BOSTON - The Boston Bruins blitzed the Vancouver Canucks with four goals in a four-minute span, driving goalie Roberto Luongo from the game and taking a 4-0 lead after the first period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night.
Facing elimination in the best-of-seven series, the Bruins came out aggressively after losing 1-0 in Game 5 on Friday night.
They scored three goals on eight shots against Luongo and another on the second shot against Cory Schneider. The four goals in 4:14 set a Stanley Cup record, breaking the old mark of four in 5:29 by the Montreal Canadiens against the Detroit Red Wings on March 31, 1956.
Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic, Andrew Ference and Michael Ryder scored to give the Bruins four goals in a period for the third time in the series. The NHL record for most goals in a single period of the finals is five.
The Bruins resumed their high-scoring attack that produced wins of 8-1 and 4-0 at home in Games 3 and 4. In the three games at Vancouver, they were shut out 1-0 twice and lost 3-2 in overtime.
Tim Thomas, who allowed six goals in the first five games, stopped all 11 Vancouver shots in the first period.
Marchand started the scoring with a soft goal against Luongo. The rookie took a pass from Michael Seidenberg near the Vancouver blue line and fired a 30-footer from the right faceoff dot over the goalie's glove at 5:31 for his ninth post-season goal.
Just 35 seconds later, Lucic made it 2-0 with his fourth goal of the playoffs. Rich Peverley skated into the offensive zone and dropped the puck behind him. Lucic collected it and shot it between Luongo's pads.
The Bruins waited more than two minutes for their third goal. Ference scored his fourth of the playoffs at 8:35 on a slapshot from the left point with Mark Recchi setting a screen just a few feet in front of Luongo.
And that was it for the Vezina Trophy finalist, who has been inconsistent throughout this year's playoffs. Schneider skated on and just 70 seconds later gave up Boston's fourth goal. Tomas Kaberle shot from the left point and Ryder redirected the puck with his stick in the slot.
The bad news for Vancouver began even earlier.
Just 20 seconds into the game, forward Mason Raymond was hurt when he got tangled up awkwardly with Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk. He had an undisclosed injury and was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
Raymond was bent at the waist, with his back to the boards in the corner to the right of Boston's net when Boychuk ran him into the boards. Raymond remained face down on the ice for several minutes before his teammates helped him off the ice.
Another injured player, Boston right wing Nathan Horton, drew cheers from the packed house when he was shown in the building during a timeout. He smiled and waved as his teammates banged their sticks against the boards in recognition of his presence.
Horton was knocked out of the series with a severe concussion just 5:07 into Game 3 on a late hit by Canucks defenceman Aaron Rome, who later was suspended for four games.
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