Canucks

Tim Thomas was a big deal yesterday in his hometown of Flint, Mich., where the Bruins goalie had his day with the Stanley Cup. But in East Conway, N.H., Thomas is a really big deal.  Via the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce , we discovered the above photo of Thomas's image etched out into the corn field at Sherman Farm . Visitors to the farm are welcome to explore the maze beginning Sept....

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault confirmed that goalie Roberto Luongo wants out of Vancouver. Speaking Thursday by telephone on the Montreal-based French language television show "Le Match," Vigneault was asked if Luongo, who was replaced by Marblehead's Cory Schneider during the Canucks' loss to the Kings in the first round of the playoffs, needed a fresh start. "First of all, that is what he wants right now," said the coach, who recently signed a two-year contract extension.

Canadian “Glee’’ star Cory Monteith yelled “Go Canucks!’’ at the end of the “Glee Live!’’ show at the TD Garden on Tuesday night. Yikes, right? At least his costar Chris Colfer told the audience of mostly screaming women that he admired Boston for naming its baseball team after something fashion related.

NHL Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli is negotiating to re-sign Chris Kelly , who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. "He's a good, versatile player who had a career year," Chiarelli said. "He's told me he wants to stay. " Kelly is coming off a four-year, $8.5 million contract. The 31-year-old would require a raise to re-sign with the Bruins. If Kelly reaches the open market, Ottawa might be interested in bringing back the former Senator. Kelly's primary residence is in Ottawa . . . The Bruins were presented with the Sports Team of the Year by SportsBusiness Journal.

■When, where: Today, 1, at TD Garden. ■TV, radio: NESN, WBZ-FM (98.5). ■Goals: Daniel Sedin 18, Alex Burrows 15, Jannik Hansen 12. ■Assists: Henrik Sedin 38, Daniel Sedin 28, Alexander Edler 22. ■Goaltending: Roberto Luongo (17-8-3, 2.38 GAA), Cory Schneider (8-5-0, 2.16). ■Head to head: This is the only meeting of the season. ■Miscellany: Luongo played in his 700th NHL game on Wednesday, a 3-0 victory over Minnesota, but is not expected to start … Vancouver is 37 for 157 on the power play for a league-best 23.6 percent success rate … Henrik Sedin leads the league in...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Alex Burrows took a day off from hockey yesterday, but not from his thoughts as he gets ready to play in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time. While the excitement is building for the Canucks forward, Burrows’s mind focused on his newborn daughter and the memory of close friend and former teammate Luc Bourdon, who died exactly three years earlier in a motorcycle accident. Both lives have impacted Burrows and both will continue to play a big role Wednesday when the Canucks host the Bruins in Game 1. Burrows’s daughter was born just over a month ago, one...

Limited to three games in last season's Stanley Cup Final against the Canucks, there was no discounting the emotional lift Nathan Horton gave the Bruins in the remaining four games. The Bruins responded to the devastating concussion Horton suffered in Game 3 at the hands of Aaron Rome by pounding the Canucks, 8-1. When Horton showed up at TD Garden for Game 6, the Bruins earned a 5-2 victory. And who could forget Game 7 in Vancouver? It was Horton who baptized the Canucks' ice at Rogers Arena with melted ice brought from TD Garden.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — You might say these guys have been banging on the door for a decade. They’ve been in the playoffs all but once every year there was playoffs since the 2001-02 season. They’ve finished first in their division five times, including the last three in succession, and second twice. They have broken the 100-point barrier six times in that span, including the last three seasons, their point total escalating from 100 to 103 to a league-leading 117 this time around.

FAN CHAT: Canucks v. Bruins

The Vancouver Canucks signed coach Alain Vigneault to a contract extension, ending speculation that the team's playoff loss to Los Angeles might cost him the job. "We're looking for some solutions — and we're going to find those solutions," Vigneault said from his offseason home in Gatineau, Quebec. The Canucks didn't disclose terms, but Vigneault said it was a two-year extension. The Canucks have posted the NHL's best regular-season record the last two seasons, but lost to Boston in the Stanley Cup finals last year and Los Angeles in the first round this season.

Jarret Stoll beat Cory Schneider with a wrist shot at 4:27 of overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 2-1 victory in Vancouver on Sunday night, knocking out the top-seeded Canucks in five games in the Western Conference first-round series. Stoll scored from the left wing after a turnover at Vancouver blue line. The forward skated in on a two-on-one, but took the shot himself, picking the top-left corner above Schneider's blocker. Brad Richardson tied it for Los Angeles at 3:21 of the third period, and Jonathan Quick made 26 saves.

Cory Schneider made 43 saves and stopped Dustin Brown's penalty shot in his first career playoff victory, Daniel Sedin sparked Vancouver's power play in his return from injury, and the top-seeded Canucks avoided an embarrassing first-round sweep with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 on Wednesday night. Kevin Bieksa scored the go-ahead goal, and Alex Edler and captain Henrik Sedin scored the first two power-play goals of the series for the Canucks, who emphatically avoided becoming the first Presidents' Trophy-winning team in the post-expansion era to get swept out of...

Although Mike Richards and a couple of his Los Angeles teammates might have information that could help the Vancouver Canucks out of a daunting playoff deficit, don't expect them to give it up. Just two years ago, Richards led Philadelphia out of the same 0-3 series hole now threatening to swallow up the NHL's best regular-season team. Simon Gagne scored an overtime winner in Game 4 and the series-winning goal in Game 7 for the Flyers, while Jeff Carter watched his teammates closely from the press box with a broken foot.

These are exciting times around here for hockey fans, because there is nothing in sports quite like the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's easier to sell now to the nonbelievers, of course, because the Bruins won the Cup last June and they could do it again this time around. It's difficult to repeat as the champ nowadays, but it has always been, even if franchises such as the Canadiens, Islanders, and Oilers at times made it seem simple. And never mind how hard it is to win two, three, or four in a row. One need only to look to the opposite coast, to...

A fortunate bounce gave the Los Angeles Kings a win over Vancouver. Dustin Penner scored the winning goal with 3:14 left in the third period to help the Los Angeles Kings beat the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks 4-2 in the opener of their Western Conference quarterfinal series Wednesday night. Los Angeles only secured a playoff berth with three games left in the regular season and entered the series as the clear underdog. Penner had gone the last nine games of the regular season without a goal.

The Los Angeles Kings say they're sorry. One day after opening their playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-2 victory, the Kings found themselves backtracking from a playful jab on Twitter. The team's official account posted a message saying: "To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you're welcome. " That didn't sit well with senior members of the organization, especially after all the attention it generated. "We encourage our digital team to be creative, interactive and to apply a sense of humor whenever possible," Kings spokesman Mike Altieri said.

Daniel Sedin was a no-show at the Canucks' workout Tuesday morning in Vancouver, British Columbia, then skated with teammates after practice. Sedin, out with a concussion since March 21, was expected to take part in his second practice before Wednesday's first-round playoff series opener against the Los Angeles Kings. He was injured when he took an elbow in the head from Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith, who was suspended for five games. Sedin led the Canucks in goals during the regular season with 30 and had 67 points.