One Win Away

David Krejci and Milan Lucic celebrate one of Boston's four first-period goals Monday night. Staving off elimination, the Bruins defeated the Canucks 5-2 in Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7 Wednesday night in Vancouver.

From the moment the Boston Bruins took the ice Monday night, it was clear that if Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals would be their last game of the season, the Black and Gold would go down fighting, playing the physical, in-your-face type hockey that has personified the franchise for decades.

In his customary style, Tim Thomas led the Black and Gold out of the locker room and onto the ice beneath a deafening roar from the TD Garden's electric sell-out crowd of 17,565.

However, before acknowledging the crowd or skating to his goal crease, the Bruins' star goaltender and overall backbone sent an immediate and direct message to the Vancouver Canucks.

Thomas dropped his water bottle near the Boston bench and then fired it down the ice toward the Canucks' end.

Call it unsportsmanlike. Call it over the top. But, in the end, Thomas' stunt worked.

Setting the tone early and often, the Bruins set a Stanley Cup Finals record by scoring four goals in just 4:14 during the first period before eventually routing the visiting Canucks 5-2.

Talking the talk and walking the walk, Thomas (36 saves) was stellar once again, pitching a shutout for most of the contest before surrendering a pair of meaningless third period goals with the game out of reach.

As a result of the monumentally clutch victory, the Bruins will now travel to Vancouver for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Wednesday night with a chance to claim their first Stanley Cup since 1972.

"I'm proud of the guys," said ageless veteran Mark Recchi, who recorded three assists. "We had our  backs to the wall, we've been resilient all year, and we came out and had a great first period and did what we had to do tonight, and it comes down to Game 7. It's one game now."

Despite having entered the league in 1924 as one of the NHL's original six teams, the Bruins have never played in a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Elevating the importance of Wednesday night's mythical joust even more, the Bruins will try to become the first team in NHL history to win three Game 7's in one postseason.

After Monday night's performance, it's hard to bet against them, especially with Thomas, the odds on favorite to win the Conn Smythe award for Finals MVP, manning the Bruins' net.

"Not too many people counted on us being at this point right now," added Recchi. "It's a great feeling. We battled hard tonight. We came out to play, and it's coming down to one game. This is what we dream of, when you're little kids playing street hockey, you know, you're in Game 7."

Setting off an epic scoring spree, Brad Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the first period when he snapped a beautiful wrister over the shoulder of Roberto Luongo. With the tally, Marchand now has nine goals this postseason, a new Bruins' rookie record.

"It was really important for us to get the first one," said David Krejci. "It was a must-win for us. You go and get the first goal, and then the crowd gets into it, we'll feed off their energy, and I think that's what happened."

Just 35 seconds later, Milan Lucic extended the lead to 2-0 when he took a picture-perfect drop pass from Rich Peverly between the circles and fired a wrist shot past Luongo.

Then, with the Garden already buzzing, one of the most inspirational scenes in Bruins recent memory took place. Nathan Horton, recovering from the vicious concussion sustained in Game 3, was shown on the jumbo-tron during a TV timeout, clad in a black suit and waving a Bruins yellow playoff towel.

To say the Garden erupted would be an understatement.

"We didn't know they were going to be doing that, showing him up there," said Marchand. "for him to come in and give us that boost of energy is unbelievable. Obviously, the crowd loves it, loves him, and they're supporting him every minute of the day. It was great to see him out there. He gave us a big energy boost."

Almost on cue, Andrew Ference pushed the lead to 3-0 when he blasted a slap shot from the point between the five-hole of Luongo. Remarkably, the goal came almost exactly one minute after Horton was shown on the jumbo-tron.

For the second time in the series, Luongo was yanked from the game in favor of back-up Corey Schneider.

If there are such things as hockey gods, it appears they are now fully committed to the Bruins' cause.

If you remember correctly, Luongo made a swipe at Thomas, who allowed the only goal in a 1-0 Vancouver victory in Game 5, saying, "It's not hard if you're playing in the paint. It's an easy save for me, but if you're wandering out and aggressive like he does, that's going to happen."

The Bruins promptly greeted Schneider with a Michael Ryder goal off a deflection from the point to make it 4-0 less than two minutes later.

Sandwiched by a pair of third period Vancouver goals, Krejci added a power-play goal of his own, but the final stanza was mostly an afterthought with the game already in hand for Boston.

"We needed to come out hard tonight," said head coach Claude Julien. "I thought our guys responded. We needed to come out hard the last two games before that, because we were trailing, 2-0, in the series. Our guys have responded well. Now we have to make sure we don't get comfortable with our game. We're willing to bring it to Vancouver with us, because that's what it's going to take to win."

Now it all comes down to one game. 

One opportunity. 

One last chance to write a story-book ending to the greatest Bruins season in 21 years. 

No matter what happens Wednesday night, one of the most thrilling roller-coaster rides of our lifetime will come to an end.

Here's to the 2011 Boston Bruins.

Now do us the ultimate thanks and make us proud one last time.

We want the Cup.

It's time for the Bruins to bring it home.