Lucic looking to shine in spotlight for Bruins in big game

Lucic/By S. Bradley

VANCOUVER — Over the course of his hockey-playing career, Milan Lucic has thrived in the biggest games.

He was the Memorial Cup MVP for the Vancouver Giants in 2007 and has enjoyed a lot of personal postseason success with the Bruins.

Even if his 2011 playoff stats haven’t lived up to the measure set by his 30-goal regular season — he enters tonight’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final with 5-7-12 totals in 24 games — he’s come up big with an assist on the game-winning goal in Game 7 against Montreal and a few other clutch plays.

Tonight, in his hometown against a Canucks franchise he rooted for as a kid, Lucic will try to star on the sport’s biggest stage.

“Just staying in the moment and not thinking too far ahead. Going out there and laying everything on the line,” said Lucic about his knack for clutch performances. “I said the other day, you know, have no regrets. That’s something that has always stuck with me and today is no different. You’ve got to go out there and leave it all out there. I know I could give you every cliché in the book but it is true you know, it comes down to one game here. And there is a long time to rest and to heal after a game like this. So there should be no reason why you cant leave everything on the ice and empty the tank.”

Lucic has done well to handle the distractions and pressures that come with facing one’s hometown team in the Cup Final. He says that the tone of his interactions with Vancouver folks hasn’t changed over the course of a dramatic two-weeks series.

“You know the ones that I stay close to are obviously Bruins fans and they cheer for me and that hasn’t changed,” he said.

He hopes to give those supporters one more chance to cheer tonight.