THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — I took less than a dozen seconds for Alex Burrows to win the game, but he had plenty of time to think about what he was doing.
Burrows scored just 11 seconds into overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final.
Burrows was mobbed by his teammates after scoring his second goal of the night.
The play started right off the opening faceoff of overtime. Alex Edler gobbled up a loose puck and chipped it over to Daniel Sedin. He fed a streaking Burrows, who was able to think about the best way to beat goaltender Tim Thomas.
"He likes to challenge," said Burrows. "If I shoot there, I think he just stops it and covers all angles.
"I lost the puck but was lucky enough to be able to wrap it around."
A diving Thomas forced Burrows to swing around the net. He kept control of the puck, then tucked it into the open corner of the far side of the goal.
Burrows managed to fight off the check of giant Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara.
"I knew he was coming when I was faking the shot," said Burrows. "Afterwards, I knew the net was open. I just wanted to put it in."
Daniel Sedin forced the overtime when he tied the game at 9:37 of the third period. He took a pass from Burrows, who was in front of the net, then fired a shot over a sprawling Thomas.
"As I said after Game 1, a loss is a loss," Thomas said. "It doesn’t matter whether it’s 5-0 or the way that we lost. Losing stinks no matter what."
Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi scored for Boston.
The best-of-seven series moves to Boston for games Monday and Wednesday.
"We were up 2-1," Boston forward David Krejci said. "We did some good things. The positive thing we can take back home with us is that we lost both games by just one goal."
Ryan Kesler said Burrows never gives up on a play or a game.
"His battle level was high tonight," said Kesler. "He outwilled them. I don’t even know how he scored, but he did.,"
Vancouver won the opening game 1-0 when Raffi Torres scored with just 18.5 seconds left in the third period.
Game 2 was another goaltenders’ battle between Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo and Thomas. Both are finalists for the Vezina Trophy.
In the first period, a Michael Ryder shot hit Luongo in the face, knocking his mask off. Luongo calmly covered up the puck, then had a chuckle with the linesman as he put his mask back on. In the second he got an arm on a Krejci shot.
Thomas bounced around his net like a rubber ball, challenging shooters and then scrambling back into position. He slid across the crease to stop a wide-open Jannik Hansen in the second period, then got a pad on a Daniel Sedin shot
It was a warm spring day outside Rogers Arena, but that didn’t melt the enthusiasm of a loud, sellout crowd of 18,860.
Veteran Canadian rocker Randy Bachman sang "Taking Care of Business" on the big screen before the game. Former Canuck captain Trevor Linden was in the house, raising a cheer from the fans, and the Green Men parked themselves in their seats beside the opposition penalty box. There was even a wedding in one of the suites.
After weeks of speculation and false starts, centre Manny Malhotra was in the Canucks lineup. It was Malhotra’s first game since being hit in the left eye by a puck on March 16, an injury that required several surgeries.
He took his first shift 1:48 into the first period, earning chants of "Manny, Manny" as he won a faceoff.
The Bruins scored goals 2:25 apart in the second period to lead 2-1 heading into the third period.
Lucic made the score 1-1 with Boston’s first goal of the final. He collected the rebound of a Johnny Boychuk shot and fired it under Luongo’s pad.
That ended Luongo’s streak of 137:26 of not allowing a goal, dating back to the third period of Game 5 of the Western Conference final against San Jose.
Recchi gave Boston the lead on a Boston power play. A Chara shot deflected off the shaft of Recchi’s stick past Luongo.
It was just Boston’s sixth power-play goal in 69 attempts during the playoffs and only the second on the road.
"I didn’t like 15 minutes of that second period," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "I thought we didn’t have our work boots on. We got out-muscled down low in our end and out-muscled in their end, thought they really took it to us.
"But we talked about adjusting different things, especially our work ethic. I thought our guys were real good the last five minutes of that second period and real good in the third period."
Burrows opened the scoring at 12:12 of the first period with Chara off for interference.
The Bruins failed in a clearing attempt. Chris Higgins slid a puck to Burrows, who scored on a shot from a sharp angle that went under Thomas’s arm.
It was Burrows’ eighth goal of the playoffs and fourth in five games.
"Anybody that follows our team knows he’s a really important part of our team," Vigneault said. "He plays five-on-five, he plays power-play, and he kills penalties. So, you know, he’s overall one of our go-to guys. Again tonight he came up big in key moments."
I thought he was one of our better players. We need him to play that way.
There were some bruising hits handed out.
Boychuk clobbered Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler. Kesler was slow getting up but continued to play.
Victor Oreskovich returned the favour, stapling Boston’s Daniel Paille into the boards.
.In the third period Boston’s Rich Peverley delivered a slash on the back of Kevin Bieksa’s knee that left the Canuck defenceman laying on the ice in pain. Bieksa got up and skated to the bench.
Defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who was injured in Game 1, did not dress. He was replaced by Andrew Alberts.
Notes : With Hamhuis hurt, the Canucks decided not to dress defenceman Keith Ballard, who earns US$4.2 million a season. … It was Alberts first game since May 3 and only his fourth of the playoffs. …Luongo’s shutout in Game 1 was the first in an opening match of a Stanley Cup final since Grant Fuhr stopped 33 shots in a 1984 victory over the New York Islanders. …Teams winning Game 2 of the final have gone on to win the Stanley Cup in 54 of 71 years since the best-of-seven format began in 1939.
