Goalie Thomas leads Boston Bruins to Stanley Cup

“If they got any chances, Timmy was there,’’ Recchi said. “It was just scary how good he was.’’

Thomas made 37 saves in the second shutout of his landmark finals performance, Bergeron and rookie Brad Marchand scored two goals apiece, and the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 Wednesday night to win the Stanley Cup for the sixth time — the first since 1972.

Thomas limited the NHL’s highest-scoring team to eight goals in the seven-game finals, blanking Vancouver in two of the last four — including Game 7, the only win by a road team in the series. He was an incredibly easy choice as the playoffs MVP, becoming the oldest Conn Smythe winner at 37.

“If I was going to do it any way, it would have to be the hardest way possible,’’ said Thomas, who played overseas and in the minors before finally getting his NHL break in 2005. “Three Game 7s in the playoffs, and to have to win it on the road in the final.’’

But while Thomas and the Bruins celebrated, a riot raged in downtown Vancouver. After the Canucks’ attempt to win their franchise’s first championship in 41 years of existence ended in dismal fashion, frustrated fans set cars on fire, threw bottles, trashed cars and staged bonfires while riot police dispersed them with truncheons and shields. The unrest lingered for hours after the Bruins raised the Cup.

The Bruins are the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 three times in the same postseason, and Thomas posted shutouts in the decisive game of the Eastern Conference finals and the Stanley Cup finals. The third-seeded Bruins’ postgame celebration centered on Thomas, who carried them through long stretches of a perilous postseason that began with two home losses to Montreal.

Thomas stopped a jaw-dropping 238 of the Canucks’ 246 shots in the finals for a .967 save percentage. That’s even better than his .940 mark and 1.98 goals-against average for the entire postseason.