Canucks edge Bruins 1-0 in Game 5

Maxime Lapierre's third period tally was the difference as the Vancouver Canucks slipped past the Bruins 1-0 in a goaltender's duel in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Vancouver. Tim Thomas turned aside 24 shots while Roberto Luongo made 31 saves in the shutout.

Maxime Lapierre scored the game's lone goal with 15:25 to play in the third period. Kevin Bieksa's shot went wide of the net and rebounded off the endboards to Lapierre along the goal line to Tim Thomas' right. Lapierre quickly controlled the puck and shoveled it into the far side of the net for the 1-0 Vancouver lead.

The Canucks were able to keep the puck in deep late in the third period to prevent Tim Thomas from getting off the ice for the extra attacker until there was just under a minute left on the clock. The B's weren't able to get much going with the extra attacker before time ran out on them in Game 5.

Notes:

- This series has been all about home ice. Can the B's bounce back at The Garden on Monday night?

- The Canucks did a good job of getting in the shooting lanes on point shots. They blocked 17 shots tonight. 10 of which were from defensemen, including 6 of Chara's shots.

- Shawn Thornton played just 4:00 tonight (6 shifts). 3 of those shifts came in the first 10 minutes of the game.

- I'm not sure if this is a case of a hometown scorer, but the Canucks registered 47 hits to the Bruins' 27. Alexander Edler had a game-high 10 hits.

- Vancouver had a 34-31 edge in face-offs.

- The Bruins struggled again on the power play going 0 for 4.

- It looks like these young ladies decided to paint their Sedins (NSFW-ish)

- 98.5 The Sports Hub reported that Dan Hamhuis is out with a ruptured testicle...ouch! That last sentence was painful just to type.

- For more on tonight's game, check out Nucks Misconduct