VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Raffi Torres scored on an exceptional pass from Jannik Hansen with 18.5 seconds to play, and the Vancouver Canucks dramatically beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 Wednesday night in the Stanley Cup finals opener.
Roberto Luongo made 36 saves in his third shutout of the postseason for the Canucks, but Boston's Tim Thomas matched him until Torres, who is the only Vancouver player with previous finals experience, slipped through the defense for a beautiful goal that launched a wild celebration at Rogers Arena.
Thomas stopped 33 shots for the Bruins, who went scoreless on six power plays. Boston played outstanding defense until the NHL's highest-scoring team finally connected in the final minute.
Game 2 is Saturday night in Vancouver.