2011 Stanley Cup Final

Did You Know?

• Patrice Bergeron became the 25th member of the Triple Gold Club by winning the Stanley Cup, having previously won Olympic gold and World Championship gold with Team Canada.
• The Vancouver riot that followed Game 7 was expected to cause more damage than the 1994 Vancouver riots that occurred after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup Final to the New York Rangers.

Paths to the Finals

The Boston Bruins entered the playoffs as the Northeast Division champion and third seed in the Eastern Conference with 103 points. In the first round, they eliminated their longtime rivals, the sixth-seeded Montreal Canadiens, in seven games for their 33rd postseason meeting. Boston then swept the second-seeded Philadelphia Flyers in the second round, outscoring them 20–7 over four games. The Bruins advanced to the Final by defeating the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

This was Boston's 18th appearance in the Stanley Cup Final and their first since losing to the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins' victory made Boston the first city to win championships in all four major North American professional sports leagues in the new millennium, following titles by the Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics. The Vancouver Canucks finished the regular season with the best record in the NHL at 117 points, winning their first Presidents' Trophy.

In the first round, they faced the eighth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks for the third straight postseason. After taking a 3–0 series lead, Vancouver lost three consecutive games but won Game 7 in overtime on a goal by Alex Burrows, avoiding becoming the fourth team in NHL history to lose a series after leading 3–0. The Canucks then defeated the fifth-seeded Nashville Predators in six games in the conference semifinals, with every game decided by one goal except for an empty-net goal in Game 4.

Vancouver advanced to the Final by beating the second-seeded San Jose Sharks in five games in the Western Conference Finals, with Kevin Bieksa scoring the overtime winner in Game 5.

Game summaries

Game 1 in Vancouver remained scoreless until Raffi Torres scored with 18.5 seconds left in regulation, giving the Canucks a 1–0 win. Both goaltenders were Vezina Trophy finalists: Roberto Luongo made 36 saves for his third shutout of the playoffs, while Tim Thomas stopped 33 of 34 shots. It was the first time since 1999 that the opening game of the Cup Finals was scoreless through two periods. All penalties were killed, including a five-on-three power play for Boston and a double minor on Daniel Sedin.

Alex Burrows was called for a double minor roughing penalty on Patrice Bergeron, but no additional penalty was assessed after replays showed Burrows may have bitten Bergeron's finger; the NHL found no conclusive evidence and did not suspend Burrows. Game 2 ended 11 seconds into overtime, the second-fastest overtime in Stanley Cup Final history, when Burrows faked a shot, causing Thomas to move out of position, then skated around the net to score into an empty net for a 3–2 Vancouver win.

Burrows also opened the scoring on a power play in the first period. Boston responded with two goals in the second period from Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi, but Daniel Sedin tied the game midway through the third period.

Television

In Canada, the series was televised in English on CBC and in French on RDS. In the United States, NBC broadcast games one, two, five, six, and seven, while Versus (now NBCSN) televised games three and four. Game one on NBC drew a 3.2 rating, the best for a first game since game one of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, boosted by a 25.5/39 rating in Boston that topped the 19.1/34 for game one of the 2010 NBA Finals. Games six, five, and one are the third, fourth, and fifth most-watched CBC Sports programs, averaging 6.6 million, 6.1 million, and 5.6 million viewers respectively.

Game seven was the highest rated game on both sides of the border: in Canada it drew 8.76 million viewers, second only to the men's ice hockey gold medal game at the 2002 Winter Olympics; in the US, NBC's broadcast drew a 5.7 national overnight rating and a 10 share, later updated to 8.5 million viewers, making it the most watched NHL broadcast in the US since 1973. In Boston, the broadcast pulled a 43.4 rating and a 64 share.

Stanley Cup engraving

The Stanley Cup was presented to Bruins captain Zdeno Chara by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman after Boston's 4–0 win in Game 7. The following players and staff had their names engraved: Marc Savard, who played 25 regular season games and no playoff games due to multiple concussions, was included at the NHL's approval; Patrice Bergeron was permitted to list his full surname as Patrice Bergeron-Cleary; owners Jeremy and Margaret Jacobs had their last name listed once; assistant equipment manager Jim Johnson added his nickname Beets.

Shane Hnidy (3 regular season, 3 playoff games) and Steven Kampfer (38 regular season games) were initially left off because they did not meet the games-played threshold, but the NHL declined the team's request for an exemption; Boston instead added two long-serving scouts. Eight players on the roster did not have their names engraved, including Jordan Caron, Jamie Arniel, Matt Bartkowski, Colby Cohen, Anton Khudobin, and Trent Whitfield, as well as Hnidy and Kampfer.

Seven scouts were omitted due to the 52-name limit but received rings. In total, the Bruins distributed a record 504 Stanley Cup rings, including to ticket agents, office staff, anthem singer Rene Rancourt, commentators Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley, popcorn vendors, and TD Garden security officers.