The Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup, and they did it thanks to an extremely typical, methodical win against the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday night.
Tim Thomas was brilliant yet again, but it was the second line unit of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron that led the way for the Bruins. Marchand scored the Bruins second goal in the first period on a flub from Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, but it was hit set up on Bergeron's first period goal that was most impressive.
Off an offensive zone draw, Marchand beat the Canucks to a loose puck in the corner, wheeled around in the corner and threw the puck in front of the net, where a covered Bergeron was able to poke it by Luongo. That was the only goal the Bruins would need in the game, as Tim Thomas turned aside several shots in the perfect effort.
Marchand and Bergeron were involved on every goal, from the opener to the flubbed second goal to the shorthanded breakaway to the empty netter in the waning minutes.
For the Canucks, a lot of the questions will rightfully fall on Luongo's shoulders, but the play of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler also has to be questioned as well. Simply put, the Canucks couldn't score in the Finals, and that's not Luongo's fault.
Of course, the Bruins were brilliant in Game 7 and throughout the entire season at shutting down and wearing down the Canucks scorers. Vancouver failed in the series, but a whole lot of that has to do with Boston's fantastic effort.
We have a worthy Stanley Cup Champion in the Boston Bruins.
Stick with this StoryStream for complete coverage of Game 7, before and after. For coverage on the Finals, stick with our Stanley Cup Finals hub, our Canucks blog, Nucks Misconduct, and our Bruins blog, Stanley Cup of Chowder.