Watch Game 5 Canucks vs. Bruins Online Replay

Game 6 is Monday night in Boston, and the Stanley Cup will be there.

The Canucks have scored just six goals in five Stanley Cup finals games against brilliant Boston goalie Tim Thomas(notes), yet they’re one victory away from winning it all.

Neither team found an offensive flow in a Game 5 nail-biter, but Luongo kept Vancouver in it until Lapierre and defenseman Kevin Bieksa(notes) teamed up on a goal that set off a crazy celebration among tens of thousands of fans thronging downtown Vancouver.

Luongo was pulled from Game 4, but coach Alain Vigneault stuck with him for Game 5. The Olympic champion was only occasionally spectacular, but he still narrowly outplayed Thomas, who has received just two goals of support from his teammates in three games in Vancouver.

Thomas made 24 saves in Game 5, but lost his shutout streak of 110 minutes, 42 seconds dating to Game 3. With injured forwardNathan Horton’s(notes) jersey hanging in the visitors’ locker room, the Bruins’ power play regressed to its previous postseason struggles, going 0 for 4.

After two scoreless periods of stellar goaltending in which Boston went scoreless on four power plays, the Canucks finally connected with a supremely heady play by the veteran Bieksa, who used Thomas’ aggressive style against him.

Bieksa deliberately put a long shot wide of the goal, and when Thomas instinctively moved to his glove side to play it, the puck ricocheted off the back boards straight to Lapierre, who put it behind Thomas for just his second goal of the postseason.

Lapierre was a late-season acquisition who largely serves as an agitator for the Canucks, not a scorer. He’s never managed more than 15 goals in a season, and he had just six this season while playing for Montreal, Anaheim and Vancouver.

In the last 21 times the finals were even going to Game 5, the winner went on to claim the Cup 15 times—yet Colorado (2001), Tampa Bay (2004) and Pittsburgh (2009) all overcame Game 5 losses to win it in the past decade.

Luongo receives more criticism than almost any goalie with his level of accomplishment at hockey’s most elite levels, yet he has shown resilience throughout the postseason. He came back from a one-game benching in the first round against Chicago with a 2-1 victory in Game 7, and Vigneault unhesitatingly stuck by Luongo in the finals, ignoring widespread trashing of his $10 million goalie after Boston’s 8-1 and 4-0 home wins.

The Canucks were grateful to return to Rogers Arena, where they eked out two one-goal wins to open the series on late goals by Raffi Torres(notes) and Alex Burrows. Vancouver seemed to be in control when the club left Canada last weekend—but then the Bruins seized charge of the series with two inspired performances after Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome’s(notes) late hit knocked Horton out for the series with a concussion early in Game 3.

Boston is still having tremendous defensive success in the finals, holding 2010 league MVP Henrik Sedin(notes) without a point and limiting NHL scoring champion Daniel Sedin(notes) to one goal. Vancouver’s power play is 1 for 25 in the finals—yet the Bruins just haven’t scored timely road goals to back up Thomas, who allowed one goal in two games in Boston.

Boston had three early power plays in Game 5 and controlled long stretches of play, but couldn’t crack Luongo. Chris Kelly(notes) hit Luongo’s crossbar with an early shot, and Luongo made a stunning point-blank save on Patrice Bergeron’s(notes) rebound shot from the slot during Boston’s third power play.