Here's a "by the numbers" breakdown of how the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins match up in the Stanley Cup final.
All of the statistics below are from the 2011 playoffs:
| Vancouver | Boston | |
| Average age | 28.0 | 29.5 |
| Average height | 73.4 | 73.1 |
| Average weight | 202.4 | 203.2 |
| Canadian players | 14 | 16 |
| American players | 5 | 1 |
| European players | 7 | 4 |
| Players with finals experience | 1 | 4 |
| Goals / game | 2.78 | 3.22 |
| Goals against / game | 2.56 | 2.50 |
| 5-on-5 goal differential | 1.07 | 1.74 |
| Power play | 28.3% | 8.2% |
| Penalty kill | 80.6% | 79.4% |
| Shots / game | 31.2 | 31.8 |
| Shots against / game | 31.6 | 33.6 |
| Win % when scoring first | 80% | 89% |
| Goal differential | 0.22 | 0.72 |
| Shot differential | -0.4 | -1.8 |
| Shooting percentage | 8.9% | 10.1% |
| Save percentage | .919 | .926 |
| Goals by defencemen | 14 | 8 |
The NHL has detailed statistics available for the last 22 Stanley Cup winning teams, going back to the 1988 Edmonton Oilers. Comparing Vancouver and Boston's numbers to those teams, a few key differences stand out:
- The Bruins' awful power play rating of 8.2% is lower than any Cup winner in the last 22 years, with the Dallas Stars in 1999 having the worst percentage at 12.1%.
- Boston's 5-on-5 numbers, meanwhile, are some of the best ever for a playoff team. Among recent winners, only the Red Wings' Cup winning team in 2008 came close with a 1.62 goal differential.
- The Canucks' power play percentage is higher than any recent Cup winner, with those 1988 Oilers converting at a 26.5% success rate as the next closest team. The average Cup winner the past 22 years has had a 19.7% power play.
- The vast majority of Cup winners out shot their opposition or were close to even on the shot clock, with only the 1990 Oilers and 1991 Penguins out shot by more than two shots per game. (The 2008 Red Wings dominated in this category, outshooting their opposition by an average of 13 shots a game.)
- Both teams have had poor penalty kills by Cup winner standards at below 81%. The only team in the last 22 years to win the Cup with less than 82.8% was the 1991 Penguins.
- A lot of teams have won the Cup since the lockout with a low goal differential, as parity increases, but Vancouver's would hit a new low at 0.22 (a result of being beaten badly in two first round games by the Blackhawks). The 2006 Hurricanes have the lowest one in recent NHL history at 0.52.
One other number to note: The average Cup winner the past 22 years has played 22.1 games en route to winning it all, with that number increasing to an average of 23 over the past 10 years.
If this year's final goes to seven games, Vancouver and Boston will match the 25 games the Hurricanes needed to win the Cup, tying the highest mark ever.
