Last-minute goal wins it for Canucks
<p>Vancouver's Raffi Torres celebrates after scoring the winning goal in the closing seconds against Boston goalie Tim Thomas as Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk looks on.</p>
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Through 59? scoreless minutes in their Stanley Cup finals opener, the high-flying Canucks were profoundly frustrated. The superstar Sedin twins couldn't get around Boston's formidable defense, and Vancouver's vaunted power play was punchless.
Raffi Torres and Jannik Hansen still had one last trick to try - and Vancouver's third-line wings only needed an instant to connect on a goal that gave the Canucks an early edge in their chase for their first Stanley Cup title.
Torres scored on an exceptional pass from Hansen with 18.5 seconds to play, and Vancouver stunned the Boston Bruins 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Torres put a slick redirection past Tim Thomas to score the latest go-ahead goal in a finals game since 1992, when Mario Lemieux connected with 13 seconds left in Pittsburgh's series-opening win over Chicago.
"I heard Raffi yelling," Hansen said with a grin. "It was easy to hear him."
Roberto Luongo made 36 saves in his third shutout of the postseason for the Canucks, but Thomas matched him until Torres - the only Vancouver player with previous finals experience - slipped through the Bruins' defense for an eye-popping goal that launched a wild celebration at Rogers Arena.
"Just got to get open," Torres remembered thinking. "(Hansen) made a great play there to get it over. I was fortunate enough to get it in the back of the net."
Game 2 is Saturday night in Vancouver.