Once again, it all comes down to one game in Vancouver. Two of the world’s best teams squaring off in a showdown that could be even more gruesome than UFC 131. Fists will fly and sticks will clang against each other like swords. Twenty-thousand anxious fans will either cause the walls to collapse or turn the arena into an arctic monastery.
Think I’m exaggerating? Hyping up a series which has so far failed to match the golden ratings of last year’s Stanley Cup Final? Then take a close look at the bite marks on Patrick Bergeron’s pinky. Or go to YouTube and check out the thunderous ovation Nathan Horton received Monday night during a timeout at the TD Garden.
From Raffi Torres pumping an emphatic fist after scoring the game-winning goal in a tense opener, to Boston running up the score with four goals in the final minutes of Game 3, this is a series that has gone from feisty and persnickety to downright ferocious with every drop of the puck.
Despite the hilarious street-fighting antics of Max Lapierre and the thuggish behavior of the exiled tactician, Aaron Rome, the Canucks aren’t playing the role of bully in these Finals. They’ve been outscored 15-4 in the last three games and have had their star goalie chased twice in the second period. They got their asses handed to them for the third time in Beantown on Monday and as the President’s Trophy winner, face all the pressure of hoisting up the game’s biggest prize in front of their fans when the final horn sounds.
Like the NBA Finals, America will be watching and rooting for one team. When the Mavericks, led by their German-born superstar Dirk Nowitzki, bested the sneering, arrogant trifecta of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the entire country (not just Cleveland) erupted in cheer.
Justice was served.
But now, the focus shifts to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which has every bit of the same feeling of last year's gold medal game between Canada and the United States. One game. One winner.
Boston, the cradle of America and a member of the Original Six, against Vancouver, one of Canada’s most densely populated cities known for its natural beauty and cultural diversity.
Yes, rooting for Boston in Game 7 won’t be the same as rooting for Team USA in the 2010 Olympics. The Bruins roster is, after all, comprised of only five American-born players…and 24 Canadians. But of the five Yanks, one of them is Tim Thomas, the best goaltender on the planet and the driving force behind the Bruins’ postseason tear.
He faces Roberto Luongo, the Montreal native who was between the pipes for Canada when they prevailed over the United States in one of the greatest games ever in international play.
Luongo was the savior for Canada during the Winter Games, replacing the struggling Martin Brodeur and out-dueling the MVP of the tournament and eventual Vezina Award winner Ryan Miller.
Thomas, the likely Vezina winner this year, is the new American force that has been single-handedly obstructing Canada’s path to glory. The Canucks have threaded the needle twice against him thus far, and he hasn’t allowed more than two regulation goals once in the last seven games. His GAA for the Finals is 1.30 and his save percentage for the postseason is an unworldly .937.
Like Miller, he’s the MVP—or rather, the Conn Smythe winner—of this tournament, and it’ll be up to Luongo to give another heart-stopping performance if the Canucks want to prove once and for all that great depth beats great goaltending.
I say great depth, but you really have to wonder. Boston has outscored Vancouver in the series 19-8, and yet here we are, tied at three games apiece with only one score mattering at the end of the day.
Either Vancouver is due for a blowout of their own, or Boston may have been saving their clutch shot for the very end.
The Chicago Blackhawks used up their shot in Game 6 in the opening round of the NHL playoffs. With the score knotted up at three, Ben Smith slung one past Corey Schneider in overtime and a once-commanding 3-0 series lead for Vancouver evaporated.
But the Canucks finally took care of business a few days later, and they must accomplish the same task tonight if they want to end the 40-year drought that has hung over their city like an ominous storm cloud.
It was a familiar scene earlier this week when thousands of blue-clad fans jam-packed the streets of Vancouver waving their flags in front of the big screens that televised their team's loss to the Bruins in the penultimate game of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
They Olympic Cauldron was relit just a few blocks away, and so was the spirit that had carried them through an epic worldwide tournament for the ages.
It was then that Ryan Miller couldn’t stop Sidney Crosby. Will Tim Thomas be able to stop Ryan Kessler?
See you at five.
Damaso Marte Mariano Rivera Kerry Wood Francisco Cervelli Chad Moeller Jorge Posada
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