood on the ice when the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2008 got
up and skated quickly to his bench, holding his face.
He missed about five minutes of game time, then returned with a full
cage face shield in place of the visor he had been wearing.
Bostons Milan Lucic had the best scoring opportunity in the first when
Krejci fed him for a breakaway. But Lucic shot the puck into Roloson
with just under five minutes left.
The Bruins also had solid chances late in the second. Roloson made a pad
save on Mark Recchis shot from a few feet away then made another when
Recchi shot the rebound with just under 2 1/2 minutes left in the
period.
"This is a great moment. (Its) been a long time for Boston. How long has
it been actually?" Thomas said, "also a long journey for me to get
here. Cant be too happy too long, though, unless you are the last man
standing."
Notes: Tampa Bays Sean Bergenheim, third in the playoffs with nine goals
after scoring just 14 in the regular season, missed his second straight
game with an undisclosed injury that also kept him out of the last two
periods of Game 5. ... The 41-year-old Roloson played in his 50th
post-season game. Thomas appeared in his 36th. ... The date of the game,
May 27, is the latest the Bruins have played in club history. ... The
Lightning have three players remaining from their 2004 championship team
-- Martin St. Louis, Lecavalier and Pavel Kubina, who missed the last
10 games with an upper body injury. ... Former Red Sox pitcher Curt
Schilling attended the game wearing a Bruins jersey.
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he rallied Indianapolis in the fourth quarter for yet another victory. Womens Ben Roethlisberger Jersey .com) - The New York Knicks announced they
signed guard Langston Galloway to a second 10-day contract.EDMONTON --
When the Edmonton Oilers traded for Ben Scrivens on Jan. 16 they did so
in hopes the Spruce Grove, Alta., native would solve their inconsistent
goaltending problems.
The 27-year-old showed on Wednesday he may just be the solution.
Scrivens stopped all 59 shots he faced to backstop the Oilers to a 3-0
win over the San Jose Sharks. The win matched Edmontons season-high
three-game winning streak.
"Hats off to the goaltender, he was tremendous," said San Jose coach
Todd McLellan. "Probably first, second and third star. If he wasnt he
deserved it. Heck of a performance. In all my years in the league I dont
think Ive seen that. We attempted 100 shots on goal, that doesnt happen
very often."
The 59-save shutout is an NHL record. The 59 shots tied the mark for the
most ever given up by Edmonton and Scrivens 59 saves were a team
record. Previously Edmonton gave up 59 shots to the New York Rangers in
1993, winning that game 4-3.
The Oilers were outshot 20-7, 22-9 and 17-11 by periods as the Sharks,
7-3-0 in their previous 10 games, dominated play, territorially and by
shots. But they couldnt beat Scrivens, who made his fourth start for the
Oilers and won his second game. He went into the game with an 8-7-4
record, a 2.03 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.
He improved all three of those marks Wednesday.
"I was seeing the puck well," he said afterwards. "We got extremely
lucky with a couple of posts in the second.
"I had an awful, awful warm-up, it was an inauspicious start to it," he
added. "Its one of those things where you try not to look at the forest
while youre in the trees. You try to focus on the process and give
yourself a chance to make that save and when the puck drops again, you
try to focus on the next one and dont try to get too far ahead of
yourself."
Other than Scrivens the team effort was spotty at best.
"Thats how I thought our skaters were playing the game; they were
watching Ben play," said Oilers coach Dallas Eakins who wasnt
particularly happy despite the win. Womens Javon Hargrave Jersey. "It was an incredible thing to watch, Ive never seen that before. Im
so happy for Ben and proud of him and then youre mad at the same time."
The Oilers capitalized on San Jose mistakes to get the win they didnt
really deserve.
Defenceman Justin Schultz in the first period and Taylor Hall and
Jordan Eberle in the third scored the Edmonton goals. Schultz scored on a
shot from the blue line that defected off a San Jose player in front of
goaltender Antti Niemi. Hall buried a shot just under the crossbar to
finish off a two-on-one break with Eberle six minutes into the third and
he assisted on Eberles goal in the final two minutes.
The story was all Scrivens, who got a well-deserved standing ovation
late in the second period and several more in the third. While the
Sharks rattled two shots off the goalpost in the second period, Scrivens
had them shaking their heads with some of his spectacular saves.
Among his best were point-blank stops off Patrick Marleau, Jason Demers
twice, Bracken Kearns, Brent Burns and Tommy Wingels.
"Usually when you put 20 shots on goal in the first period you get one
goal," said Wingels. "So at that point we knew we would have to keep
going. We were saying get 20 more shots, get 20 more shots and you think
thats a recipe for success. Unfortunately tonight it wasnt."
Hall said the Oilers skaters could sense towards the end of the first
period that they were watching something special.
"Obviously you dont want to give up 59 shots, but sometimes a goalie has
to stand on his head and that has to be one of the best performances by
a goalie, I have ever seen."
The loss was San Joses first to Edmonton this year after winning 3-1 and
5-1 in their previous two games.
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