NEWARK, N.J. -- Claude wanted to see more life, more jump, more energy, more everything from his hockey club Thursday night. He felt they hadn't been giving enough of themselves over the previous 10 games, and especially in the last two -- a lackluster shootout win over Florida and a well-deserved loss to Tampa Bay.

Julien had to watch two more lifeless periods Thursday night, but the Bruins finally delivered the goods in the third.

The Bs scored three times within the first 7:45 of the final period to not only take the lead, but provide some insurance for a 4-1 victory at Prudential Center. Tim Thomas made 30 saves for his 19th win of the season while Martin Brodeur, who faced only 12 shots through two periods, was burned three times on 12 shots in the third to suffer his 11th loss of the season, and second in the last 15 days to Boston.

The Devils also lost 6-1 to the Bruins at Prudential Center on Jan. 4. Boston was 4-3-0 since that win -- good, but clearly below average for this team.

"It was kind of 'enough is enough,'" said Boston forward Shawn Thornton, who had two assists and was the game's first star. "A lot of it, too, is not getting frustrated. In the past when we have gone through things like this we've had the tendency to get frustrated and spend a little too much time in the box. We did a good job of sticking with the program and using that frustration, funneling it the right way."

Thornton wouldn't give away the player, but he did say someone in the Bruins' dressing room stepped up between the second and third periods and delivered one of those, "We're better than this" speeches.

It worked.

Andrew Ference started the Bruins off 3:01 into the third period with a far side slap shot through a screen from the left circle to tie the game at 1-1. Thornton delivered a backhanded pass toward Ference, who played the puck off the boards before firing.

Nathan Horton finished off some nifty passing by Ference, Rich Peverley and David Krejci to score a power-play goal at 7:10 and give Boston a 2-1 lead. The goal was initially awarded to Milan Lucic, who was in front of the net along with Horton.

Thirty-five seconds later, Gregory Campbell capped a hard shift with fellow fourth-liners Thornton and Daniel Paille to give the Bruins their 3-1 lead. He scored from the slot off a rebound of Thornton's shot.

Campbell's goal gave him his first career Gordie Howe hat trick. He also had an assist on Ference's goal and a fight with Devils forward Brad Mills in the first period.

"It feels good only for the fact that it was a 4-1 game and the goal and the assist came at times when we needed it," Campbell told NHL.com of the Gordie Howe hat trick. "Sometimes you get a Gordie Howe hat trick, a goal or a fight and it doesn't ultimately have an effect on the team. Tonight I was hoping to provide some energy and the goal came at a good time."

Chris Kelly hit the empty net to wrap up the win, which moved the Bruins within a point of the Rangers for the Eastern Conference lead. New York comes to TD Garden on Saturday afternoon.

Less than a minute before Ference scored, Brodeur preserved the Devils' 1-0 lead by robbing Benoit Pouliot with a diving glove save. He initially stopped Ference's shot with his pads and then stoned Pouliot on the rebound.

However, instead of getting frustrated and looking to the sky for answers, the Bruins answered with a surge.

"For some teams it would have maybe deflated them, for us it was, 'We're starting to get some opportunities here guys,'" Julien said. "That's where our confidence comes into play. When you start getting opportunities like that, because we hadn't in the first two periods, it just kind of gave us a sign that things were coming. We just built from that."

The Devils had opportunities to build on their 1-0 lead in the second period, but never could. Rookie forward Steve Zalewski was inches away from scoring his first NHL goal, but his shot rang off the post with 8:40 to play. Shortly before intermission, Thomas robbed David Clarkson with a picture-perfect reactionary glove save.

Just over a minute before the Bruins started their onslaught in the third, Devils defenseman Mark Fayne rang a shot from the right point off the left post.

"We showed up and did a lot of good things, but that doesn't get you points in the standings," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. "But, I thought we responded well to the challenge of playing the Stanley Cup champions."

New Jersey was outshooting the Bruins 23-12 through two periods despite losing 24 of 41 faceoffs. Sykora gave them the lead with 1:31 left in the first period. It came less than four minutes after Campbell and Mills dropped the gloves in an attempt to get spark some momentum for each of their teams.

For the time being the Devils grabbed it and dominated. The Bruins stole it back and took the two points home with them thanks to their quick surge in the third.

"It was a little bit of a lackluster effort on our part in the first two periods, and this team is smart enough and experienced enough to know we weren't playing our game," Campbell said. "Give credit where credit is due, they're a tough team to play against and they came out hard and with a game plan. Our game plan was to try to get the lead. We didn't do that, but to our credit we battled back."


OPINION:
Shawn Thornton, who was voted the Number One Star, had two assists and was a +2. Thornton will be an unrestricted free-agent this summer, and it’s time the Bruins front office gives consideration to re-signing him. Besides the fact he’s filling to drop the gloves to defend his teammates at any given time, he can also play a little hockey. Last year he set career highs in goals and assists, getting ten of each. Right now he has 4 goals and 6 assists. Playing on an energy line, he’s not expected to confuse anyone with Sidney Crosby, but it’s the presence he brings out on the ice that doesn’t show up in the stats. When he dropped the gloves earlier this month with Dale Weise when Vancouver was in town, it took Weise a nanosecond to back away. Thornton also honors ‘the code’ when fighting, although he did break it once, when he kept pummeling Matt Cooke, in his first chance after the little weasel Cooke knocked out Marc Savard. Let’s also remember how things started to change in the Stanley Cup Finals last year. Thornton did not dress in Game 1 or 2, but returned for Game 3, and the Bruins won the next two…and two more after that, as well! Finally, he came to Boston with a Stanley Cup win already on his resume, so he brought a solid veteran presence along as well. Who better to remind Tyler Seguin from time to time to make sure his alarm clock is working?

Tim Thomas foiled the Vancouver Canucks one last time to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, and second-liners Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron provided the offense that brought the Stanley Cup back to Boston for the first time in 39 years.

Marchand finished his rookie season with a pair of goals and an assist in Game 7 Wednesday while Bergeron beat Roberto Luongo twice, including once shorthanded late in the second period. Dennis Seidenberg added a pair of assists to help the Bruins beat the Canucks 4-0 and send 18,860 disappointed fans into the downtown streets wondering if their team will ever win the Stanley Cup.

The home team had won every game in this Stanley Cup Final -- until Wednesday.

With 37 more saves in Game 7, Thomas now owns the NHL record for most saves in the postseason (798) and a Stanley Cup Final. He allowed only eight goals in the Final and became the first goalie in NHL history to win Game 7 with a shutout on the road. He is only the fourth goalie in history to post a shutout in Game 7.

Thomas also collected the puck at the buzzer before being mobbed by his teammates.

Mark Recchi, who likely played his final NHL game Wednesday, picked up his fourth assist and seventh point of the Final. He finished the playoffs with 14 points and his third Stanley Cup celebration.

Marchand didn't make any friends in Vancouver these last 2 1/2 weeks either. He scored a goal in all four of the Bruins' wins and had 7 points in the series to give him 19 in his first NHL postseason.

On the flip side, Luongo, who had been spectacular at home in the Final and dreadful on the road, was only average in Game 7 after giving up three goals on eight shots in just eight minutes and 35 seconds of work in Boston on Monday.

He was beaten by a one-timer, a wraparound and a sliding shorthanded goal. He failed to come up with a big, momentum-turning save.

The Canucks were the best team in the regular season for 82 games and after a near-monumental collapse in the first round against Chicago, they rolled through Nashville and San Jose to get to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1994.

But just as they did 17 years ago, they lost Game 7 to an Original Six team.

This time they did it at home, crushing the dreams of so many of their fans that have waited so long to celebrate, fans who didn't know how to act after the game ended.

Worse yet, Vancouver had the better start to Game 7, but the Bruins withstood the swarm, got a goal from Bergeron with 5:23 left in the first period and went into the dressing room with a 1-0 lead. It was 3-0 by the end of 40 minutes and Rogers Arena was silent.

Marchand scored his fourth goal of the series 12:13 into the second period and Bergeron added a shorthanded goal a little over five minutes later.

Vancouver held a 21-13 advantage in shots on goal after two periods, but it didn't matter. Thomas was far superior to Luongo.

"Boston played a real strong game," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "They got great goaltending and they were able to score a couple of tough goals around our net. They deserved to win."

Boston's fourth line helped the Bruins turn the momentum after their slow start. Led by Shawn Thornton, the B's fourth line had a dominating shift roughly seven minutes into the game. The Canucks still kept some momentum and Thomas had to close his legs to make a save on big-time save on Daniel Sedin's backhanded shot 7:27 into the period.

At that point injured Canucks forward Mason Raymond was shown waving to the crowd on the Jumbotron. He was wearing a body cast to protect his broken back, and the crowd went nuts.

It didn't give the Canucks the emotional lift they needed.

Just over seven minutes later, Bergeron scored his first of the night on a one-timer from the slot off a deft backhanded feed from Marchand to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

Henrik Sedin beat Bergeron on a faceoff in the right circle near Luongo, but Marchand hustled in from his position on the left wing to gather the puck before a Canuck could touch it. He skated up the right wing boards, twirled back to avoid Sami Salo and feathered a crossing pass to the slot that avoided all the sticks in Bergeron's way so the Bruins' center could whack it off the left post and in.

The Canucks again had a strong start to the second period, holding the Bruins without a shot for the first seven minutes. Their best scoring chance came when Alexandre Burrows collected a turnover from Zdeno Chara with just over 11 minutes left in the second.

However, Burrows was actually stoned by a butterflying Chara. The towering defenseman came back to the slot after turning the puck over and covered for the way-out-of-position Thomas by blocking Burrows' shot from the right circle.

It didn't take long for the Bruins to use the momentum created from that lucky break. Not surprisingly, it was Marchand burning the Canucks again.

The play started with Luongo stopping the initial shot from Seidenberg, but he left a juicy rebound off near the right post. Marchand collected it, curled behind the net and used his backhand to wrap the puck around the left post and tuck it under Luongo's outstretched stick with 7:47 to play in the second period.

Luongo had to dive back to his right after coming too far out to compensate for the rebound.

Vancouver again had a strong push after Marchand's goal. But, Thomas again up to the task, stopping all six shots he faced before Chara gave the Canucks' the first power play of the game with 3:53 to play before the second intermission.

He was called for interference on Kesler and the Canucks, with momentum now, were hoping to finally take advantage.

Instead, they let the Bruins walk right into a 3-0 lead.

Bergeron caught a break when the puck came off the boards and popped up to him for a semi-breakaway. He was caught by Christian Ehrhoff, but Bergeron was still able to get a shot off before sliding into Luongo. Luongo made the initial save, but the puck got behind him as Bergeron was sliding into him.

The officials immediately ruled it a goal, but they still went to video review for confirmation to make sure Bergeron didn't inadvertently knock it in with his hands. He didn't and the Bruins had a three-goal lead heading into the third period.

With Thomas in net, there was no way they were giving it up.

Twenty minutes later, the Bruins were Stanley Cup champions.

NOTES: Nathan Horton took to the ice in full uniform to hoist the Cup...Nice touch by the Canucks Game Operations staff when they played "Dirty Water" during the celebration...In retrospect, the right call was made by not allowing the TD Garden to open its doors, as thousands of fans poured out onto the streets following the game...In Vancouver, however, there were reports of cars being set on fire, and beer bottles being thrown through television sets that had been set up outside for viewing.

Bs win final game of year! Courtesy NBC/NHL 

But Saturday's "Rolling Rally" parade to celebrate the Bruins' first championship since 1972 – a celebration that drew about 1 million Stanley Cup-starved fans to the streets of Boston -- left quite an impression on Thornton.

"It was more overwhelming than I expected," he said after he and his teammates' procession on Boston's famous Duck Boats was complete. "It was an unbelievable turnout. I didn't know that many people lived in Boston, let alone would be on the streets today. It was an awesome, awesome experience."

In some ways the "Rolling Rally" was a culmination of four days of celebrating after the Bruins won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final by beating the Canucks 4-0 in Vancouver on Wednesday. But it also marked the beginning of a summer of partying for the Bruins and their newly won Cup, which will spend time with each and every one of them over the course of this offseason.

Even before the parade, the Bruins were feeling the love from the Boston faithful as they carted the Cup to numerous places around town.

"People would tell you, 'this is a hockey town; you've got to do it,'" defenseman Andrew Ference said about fans' urgings to win the Cup. "We kind of played the underdog bit at the end, but throughout the whole year and especially with the last couple of seasons the way they went, there were expectations for us to actually perform and to get the job done. So it's really satisfying to be able to do that, to live up to our expectations but also the expectations of the fans and people in the city."

The day kicked off at TD Garden with some remarks from Mayor Thomas M. Menino, team President Cam Neely, General Manager Peter Chiarelli, coach Claude Julien and players Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron. Even owner Jeremy Jacobs made a rare public speaking appearance, and made no secret that he had notes to go off of (perhaps he still hasn’t learned the name of everyone player on the team?)

Neely thanked pretty much everyone in the organization, then stressed what he thought was the key to the Bruins finishing the season on top.

"I mean, you want to talk about a team, this is a team right here," the Hall of Famer said. "To watch these guys grow from (the season opener in) Prague, all the way to their last game in Vancouver, their development, how they bonded, the character of these guys, it's a great, great, great group of players. They have a deep affection for each other and it showed on the ice."

For Recchi, the celebration was among his final acts as an active player. The 43-year-old announced his expected retirement following Boston's Game 7 victory over Vancouver.

"I can't thank the Bruins organization [enough] for making my last few years amazing and getting the opportunity to play with these guys in here now," the three-time Cup winner said. "We started in Vermont from training camp, went to Prague. We played together, we drank together, we lost together, and it never wavered. But the one thing we really did together is we won.

"One more thing: Thanks for the patience on the 39 years -- and the next one will come a lot quicker."

In total, there were 18 Duck Boats in the parade, which featured players, front-office personnel, "Blades" the mascot and others. A well-behaved mass of people lined the streets hoping to catch a glimpse of Boston's newest sports heroes.

"There were too many signs, I don't even remember all of them," defenseman Tomas Kaberle said. "There were some funny ones for sure. It seems like all the people had a lot of fun, and that is what it's all about. You play for the fans and you want to do well and this is obviously -- it took 39 years for Boston to do it and it seems like it was the right moment."

The parade route started and ended at TD Garden. After saying a few words to the media, Bergeron walked back home to the North End and Chara rode his bike through the crowd to his downtown home – a couple of Boston stars rubbing elbows with the masses.

It was the perfect ending to a day that was about both those fans and the players who brought the Stanley Cup back to them.

Z hoists the Cup for the 1,000,000+ fans



Adoring fans line the streets to honor the team they love.


Bostonians turned out in droves to say thank you to their hockey heroes.


Bruins honor Orr and Bourque, who were unable to attend



NOTES:
Marc Savard was in attendance...It has come out the Nathan Horton was playing with a separated shoulder prior to his concussion...It was also unearthed that Milan Lucic not only battled a sinus infection that didn't allow him to sleep properly throughout the playoffs, but during the Conference Finals he broke his right toe when struck by a Tyler Seguin shot during practice.