NESN

Shawn Thornton, Bruins’ Fourth Line May Have Won Game 7 of Stanley Cup Final

Patrice Bergeron scored twice. Brad Marchand did the same. Tim Thomas became the first goalie to ever earn a shutout in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. They were all crucially important.

Yet, it was the early work of the grinders on the fourth line – Shawn Thornton, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille — that may have done the most damage against the Canucks, helping lead the Bruins to a 4-0 win and their first Stanley Cup since the Nixon administration.

"[The fourth line] might have won that game," said NESN.com's Michael Hurley on The Andrew Krystal Show on Fan 590 in Toronto. "In the first period, they had five minutes of ice time … and they've gone full games where they don't play five minutes. That tells you how well they were playing, how obvious it was for [Claude] Julien to stick with them. The work they did to keep the puck deep in the Canucks' zone, to fire shots on net — because we know against [Roberto] Luongo, that's not a bad strategy — to throw their bodies around and to just wreak havoc was incredible.

"They did such a great job of playing that physical game without taking penalties and without being undisciplined," he added.

Thornton, who won the Cup with the Ducks in 2007, might have enjoyed this one a little more.

"Thornton showed why he already has a Cup," Hurley said. "When he got back to Boston and they interviewed him on TV, he said it's the best day of his life. So I think that tells you it's a little more fun to win a Stanley Cup in Boston than it is in Anaheim."

Hurley also talked with Krystal about:

• Bruins fans deserving this victory
• Roberto Luongo being overrated
• Brad Marchand being an unexpected star
• Leadership issues with the Sedins in Vancouver
• How whatever team in the NHL that employed Tim Thomas this season would have probably won the Cup
• The respect and class shown by Canucks fans within Rogers Arena
• The mislabeled USA versus Canada storyline
• How Dennis Seidenberg might have been the best defenseman on the team
• The incredible Bruins career of Mark Recchi

Listen to the entire interview on the Fan 590 website, or by right-clicking this link and saving the file.