Monday’s Three Stars: Bruins, Thomas bounce back in Game 3 rout
No. 1 Star: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
After dropping the first two games on the road, the Bruins returned to TD Garden and behind Thomas' 40 saves and one big hit on Henrik Sedin routed the Vancouver Canucks 8-1 to cut the series lead to 2-1.
No. 2 Star: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
Marchand had a two-point night and it was his beautiful shorthanded goal that put Boston up 3-0 in the second period:
No. 3 Star: Mark Recchi, Boston Bruins
Seven different Bruins scored and Recchi was the only one with a pair as he tallied his 60th and 61st career playoff goals, tying him with Phil Esposito and Jacques Lemaire for 25th on the all-time NHL list.
Honorable mention: Three for Michael Ryder and two for Daniel Paille, David Krejci, and Andrew Ference as the four had multi-point nights for the Bruins ... Having been dogged the entire playoffs, Boston's power play capitalized on two of their four opportunities ... Boston has won Game 3 in all four of their playoff series this year.
Did you know? The eight goals were the most scored in the finals since Colorado topped Florida 8-1 on June 6, 1996, in Game 2. (STATS LLC)
Dishonorable mention: Nathan Horton had to be stretchered off in the first period after taking a late hit from Aaron Rome. Horton went to a local hospital and was moving all of his extremities. Rome will have a hearing with the NHL tomorrow morning ... Alex Edler and Christian Ehrhoff each finished minus-4, while Ryan Kesler was a minus-3 ... Vancouver didn't score on five power plays ... How much further can we go with this mock finger biting? ... Roberto Luongo was in net for all eight goals ... Vancouver had allowed six goals over their last four games entering Game 3.
Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks; 2. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 3. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks; 4. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins; 5. Alexandre Burrows, Vancouver Canucks; 6. Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks; 7. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 8. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; 9. Nathan Horton, Boston Bruins; 10. Kevin Bieksa, Vancouver Canucks.
