It probably wasn't much of a stretch to imagine that the opening game of the 2011 Stanley Cup final would evolve into a battle of the goaltenders. After all, both the Boston Bruins' Tim Thomas and the Vancouver Canucks' Roberto Luongo are Vézina Trophy finalists and finished near the top of the NHL's regular-season statistical charts.
Luongo posted the best-goals average of his 11-year career (2.11). Thomas set a modern-day save percentage record (.938), eclipsing the mark established by Dominik Hasek in 1998-99.
There hadn't been a Stanley Cup final featuring two Vézina Trophy finalists since 1989, the all-Canadian matchup between the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens, when Mike Vernon bested his long-time rival Patrick Roy in six games.
An omen perhaps?
In a fast-paced match that also featured an early parade to the penalty box, Luongo and Thomas combined to stop the first 69 shots they faced. The first tiny crack, such as it was, came with just 18.5 seconds remaining in regulation of a goalless game that looked as though it were headed for overtime.
The notorious Raffi Torres - Raffi Torres?! - found a seam in the defence and converted a spectacular pass from Jannik Hansen for the only goal of the game, sending the capacity crowd at the Rogers Arena into spasms of joy.
"There was not a lot of room on the ice," explained Luongo afterward. "At one point, I thought we might be playing all night here."
He wasn't the only one thinking that.
Luongo finished with 36 saves to record the shutout for a Canucks team that gradually took over the play as the game wore along. Eventually, it seemed as though it would just be a matter of time before someone broke through against the resolute Thomas.
Thomas had previously turned aside Hansen on a clear breakaway in the third, and then made another solid save against Max Lapierre in tight. Alex Edler rang one off the post with just over five minutes to go in the third period.
"We definitely had more opportunities in the third," Hansen said. "From that, the momentum changed a little to get our lines rolling, one after the other, and in that way, creating chances. You have to think if you keep creating quality chances, sooner or later, they have to go in."
The fact that it was later didn't bother the Canucks in the least, not the way Luongo kept them in the game in its early stages. Luongo was sharp, moving well from post-to-post, answering Thomas save-for-save, the picture of calm under fire, both goaltenders producing games worthy of their stature in the game.
"I expected them to come out hard and get some chances the way they did," Thomas said. "I wouldn't have guessed that it would be a 1-0 game, of course, but I wouldn't have guessed it in Game 7 against Tampa either."
No, but a lot of players referenced the quality of the game afterward - how good it was for an opener between two teams that may not have had much of a rivalry going in, but sure looked as if they had a rivalry coming out of it.
"It was a really, really even game," said Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara. "Chances on both sides, a physical game, a great hockey game, a lot of battles. Just one play decided the whole game."
Much of the pre-series dialogue concentrated on the differences in the comparative playing styles of the two goalies. Luongo is a more traditional butterflyer. Thomas flips and flops, never gives up on a puck. His acrobatic style is more reminiscent of the era in which Vernon played, where goalies stopped pucks however they could, never mind the fundamentals.
But as Luongo pointed out in discussing technique, his and Thomas's, both of them can play a variety of different ways. Last night, neither had to be especially unorthodox.
"I think I used to do a lot more of that earlier on in my career," Luongo said. "As we move along and I get more experience, I think I've gotten to the point where I try not to be in those situations, but when they do, you have no choice."
Game 1 won(ders)
Game 1s seem to find a way of going Vancouver's way, no matter how dramatic the finish. This is now eight wins in a row in series openers dating to 2009. In the long history of best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals, where the team that takes the opening game goes on to win the series 77 per cent of the time, the Canucks won a game that was hanging in the balance, there for the taking. It is the sign of a mature team, a composed team and dare we say it, a team just three wins away from becoming a championship team.