2011 Stanley Cup Finals The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) , and the culmination of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs . It was the 118th year of the Stanley Cup ' s presentation . The Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins defeated the Western Conference Champion Vancouver Canucks four games to three . The Bruins ended a 39 - year Stanley Cup drought with the win . Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs . The Canucks had home ice advantage in the Finals by virtue of winning the Presidents ' Trophy as the team that finished with the best regular season record ( 117 points ) . They were also the first Canadian team to have home ice advantage in the Finals since the Montreal Canadiens had it for the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals . The Canadiens ' victory in 1993 was also the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup . The first game of the series was held on June 1 , while the seventh game was played on June 15 . In their previous Finals appearances , both Boston and Vancouver lost to a team captained by Mark Messier . In , Boston was defeated by Messier ' s Edmonton Oilers in five games , while Vancouver was defeated by Messier ' s New York Rangers in seven games during their Cinderella march of , with Messier himself scoring the Cup winner . The games varied widely between those played in Vancouver and those in Boston . Prior to Game 7 , the Bruins had managed to score only two goals in three games played in Vancouver , against 17 scored in three games at Boston . On the other hand , while posting two shutouts in Vancouver , Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was replaced with the backup Cory Schneider twice in three games in Boston . It was the fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Finals in which the deciding game was won by the road team . The Bruins scored almost three times the number of total goals as the Canucks , ( 23 to 8 in the series ) , and yet the Canucks won three games . The eight goals scored by Vancouver is the lowest number of goals scored by any team in a seven - game Stanley Cup Finals . The Canucks averaged 1 . 25 goals per game at home in Vancouver and one goal per game on the road , while the Bruins averaged almost 6 goals per game at home in Boston and 1 . 5 goals per game on the road . In the seven games , the Bruins averaged roughly 3 . 3 goals per game , while the Canucks averaged 1 . 14 goals per game . Path to the Finals . Boston Bruins . The Bruins finished the regular season as the Northeast Division champion with 103 points , earning the # 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs . In their 33rd postseason meeting , Boston eliminated their bitter rivals , the Montreal Canadiens , in the first round of the playoffs in seven games . The Bruins went on to sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round , outscoring the Flyers 20 – 7 in four games . Later , in the Eastern Conference Finals , Boston defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games . This was the 18th appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Bruins , and their first since , when they lost in five games to the Edmonton Oilers . It also allowed Boston to join Philadelphia as being the only cities to have had all of their teams play in each of the four major North American professional sports leagues ' title rounds since 2000 , following the New England Patriots in Super Bowls XXXVI in 2002 , XXXVIII in 2004 , XXXIX in 2005 , and XLII in 2008 , and winning all of them , except Super Bowl XLII , the Boston Red Sox winning World Series titles in 2004 ( ending the Curse of the Bambino ) , and 2007 , and the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010 and winning in 2008 . Boston won their sixth Cup championship , and their first one since defeating the New York Rangers in 1972 in six games , which makes Boston the first city to have championships in each of the four leagues in the new millennium . Boston also broke Chicago ' s record for winning all of the " big " league championships in the shortest time in the Super Bowl era . With the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup last season , it took a span of 24 years for Chicago to win a championship in each of the four leagues . With this year ' s Bruins , it took Boston a span of six years and four months to fulfill that . In addition , Boston beat out Philadelphia for playing in all of the " big " league championship rounds in the shortest time in the new millennium , as it took 9 years for Philadelphia to achieve this feat ; Boston needed only three years and eight months . Vancouver Canucks . The Canucks , in their 40th season , finished the regular season with the best record at 117 points , winning their first Presidents ' Trophy in team history , and the Northwest Division championship . In the first round of the playoffs , the Canucks met the Chicago Blackhawks for the third straight postseason , having lost both previous series in six games . After Vancouver won the first three games , Chicago won the next three to force a game seven . Vancouver won the seventh game in overtime on goal by Alexandre Burrows to avoid becoming the fourth team in NHL history to lose a series after taking a 3 – 0 series lead . The second round saw the Canucks eliminate the Nashville Predators in six games , with each game in that series decided by just a single goal ( with the exception of an empty net goal scored by Vancouver in Game 4 ) . Vancouver then went on to defeat the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals in five games . This is Vancouver ' s third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals . In their other Finals appearance before 1994 , which came during their Cinderella run of , they were swept by the Islanders . The most recent Canada - based NHL team to win the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in . The Canucks are the first team from Canada to make it to the Finals since the Ottawa Senators in . With Vancouver having hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics , the Canucks hoped to mirror what had happened following the other two Olympic Games held in Canada , in which the host city ' s NHL team won the Stanley Cup the following year . Montreal hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics and the following year , the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup . The Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup in , a year after Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics . Triple Gold Club . Center Patrice Bergeron became the twenty - fifth player to enter the " Triple Gold Club " , consisting of individuals who have won the Stanley Cup along with gold medals at the Winter Olympics and World Championships , as a consequence of the Bruins winning the series . Bergeron also won gold medals as a teammate of Vancouver Canucks ' goaltender Roberto Luongo at the 2004 Worlds and 2010 Olympics . Luongo would have become the first goaltender ever to enter the " Triple Gold Club " , had the Canucks won . Luongo won gold medals with Canada at the 2003 and 2004 Worlds and 2010 Olympics . Alternatively , Bergeron has also won a gold medal at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championships , joining fellow Canadians Jonathan Toews , Chris Pronger , Joe Sakic and Scott Niedermayer as the only players to have won the Stanley Cup and gold medals at the Olympics , World Championships and the World Juniors . Niedermayer , however is still in a class of his own , as he has also won the 1992 Memorial Cup and the World Cup . The series . Game one . Raffi Torres ' s goal with 18 . 5 seconds left in regulation broke a scoreless tie to give the Canucks the victory in Game 1 . The entire game was seen as a duel between the two opposing goaltenders ; both Vancouver ' s Roberto Luongo and Boston ' s Tim Thomas were Vezina Trophy finalists for the 2010 – 11 season . Thomas stopped 33 of 34 shots while Luongo made 36 saves for his third shutout of the 2011 playoffs . Both of Luongo ' s two previous shutouts of the 2011 playoffs had also occurred in Game 1 ( a 2 – 0 victory against Chicago in the first round , and a 1 – 0 victory against Nashville in the second round ) . This was the first time since that the opening game of the Cup Finals was scoreless through two periods . Both teams killed off all penalties in the game , including a 5 - on - 3 Boston had in the second period , and a double minor high - sticking penalty called on Vancouver ' s Daniel Sedin in the first . At the end of the first period , Vancouver ' s Alexandre Burrows was called for a double minor roughing penalty on Boston ' s Patrice Bergeron , while Bergeron also got a roughing minor . Replays appeared to show that Burrows had bit Bergeron ' s finger , but despite Bergeron ' s pleading to the referees , no additional penalty was assessed to Burrows . However , despite biting being an offense that can warrant a suspension , Burrows did not receive one from the NHL on the grounds that no conclusive evidence that Burrows intentionally bit Bergeron could be found . Game two . In the second - fastest overtime in Stanley Cup Final history , Alexandre Burrows scored 11 seconds into the first overtime to give Vancouver a 3 – 2 win in Game 2 . Burrows faked a shot , causing Boston goalie Tim Thomas to move out of position , then skated around the net to put the puck into the empty net for the game - winning goal ; Thomas was not able to recover his position . This was Burrows ' s second goal of the game . He opened the scoring with a goal in the first period during the final seconds of a power play . Boston responded with two goals in the second period , one by Milan Lucic and a power play goal by Mark Recchi . However , Daniel Sedin tied the score at 2 – 2 about midway through the third period . Game 2 featured the return of Vancouver ' s Manny Malhotra , who had not played a game since March 16 , when he suffered a severe eye injury after taking a puck to the face . Both Thomas and Roberto Luongo still had good GAA ' s in Game 2 , stopping 30 of 33 shots and 28 of 30 shots , respectively . With his second period goal , 43 - year - old Recchi became the oldest player to score in the Cup Finals . Burrows led all players with 3 points , including his two goals and his assist on Sedin ' s goal . Before playing , Burrows promised his father that he would have a big game so that his controversial biting incident in Game 1 would be forgotten . However , his play in Game 2 caused him to remain the center of controversy for Bruins fans as well as critics who did support a suspension . Analyst Mike Milbury was extremely vocal about the league ' s non - suspension during NBC ' s telecast of Game 2 , saying that it was " a disgraceful call by the league . . . They ’ re impacting this series by a non - call " . Still , Boston head coach Claude Julien , Patrice Bergeron , and the rest of the Bruins refused to make it an excuse for not winning the game . Before the game , the Boston Red Sox moved their game against the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park from 7 : 10 p . m . EDT to 1 : 10 p . m . EDT to allow for Bruins fans to watch Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals . Game three . Boston scored 4 goals in the second period , and another 4 goals in the third , which resulted in a 8 – 1 rout in Game 3 . Mark Recchi scored two of them ; Brad Marchand and Daniel Paille each scored shorthanded ; and Andrew Ference , David Krejci , Chris Kelly and Michael Ryder each tallied one of the other four . Tim Thomas stopped 40 out of 41 shots , only allowing a third period goal by Jannik Hansen . At 05 : 07 into the first period , Vancouver ' s Aaron Rome received a major interference penalty , a game misconduct , and automatic ejection on a hit on Boston ' s Nathan Horton . Horton was taken off the ice on a stretcher and was then transported to a hospital for further observation . However , the Bruins did not score on the ensuing 5 - minute power play . Following a disciplinary hearing on June 7 , Rome was given a four - game suspension for the late hit which assured that he ' d miss the remainder of the 2011 playoffs , the first multi - game suspension in the history of the Stanley Cup Finals . Rome and the Canucks maintained that the play was a good hit that went bad , but the NHL determined that the hit came more than a second after Horton gave up the puck . The NHL considers a hit to be late if it comes more than half a second after a player gives up possession . In contrast to Game 2 , which featured only 10 minutes of penalties for the entire game , Game 3 had 143 total penalty minutes , the most in a Cup Final game since . The 8 – 1 score was the biggest goal differential in the Stanley Cup Finals since , when the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Florida Panthers in Game 2 by the same score . Game four . Tim Thomas made 38 saves and Rich Peverley scored two goals as Boston shut out Vancouver , 4 – 0 , to even the series . Roberto Luongo , who stopped only 16 out of 20 shots , was replaced by backup goalie Cory Schneider after giving up the fourth Boston goal at 03 : 39 of the third period . Thomas ' shutout was the first for the Bruins in a Stanley Cup Final since Gerry Cheevers did it in the 1970s . Game five . Roberto Luongo made 31 saves and Maxim Lapierre scored the game ' s only goal to give Vancouver a 3 – 2 series lead . This was the second 1 – 0 victory for Vancouver in the Finals ; Game 1 ended with the same score . Lapierre ' s goal came at 04 : 35 into the third period . Kevin Bieksa ' s shot went wide and rebounded off the end boards to Lapierre on the other side of the net , who then beat Tim Thomas after the Boston goalie was unable to recover his position in time . Thomas made 24 saves in the loss . Luongo joined Frank McCool as the only goalie to have two 1 – 0 shutouts in the Stanley Cup Final ; McCool ' s victories came 66 years earlier in . Game six . In Game 6 , Boston defeated Vancouver 5 – 2 in front of a roaring TD Garden to force a deciding game seven , the 16th in Finals history . The Bruins scored four goals in a span of 4 : 14 in the first period , breaking the record for the quickest four goals tallied by one team in the Cup Finals . For the second time in the series , Roberto Luongo was replaced by backup goalie Cory Schneider ; this came after Luongo gave up Boston ' s third goal at 08 : 35 . Vancouver ' s Mason Raymond suffered a fractured vertabrae 20 seconds into the game on an awkward hit along the boards , and had to be taken to a hospital for treatment . With the loss , the Canucks fell to 3 – 5 in the 2011 playoffs in games they had a chance to clinch a series with a win . Game seven . In Boston ' s first - ever Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final , Tim Thomas made 37 saves as Boston shut out Vancouver , 4 – 0 , on the road to win the Stanley Cup . Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand each scored two of Boston ' s goals . Bergeron scored first at 14 : 37 in the first period , then had a shorthanded goal at 17 : 35 in the second . Marchand ' s first goal came at 12 : 13 of the second period ; he then scored on an empty net late in the third . Roberto Luongo stopped 17 out of 20 shots in the loss . Television . In Canada , the series was televised in English on CBC and in French on the cable network RDS . In the United States , NBC broadcast the first two and final three games , while Versus televised games three and four . Ratings . Game one on NBC drew the best television ratings for a first game since game one of the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals , drawing a 3 . 2 rating , up 14 percent from game one of the Finals . The rating was boosted by heavy interest in Boston ' s large market , which posted a 25 . 5 / 39 , topping the 19 . 1 / 34 for game one of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers . In contrast , game two drew just 3 . 37 million viewers for NBC , making it the least - watched Stanley Cup Finals broadcast on U . S . network television since game five in , which also was the last time a Canadian team ( the Ottawa Senators ) advanced to the Cup Finals . Games six , five and one are the third , fourth , and fifth most - watched CBC Sports programs with an average Canadian audience of 6 . 6 million , 6 . 1 million , and 5 . 6 million viewers respectively , after the men ' s ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2002 Winter Olympics . Game 7 was the highest rated game on both sides of the border ; in Canada , it was second most - watched CBC Sports program , drawing an average of 8 . 76 million viewers and trailing only the men ' s gold medal game in ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics ; In the US , NBC ' s broadcast drew a 5 . 7 national overnight rating and a 10 share ( numbers that equaled Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals ) , a number later updated to 8 . 5 million viewers , making the game the most - watched NHL broadcast in the US since 1973 ; in the Boston market alone , the broadcast pulled in a 43 . 4 rating and a 64 share . Vancouver riots . The final game of the series attracted huge crowds on the streets of Vancouver who gathered to watch the game on outside monitors and cheer the home team on . Shortly before the game ended with the apparent loss for Vancouver , fires were set on West Georgia Street . After the game ended , cars were set on fire and fighting broke out . Soon , a riot was in progress in downtown Vancouver , with police cars set on fire , shops looted and attendant destruction of property . The damage was expected to be greater than the 1994 Vancouver riots that occurred after Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup Finals to the New York Rangers . Boston Bruins - 2011 Stanley Cup champions . The 2011 Stanley Cup was presented to Boston Bruins ' captain Zdeno Chara by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman , following the Bruins ' 4 - 0 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh game of the finals . Game seven of the final was the last for Mark Recchi as he announced his retirement after the win .