2011 Stanley Cup Final
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Boston Bruins 0 2* 8 4 0 5 4 4 Vancouver Canucks 1 3* 1 0 1 2 0 3
* – Denotes overtime period(s)
Location(s)	Boston:TD Garden (3, 4, 6) Vancouver:Rogers Arena (1, 2, 5, 7)
Coaches	Boston:Claude Julien Vancouver:Alain Vigneault
Captains	Boston:Zdeno Chara Vancouver:Henrik Sedin
National anthems	Boston:Rene Rancourt Vancouver:Mark Donnelly(Canadian) Richard Loney(American)
Referees	Dan O'Halloran (2, 4, 6, 7) Dan O'Rourke (1, 3, 5) Kelly Sutherland (2, 4, 6) Stephen Walkom (1, 3, 5, 7)
Dates	June 1–15, 2011
MVP	Tim Thomas (Bruins)
Series-winning goal	Patrice Bergeron(14:37, first, G7)
Hall of Famers	Bruins: Zdeno Chara (2025) Mark Recchi (2017) Canucks: Roberto Luongo (2022) Daniel Sedin (2022) Henrik Sedin (2022)
Networks	Canada: (English):CBC (French):RDS United States: (English):NBC (1–2, 5–7),Versus (3, 4)
Announcers	(CBC)Jim Hughson,Craig Simpson, andGlenn Healy (RDS)Pierre Houde andBenoit Brunet (NBC/Versus)Mike Emrick,Eddie Olczyk, andPierre McGuire (NHL International)Dave Strader andJoe Micheletti
← 2010 Stanley Cup Final 2012 →

The2011 Stanley Cup Final was thechampionship series of theNational Hockey League's (NHL)2010–11 season, and the culmination of the2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. TheEastern Conference championBoston Bruins defeated theWestern Conference championVancouver Canucks in seven games to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since1972. Bruins goaltenderTim Thomas was awarded theConn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.

The Canucks had home ice advantage in the Finals by winning thePresidents' Trophy as the team that finished with the best regular season record (117 points).^[1] They were also the first Canadian team to have home ice advantage in the Finals since theMontreal Canadiens had it for the1993 Stanley Cup Final. The Canucks were also the last Canadian team to reach the Finals until2021. It was the furthest distance between two cities in NHL history for the Finals, at 4,023 kilometres (2,500 miles), until2024 and2025 as both were between theFlorida Panthers andEdmonton Oilers.^[2]

On June 1, 2011, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made an announcement thatColin Campbell would be stepping down as the league's head disciplinarian to be replaced by former playerBrendan Shanahan, though Campbell would continue in his job as director of hockey operations.Mike Murphy, the NHL vice-president of hockey operations, had already been put in charge of disciplinary matters for the Finals, nonetheless there were concerns raised about Campbell's impartiality in handing out discipline since his son,Gregory, was an active player on the Bruins.^[3]

The series began on June 1 and ended on June 15.^[4] The games varied widely between those played in Vancouver and those in Boston. Prior to game seven, the Bruins scored two goals in three games played in Vancouver (games one, two, and five), against 17 scored in three games at Boston (games three, four, and six). On the other hand, while he posted two 1–0 shutouts in Vancouver (games one and five), Canucks goaltenderRoberto Luongo was replaced with the backupCory Schneider twice in three games (games four and six) in Boston.^[5] The Bruins scored almost three times the number of total goals as the Canucks, (23–8 in the series), and scored as many goals in a single game (game three) as the Canucks did during the entire series, but the Canucks still won three games (games one, two, and five, respectively). The eight goals scored by Vancouver is the lowest number of goals scored by any team in a full seven-game series in NHL history. It was the fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Final in which the road team won the Stanley Cup.

The Bruins finished the regular season as theNortheast Division champion with 103 points, earning the third seed in the Eastern Conference. In their 33rd postseason meeting, Boston eliminated their bitterrivals, the sixth-seededMontreal Canadiens, in the first round of the playoffs in seven games.^[6] The Bruins went on to sweep the second-seededPhiladelphia Flyers in the second round, outscoring the Flyers 20–7 in the four games.^[7] Later, in the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston defeated the fifth-seededTampa Bay Lightning in seven games.^[8]

This was the eighteenth appearance in the Stanley Cup Final for the Bruins, and their first since1990, which they lost in five games to theEdmonton Oilers. It also allowedBoston to joinNew York City andPhiladelphia as being the only cities to have all their teams play in each of the four major North American professional sports leagues' title rounds since 2000, following thePatriots inSuper BowlsXXXVI in 2002,XXXVIII in 2004,XXXIX in 2005, andXLII in 2008. TheRed Sox winningWorld Series titles in2004,2007, and theCeltics in theNBA Finals in2008 and2010 and winning in 2008.^[9]

The Bruins won their sixth Cup championship, and their first one since defeating theNew York Rangers in1972 in six games, which made Boston the first city to have championships in each of the four leagues in the new millennium.^[10]

The Canucks, in their 41st season, finished the regular season with the best record at 117 points, winning their firstPresidents' Trophy in team history.^[1] In the first round of the playoffs, the Canucks met theChicago Blackhawks for the third consecutive postseason, losing both previous series in six games in the second round. After Vancouver won the first three games, the eighth-seeded and defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks won the next three to force a seventh game. Vancouver won the seventh game in overtime on a goal byAlex Burrows to avoid becoming the fourth team in NHL history to lose a series after taking a 3–0 series lead.^[11] The Canucks then eliminated the fifth-seededNashville Predators in six games during the conference semifinals, 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).^[12] Vancouver then went on to defeat the second-seededSan Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals in five games, winning the fifth game in overtime withKevin Bieksa winning it for the Canucks.^[13]

This was Vancouver's third appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. They appeared in the Finals against New York-based teams with the Islanders in1982 and the Rangers in1994 losing both series in four and seven games, respectively.^[14] The most recent Canada-based NHL team to win the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in1993. The Canucks were the first team from Canada to make it to the Finals since theOttawa Senators in2007.^[15]

With Vancouver hosting the2010 Winter Olympics, the Canucks hoped to mirror the other two Olympic Games held in Canada in which the host city's NHL team won the Stanley Cup the subsequent year.^[16] Montreal hosted the1976 Summer Olympics and thefollowing year, the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. TheCalgary Flames won the Stanley Cup in1989, the previous year Calgary hosted the1988 Winter Olympics.^[16][17]

With the loss, Vancouver became the third team to lose in the Finals after winning the Presidents' Trophy, after the Bruins in1990 and theDetroit Red Wings in1995.

CenterPatrice 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 theWinter Olympics, andWorld Championships, as a result of the Bruins winning the series. Bergeron also won gold medals as a teammate of Vancouver Canucks' goaltenderRoberto Luongo at the2004 Worlds and2010 Olympics withTeam Canada. Luongo – who also won the2003 Worlds – would have become the first goaltender ever to enter the "Triple Gold Club", had the Canucks won. Both Luongo and Bergeron later got a second Olympic gold in the2014 Winter Olympics.^[18]

Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the entire four rounds of the playoffs

Raffi Torres's goal with 18.5 seconds left in regulation broke a scoreless tie to give the Canucks the victory. The entire game was seen as a duel between the two opposing goaltenders; both Vancouver'sRoberto Luongo and Boston'sTim Thomas wereVezina 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 a game one (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 since1984 that the opening game of the Cup Finals was scoreless through two periods.^[19]

Both teams killed off all penalties in the game, including a five-on-three power play Boston had in the second period, and a double minor high-sticking penalty called on Vancouver'sDaniel Sedin in the first. At the end of the first period, Vancouver'sAlex Burrows was called for a double minor roughing penalty on Boston'sPatrice Bergeron, while Bergeron also got a roughing minor. Replays showed that Burrows could have bit Bergeron's finger, but the evidence was inconclusive. Despite Bergeron's pleading to the referees, no additional penalty was assessed to Burrows.^[19] However, despite biting being a suspendible offense, Burrows did not receive a suspension from the NHL on the grounds that no conclusive evidence that Burrows actually bit Bergeron could be found.^[20][21][22]

In the second-fastest overtime in Stanley Cup Final history,^[23]Alex Burrows scored 11 seconds into the first overtime to give Vancouver a 3–2 win. Burrows faked a shot, causing Boston goalieTim 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 byMilan Lucic and a power play goal byMark Recchi. However,Daniel Sedin tied the score at 2–2 about midway through the third period.

The game featured the return of Vancouver forwardManny Malhotra, who had not played a game since March 16, when he suffered a severe eye injury after taking a puck to the face from a deflection byColorado Avalanche defensemanErik Johnson.^[24] Both Thomas andRoberto Luongo stopped 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.^[25]

Before the game, the Boston Red Sox baseball club moved their game against theOakland Athletics atFenway Park from 7:10 p.m. EDT to 1:10 p.m. EDT to allow for Bruins fans to watch the game.^[26]

Boston scored four goals in the second period, and another four goals in the third, which resulted in an 8–1 rout.^[27] Mark Recchi scored two of them;Brad Marchand andDaniel Paille each scored shorthanded; andAndrew Ference,David Krejci,Chris Kelly andMichael Ryder each tallied one of the other four.^[27] Tim Thomas stopped 40 out of 41 shots, only allowing a third period goal byJannik Hansen.^[27]

At 05:07 into the first period, Vancouver defensemanAaron Rome received a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct for a blindside hit to the head of Boston forwardNathan Horton.^[27] Horton was taken off the ice on a stretcher and was then transported to a hospital for further observation and was later diagnosed with a severe concussion. However, the Bruins did not score on the ensuing five-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 Final. 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.^[28][29][30]

In contrast to game two, which featured only 10 minutes of penalties for the entire game, game three had 145 total penalty minutes, the most in a Cup Final game since game two of the 1990 Finals. The 8–1 score was the biggest goal differential in the Stanley Cup Final since1996, when theColorado Avalanche defeated theFlorida Panthers in game two by the same score.

Tim Thomas made 38 saves andRich 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 goalieCory Schneider after giving up the fourth Boston goal at 03:39 of the third period.^[31]

Roberto Luongo made 31 saves andMaxim 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 one 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 beatTim Thomas after the Boston goalie was unable to recover his position in time. Thomas made 24 saves in the loss.^[32]

Luongo joinedFrank McCool as the only goalie to have two 1–0 shutouts in the Stanley Cup Final; McCool's victories came 66 years earlier in1945.^[33][34]

Boston defeated Vancouver 5–2 inTD Garden to prevent the Canucks from clinching their first Stanley Cup in franchise history and force a deciding seventh game, the 16th Game seven 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.^[35] For the second time in the series,Roberto Luongo was replaced by backup goalieCory Schneider; this came after Luongo gave up Boston's third goal at 08:35.

Vancouver forwardMason Raymond suffered a fractured vertebra 20 seconds into the game on an awkward hit into the boards by Boston defensemanJohnny Boychuk, and had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.^[36]

External videos
Game 7 Full replay (NHL International's feed) on the NHL's official YouTube channel

In Boston's first-ever Stanley Cup Final game seven,Tim Thomas made 37 saves as Boston shut out Vancouver, 4–0, to win the Stanley Cup.Patrice Bergeron andBrad Marchand each scored two goals for Boston. 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.^[37][38] The game was the last ofMark Recchi's 22-year NHL career; he announced his retirement immediately afterward, during the post-game celebration.

In Canada, the series was televised in English onCBC and in French on the cable networkRDS.^[4] In the United States,NBC broadcast the first two and final three games, while Versus (nowNBCSN) televised games three and four.^[4]

Game one on NBC drew the best television ratings for a first game since game one of the1999 Stanley Cup Final, drawing a 3.2 rating, up 14 percent from game one of the2010 Finals.^[15] 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 the2010 NBA Finals between theBoston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.^[15]

In contrast, game two drew just 3.37 million viewers for NBC, making it the least-watched Stanley Cup Final broadcast on U.S. network television since game five in2007, which also was the last time a Canadian team (theOttawa Senators) advanced to the Cup Finals.^[39]

Games six, five and one are the third, fourth, and fifthmost-watchedCBC 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 betweenCanada and theUnited States at the2002 Winter Olympics.^[40][41][42] Game seven 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 inice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics;^[43] In the US, NBC's broadcast drew a 5.7 national overnight rating and a 10 share (numbers that equaled game seven of the2003 Stanley Cup Final),^[43] a number later updated to 8.5 million viewers, making the game the most watched NHL broadcast in the US since 1973.^[43] In the Boston market alone, the broadcast pulled in a 43.4 rating and a 64 share.^[43]

The seventh and 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 onWest 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 the1994 Vancouver riots that occurred after Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup Final in seven games to the New York Rangers.

• Referees:^[44]Dan O'Halloran,Dan O'Rourke,Kelly Sutherland,Stephen Walkom
• Linesmen:^[44]Steve Miller,Jean Morin,Pierre Racicot,Jay Sharrers

Years indicated inboldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
37		Patrice Bergeron –A	C	R	2003	L'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec	first
55		Johnny Boychuk	D	R	2008	Edmonton, Alberta	first
11		Gregory Campbell	C	L	2010	London, Ontario	first
33		Zdeno Chara –C	D	L	2006	Trenčín, Czechoslovakia	first
21		Andrew Ference	D	L	2007	Edmonton, Alberta	second(2004)
18		Nathan Horton	RW	R	2010	Welland, Ontario	first
12		Tomas Kaberle	D	L	2011	Rakovník, Czechoslovakia	first
47		Steven Kampfer	D	R	2007	Ann Arbor, Michigan	first (did not play)
23		Chris Kelly	C	L	2011	Toronto, Ontario	second(2007)
46		David Krejci	C	R	2004	Šternberk, Czechoslovakia	first
17		Milan Lucic	LW	L	2006	Vancouver, British Columbia	first
63		Brad Marchand	LW	L	2006	Halifax, Nova Scotia	first
54		Adam McQuaid	D	R	2006	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island	first
20		Daniel Paille	LW	L	2009	Welland, Ontario	first
49		Rich Peverley	RW	R	2011	Guelph, Ontario	first
40		Tuukka Rask	G	L	2006	Savonlinna, Finland	first
28		Mark Recchi –A	RW	L	2009	Kamloops, British Columbia	third(1991,2006)
73		Michael Ryder	RW	R	2008	Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador	first
91		Marc Savard	C	L	2006	Ottawa, Ontario	first (did not play)
19		Tyler Seguin	RW	R	2010	Brampton, Ontario	first
44		Dennis Seidenberg	D	L	2010	Villingen-Schwenningen, West Germany	first
30		Tim Thomas	G	L	2002	Flint, Michigan	first
22		Shawn Thornton	RW	R	2007	Oshawa, Ontario	second(2007)

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
41		Andrew Alberts	D	L	2010	Minneapolis, Minnesota	first
4		Keith Ballard	D	L	2010	Baudette, Minnesota	first
3		Kevin Bieksa –A	D	R	2001	Grimsby, Ontario	first
49		Alexandre Bolduc	C	L	2008	Montreal, Quebec	first
14		Alex Burrows	LW	L	2005	Pincourt, Quebec	first
23		Alexander Edler	D	L	2004	Östersund, Sweden	first
5		Christian Ehrhoff	D	L	2009	Moers, West Germany	first
15		Tanner Glass	LW	L	2009	Regina, Saskatchewan	first
2		Dan Hamhuis	D	L	2010	Smithers, British Columbia	first
36		Jannik Hansen	RW	R	2004	Herlev, Denmark	first
20		Chris Higgins	LW	L	2011	Smithtown, New York	first
17		Ryan Kesler –A	C	R	2003	Livonia, Michigan	first
40		Maxim Lapierre	C	R	2011	Montreal, Quebec	first
1		Roberto Luongo	G	L	2006	Montreal, Quebec	first
27		Manny Malhotra –A	C	L	2010	Mississauga, Ontario	first
38		Victor Oreskovich	RW	R	2010	Whitby, Ontario	first
21		Mason Raymond	LW	L	2005	Cochrane, Alberta	first
29		Aaron Rome	D	L	2009	Brandon, Manitoba	second(2007)
37		Rick Rypien	C	R	2005	Blairmore, Alberta	first (did not play)
6		Sami Salo	D	R	2002	Turku, Finland	first
26		Mikael Samuelsson	RW	R	2009	Mariefred, Sweden	third(2008,2009)
35		Cory Schneider	G	L	2004	Marblehead, Massachusetts	first
22		Daniel Sedin –A	LW	L	1999	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden	first
33		Henrik Sedin –C	C	L	1999	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden	first
10		Jeff Tambellini	LW	L	2010	Calgary, Alberta	first
18		Christopher Tanev	D	R	2010	Toronto, Ontario	first
13		Raffi Torres	LW	L	2010	Toronto, Ontario	second(2006)

The 2011 Stanley Cup was presented to Boston Bruins' captain Zdeno Chara byNHL CommissionerGary Bettman following the Bruins' 4–0 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh game of the finals.

The following Bruins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

2010–11 Boston Bruins

• * Played both centre and wing.
• † Exemption granted to engrave the name of a player who did not automatically qualify.^[a][A]

• ^{^A} #91Marc Savard (C) – played 25 regular season games and no playoff games due to multiple concussions, but spent the entire season with the Bruins. The NHL granted the Bruins' request to have his name included on the Stanley Cup. Savard never played again in the NHL.
• Patrice Bergeron was given permission to include both his father and mother's surnames and be listed as "Patrice Bergeron-Cleary."
• Jeremy & Margaret Jacobs' last name was listed only once for both owners.
• Jim Johnson (Asst. Equipment Manager) was given permission to include his nickname "Beats."

• #34Shane Hnidy (D) – Played 70 regular season games forMinnesota, 3 regular season games for Boston, and 3 playoff games for Boston
• #47Steven Kampfer (D) – played 38 regular season games for Boston and 22 games with theAHL'sProvidence Bruins
• #38Jordan Caron (RW) – 23 regular season games and none in the playoffs
• #72Jamie Arniel (C) – 1 regular season game with the Bruins (the only NHL game of his career) and spent the rest of the regular season with theProvidence Bruins of theAmerican Hockey League having played 78 games.
• #43Matt Bartkowski (D) – 6 regular season games and none in the playoffs
• #34Colby Cohen (D) – did not play in the regular season or playoffs
• #35Anton Khudobin (G) – did not play in the regular season or playoffs
• #42Trent Whitfield (C) – did not play in the regular season or playoffs
• Eight players on the roster did not have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup due to not qualifying.^[a] The NHL declined the team's request to have the names of Hnidy and Kampfer engraved. Neither had played enough games for the Boston Bruins during the season.^[45] Boston added the two scouts who had been with the team the longest in their place. Boston did not ask for an exemption for the other six players on the roster who did not have their names engraved. These eight players were included in the team picture and awarded rings.^[46]
• Matt Falconer (Asst. Equipment Manager).
• Seven scouts were left off the Stanley Cup (due to 52 name limit), but all were awarded Stanley Cup Rings.
• In total, the Bruins gave out a record 504 Stanley Cup rings, including non-team personnel such as ticket agents, the office staff, National Anthem singerRene Rancourt, commentatorsJack Edwards andAndy Brickley, popcorn vendors and TD Garden security officers.^[47]

• 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs

Inline citations

Bibliography

• Cole, Stephen (2004).The Best of Hockey Night in Canada. Toronto: McArthur & Company.ISBN 1-55278-408-8.
• Morrison, Scott (2008).Hockey Night in Canada: My Greatest Day. Toronto: Key Porter Books.ISBN 978-1-55470-086-8.

• Official site^{[permanent dead link]}

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