2011 Stanley Cup Finals

The 2011 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL)  and the culmination of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was the 118th year of the Stanley Cup's presentation. The Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins defeated the Western Conference Champion Vancouver Canucks four games to three. The Bruins ended a 39-year Stanley Cup drought with the win. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.

The Canucks had home ice advantage in the Finals by virtue of winning the Presidents' Trophy as the team that finished with the best regular season record (117 points). They were also the first Canadian team to have home ice advantage in the Finals since the Montreal Canadiens had it for the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens' victory in 1993 was also the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup.

On June 1, 2011 NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made an announcement that Colin Campbell would be stepping down as the league's head disciplinarian to be replaced by former player Brendan Shanahan, though Campbell would continue in his job as director of hockey operations.

Mike Murphy, the NHL vice-president of hockey operations, had already been put in charge of disciplinary matters for the Finals, nonetheless there were concerns raised about Campbell's impartiality in handing out discipline since his son Gregory was an active player on the Boston Bruins roster.

The first game of the series was held on June 1, while the seventh game was played on June 15th. The games varied widely between those played in Vancouver and those in Boston. Prior to game seven, the Bruins had managed to score only two goals in three games played in Vancouver, against 17 scored in three games at Boston.

On the other hand, while posting two shutouts in Vancouver, Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was replaced with the backup Cory Schneider twice in three games in Boston. It was the fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Final in which the deciding game was won by the road team. The Bruins scored almost three times the number of total goals as the Canucks, (23 to 8 in the series), and yet the Canucks won three games.

The eight goals scored by Vancouver is the lowest number of goals scored by any team in a seven-game Stanley Cup Final, and would've also been the lowest in a six-game series.

The Canucks averaged 1.25 goals per game at home in Vancouver and one goal per game on the road, while the Bruins averaged almost six goals per game at home in Boston and 1.5 goals per game on the road. In the seven games, the Bruins averaged roughly 3.3 goals per game, while the Canucks averaged 1.14 goals per game.