Alain Vigneault says Roberto Luongo's character on display in Canucks' victory in Game 5

Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault spent much of his postgame news conference talking about his goalie, Roberto Luongo.

This came after the Canucks defeated the Boston Bruins 1-0, giving them a 3-2 series lead in the Stanley Cup final.

"Everybody in our dressing room and around our organization know Roberto’s character and his competitiveness—and how he prepares himself," Vigneault said. “He went out tonight and played a great game for us.”

The Bruins scored 12 goals on Luongo in Boston in Games 3 and 4. But the coach emphasized that the entire team failed to perform on the road.

”A lot of attention was put on Roberto, but it was our whole group," he said. "You know, this is a team game. Our whole group in Boston had two good first periods. For the second period, we didn't play well. They took advantage of it, and they took it to us.”

He said that tonight, Luongo made some "huge saves" when the Canucks were killing off penalties in the first period. And, he added, the team had a much stronger second period.

"I thought we played we played real strong," the coach commented. "Both goaltenders were just amazing."

He said the difference was a puck crossing the line by a couple of inches on Max Lapierre's game winner in the third period.

Vigneault praised the poise of rookie defenceman Chris Tanev, who played his first game in the Stanley Cup final.

"He can take a hit to make a play, and move the puck real well,” the coach said.

Vigneault said the team will fly to Boston tomorrow (June 11) and practise on Sunday in preparation for Game 6 on Monday night.

Bruins coach Claude Julien said the Canucks dominated the game with their bodychecks. But he noted the team that's chasing the puck will be more likely to hit the other team more often.

"You've got to be careful how you look at those things," Julien noted in his postgame news conference. "But they had an edge to their game tonight. They were in front of their home fans, and they seemed to thrive on that. They came out hard and were a committed group."