Bruins shut the door in Game 7 to take first title in 39 years

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — They won it for every New England mom and dad who ever woke up to drive kids to the rink at 6 a.m. and drank hot chocolate in cold arenas.

They won it for the Revere girls with the big hair and O’Reilly sweaters; for the shot-and-beer guys who pour every dollar of expendable income into the hockey budget.

They won it to avenge losing Bobby Orr to Chicago, too-many-men-on-the-ice in Montreal, free agents never signed, trades that went bad, unspeakable injuries, and Game 7 disappointments.

They won it for you.

The Boston Bruins last night won the Stanley Cup, shocking the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0, capping an epic seven-game series and bringing the holy grail to the Hub of Hockey for the first time since 1972. The goals were scored by Patrice Bergeron and Brad (’Lil Ball ’O Hate) Marchand, two apiece.

The non-goals were stopped by playoff MVP Tim Thomas.

At this hour, Everyman Thomas is Tom Brady, Bill Russell, and Curt Schilling. And the Bruins are Stanley Cup champs. They outscored the favored Canucks by a whopping 23-8 in the series.

At 10:52 (Boston time), the Cup appeared and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman beck oned Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. The big defenseman skated toward the commissioner, received the Cup, hoisted the chalice, skated in a circle, then presented it to 43-year-old teammate Mark Recchi.

Recchi had just played his last game. The veteran forward took his turn, then passed it on to Bergeron as the public address system blared “Dirty Water.’’ Thomas took the Cup from Bergeron. On and on it went. They’re probably still passing it to one another as you read this.

Today would be a good day to call your out-of-town friends and tell them you live in a city that just won its seventh championship in 11 years. You live in the only hamlet that’s won the Grand Slam of North American trophies within seven seasons.

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http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2011/06/16/bruins_win_first_stanley_cup_in_39_years/

4-Goal Burst by Rangers Takes Focus Off Penguins

PITTSBURGH — The Rangers seemed almost like an afterthought Wednesday night, until they scored twice in 15 seconds midway through the third period, on a laser snap shot from Erik Christensen and a rebound by Alex Frolov.

Four and a half minutes later, Artem Anisimov added another goal, and Brian Boyle scored a minute and a half later to give the Rangers a 4-1 win.

The come-from-behind victory — their second in two visits to the Consol Energy Center — revealed the Rangers as legitimate contenders. But it was also costly. They lost Ryan Callahan to a broken hand.

The Penguins are the N.H.L.’s glamour team, and coming into this game the talk was about their loss the night before to their archrivals at the top of the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers, and about their debut Wednesday in HBO’s “24/7” series leading up to the Jan. 1 Winter Classic at Heinz Field.

Anything but the Rangers. Before the game, Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma acknowledged that he was concerned about a lack of focus, but even he framed it in terms of the Flyers.

“Part of me is worried we’re not fully ready after playing an emotional game against Philly, a first-place team,” he said — prophetically, as it turned out.

The Penguins took the lead on a lovely Evgeni Malkin goal set up by Sidney Crosby late in the first period. Crosby froze defenseman Dan Girardi with a fake slap shot, then passed softly to Malkin, who finished deftly. That extended Crosby’s point-scoring streak to a career-high 20 games.

It also seemed as if it would get the Penguins back to winning after the Flyers ended Pittsburgh’s 12-game winning streak — a streak that began the night HBO cameras first entered the Penguins’ dressing room to shoot the series.

The Rangers’ bracing victory came on a night when Chris Drury, their current captain, returned from an eight-week absence because of a broken finger — and lost Callahan, their probable captain of the future, to a broken hand.

Callahan went to the dressing room just 4 minutes 42 seconds into the game after blocking a shot from Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. It was his third shift, and he did not return.

Callahan entered the game leading N.H.L. forwards in blocking shots, a risky feature of his game. Drury is also a forward who specializes in shot-blocking; he first injured his right index finger in training camp, blocking a shot during a scrimmage.

Callahan is the Rangers’ second-leading scorer, with 10 goals and 23 points in 32 games. His all-out shot-blocking and body-checking — he is No. 2 in the N.H.L. in hits — exemplify the Rangers’ new style of grit and terrier-like pursuit of the puck. But he will probably miss several games.

Drury played well in only his second game of the season, creating a short-handed two-on-one break in the first period and contributing 25 solid shifts.

The Rangers were also helped by a questionable goaltender interference call that wiped out what would have been the tying goal from Malkin with 6:19 left to play. Michal Rozsival pushed Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis into Henrik Lundqvist just before the shot, but the officials said Dupuis was the guilty party.

The result gave the Rangers victories in their last two games over both starring teams in the “24/7” series: the Penguins on Wednesday, and the Capitals, 7-0, last Sunday. Perhaps the wrong team is being featured on HBO.

SLAP SHOT

The Penguins fell to 5-1 in the second game of contests played on consecutive nights. The Rangers are 8-0 and host Phoenix on Thursday. ... The fight night some expected from the Rangers and the Penguins, the two teams that lead the league in fighting majors, did not really materialize. There was just one scrap, Sean Avery against Pittsburgh’s Arron Asham in the third period. The Rangers’ Derek Boogaard did not make the trip, and their most frequent fighter, Brandon Prust, concentrated on hockey. Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma did not dress his most frequent fighter, Deryk Engelland.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/sports/hockey/16rangers.html

Thrashers on top of game in 5-1 win over Wild

The Thrashers finally made the most of a first-period lead.

 

  Thrashers left wing Ben Eager celebrates his goal during a 5-1 win over the Wild.

 

They scored two first-period goals en route to a 5-1 victory over Minnesota on Thursday night, snapping a three-game losing streak. The Thrashers had only two leads after the first period this season and lost both in extra time -- in a shootout against St. Louis and in overtime against Washington.

 

That wasn't the case with this early lead as the Thrashers (7-6-3, 17 points) improved to 3-3-1 at home. The one goal allowed was their fewest this season, and the four-goal margin was easily their biggest win.

“Yeah, why not?” Fredrik Modin said when asked if it was the Thrashers’ best game of the season. “I thought we played solid all the way through. [Ondrej Pavelec] played terrific. Everyone came through. There are going to be some breakdowns, but I thought we handled them pretty well. Overall, we played the kind of way we wanted to play.”

Ben Eager and Jim Slater scored in the first period. Eager’s goal came 3:24 into the game. He was on the receiving end of Modin’s assist. Modin took a pass from Dustin Byfuglien and wrapped around the net. He slid a pass to a wide-open Eager, who beat Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom for his second goal of the season.

“It was a nice play,” said Eager, who previously had scored in the second game of the season. “We got it in deep. Big Mo was wheeling around pretty nice and took it around the net, and I was just in the slot. He made a great pass, and I tried to get it away quickly. It was nice to see that one go in. It’s been awhile.”

Slater gave the Thrashers a two-goal lead at the 13:11 mark after he gathered the rebound of a Byfuglien shot from the point.

“Buff has a great shot, and he creates a lot of rebounds,” Slater said.

The win was the first for Thrashers goaltender Pavelec this season. His best game of the season?

“For me it was, for sure because I finally got the win,” said Pavelec, who stopped 32 of 33 shots and allowed just a power-play goal. “Finally. It was a great team effort, and they played great in front of me, and [the Wild] didn’t have a lot of scoring chances.”

Byfuglien’s two assists improved his point total to 16 (five goals, 11 assists). He entered the game tied for second among NHL defensemen in points. Andrew Ladd and Modin each finished with a goal and an assist.

Ladd gave the Thrashers a three-goal lead in the second period, thanks to the hard work of Rich Peverley. The center outmuscled Minnesota defenseman Cam Barker for the puck behind the Wild net. After bring the puck out front, Peverley found a wide-open Ladd in front of the net. The alternate captain easily put the puck in the net with 44.7 seconds left for his sixth goal of the season.

The Thrashers snapped the Wild’s three-game winning streak. Minnesota entered the game with a 6-2-1 record in its past nine games. The Wild got on the scoreboard 3:15 into the third period with a power-play goal. Antti Miettinen tipped a Brent Burns shot past Pavelec with Zach Bogosian in the penalty box for slashing.

The Wild got another power play two minutes later, but Modin scored short-handed to push the lead back to three. Alexander Burmistrov took control of the puck in the defensive zone and passed to Tobias Enstrom. The defenseman, who finished the night as a plus-4, took the puck deep into the Wild zone before dishing to Modin, who buried the puck for his fourth goal of the season. Nik Antropov scored at the 14:52 mark, on an assist from Ladd, to add insult to injury.

“I think it’s staying with the concept, understanding the concept,” Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said of the difference between this win and the loss to Ottawa on Tuesday. “We changed [lines] better. If you want to play up ice, if you want to play an up-tempo game, then you’ve got to change.

"You can’t possibly do it staying on the ice for 45 seconds to a minute. You can’t play with that kind of effort and enthusiasm. Secondly, was a quicker transition game, not always looking for a better play but just getting it, getting the red line deep or throwing it up for a tip in and then attacking it with speed.”

With the Falcons playing across the street, the Thrashers announced an attendance of 10,555.

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http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-thrashers/thrashers-on-top-of-738224.html