2011 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2010–11 season, and the culmination of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins defeated the Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks four games to three. The Bruins ended a 39-year Stanley Cup drought with the victory. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
| 2011 Stanley Cup Finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * – 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: 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, and Glenn Healy (RDS) Pierre Houde and Benoit Brunet (NBC/Versus) Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire (NHL International) Dave Strader and Joe Micheletti | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Canucks had home ice advantage in the Finals by winning the Presidents' Trophy as the team that finished with the best regular season record (117 points). They were also the first Canadian team to have home ice advantage in the Finals since the Montreal Canadiens had it for the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canucks were also the last Canadian team to reach the Finals until 2021.
On June 1, 2011, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made an announcement that Colin Campbell would be stepping down as the league's head disciplinarian to be replaced by former player Brendan 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 Boston Bruins roster.
The series began on June 1 and ended on June 15. 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, against 17 scored in three games at Boston. On the other hand, while posting two shutouts in Vancouver, Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was replaced with the backup Cory Schneider twice in three games in Boston. The Bruins scored almost three times the number of total goals as the Canucks, (23–8 in the series), but the Canucks won three games. The eight goals scored by Vancouver is the lowest number of goals scored by any team in a seven-game series in NHL history. It was the fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Finals in which the road team won the Stanley Cup.