In hockey's zany world of Good vs. Evil, the winner -- out of 100 -- usually is Evil by a score of 51-49.
That, however, was NOT the case in Detroit.
Baron Evil -- otherwise known as the Anaheim Ducks -- resisted all forms of extermination at Joe Louis Arena on Thursday night -- with Randy Carlyle's band of Filthy McNastys getting away with all sorts of mayhem until Justice triumphed.
Dan Cleary's winning goal in the 4-3 breathtaker symbolized Evil's ultimate defeat because on any given night Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller's protest that the winning score was illegal would have been upheld.
But, remember, this IS Good vs. Evil and on this night the Gods of Hockey were looking favorably on the defending Stanley Cup champions, one of the cleanest collection of artists in The Game.
Thus, when -- late in the third period and the score tied, 3-3 -- the puck was centered in Hiller's crease and slipped under his pads and out of sight, a whistle ordinarily should have been blown.
You know the deal and so do the Red Wings because they had a goal literally stolen from them earlier in the series on just such an issue. Detroit scores but the zebra blows the whistle because he "lost sight of the puck."
Harumph! Harumph! was all the Detroiters could do about it then.
Only this time there was no "toot" from Paul Devorski or his other little zebra so Cleary merely harpooned Hiller's big, fat goalie pad which, then, slid backwards pushing the rubber over the goal line and into the World of Oz.
GOAL!
And eventually GAME AND SERIES, four games to three.
The darn thing about it all is that just prior to Cleary's thrust, the Ducks were all over the home team. Almost to a man the Red Wings appeared to be hanging on; sort of hoping to get through the period with a tie and then let's see what happens in Overtime.
Who knows, maybe Mister Hockey Justice remembered the vicious Chris Pronger near-guillotining of Marian Hossa right in front of the zebras that went uncalled.
Who knows?
What we do know is that Chris Osgood, once again, was just good enough; as he always seems to be.
Maybe he's a Hall of Famer some day; maybe not but, in the end, he WAS just better enough than Hiller and Osgood's mates withstood a Broad Street Bully-style club that never got around to actually garroting the Wings but -- as Brian Burke would attest -- the intention sure was there.
There won't be a similar threat from Detroit's next foe, the Chicago Blackhawks for what looms as yet another masterpiece series in what rapidly is going down as THE greatest playoff season ever.
No question, that motion would be seconded in Raleigh and all other North Carolina precincts after their Crazy Canes ousted the Big, Somewhat Bad, Bruins on a Scott Walker goal late in the first overtime.
At the expense of being redundant it, can safely be said that here again we were treated to yet another coronary-threatening battle in which Boston rallied to tie in the third setting up an extra session that boiled down to Cam Ward vs. Tim Thomas.
Remarkably, Carolina lost its two key centers; Rod Brind'Amour and Jussi Jokinen in the overtime The former ranks among the NHL's foremost face-off men and was hit in the face while on the bench by a flying puck early in the sudden death.
Jokinen appeared to have an equipment problem and in the absence of two centers Paul Maurice countered with Matt Cullen and Eric Staal. It wasn't the best combo but the most important element was that Carolina prevailed.
This was a Bruins team that had Stanley Cup Finals written all over it -- or so the chauvinistic Boston media suggested about a million times since the playoffs began.
The Bruins had dominated Game Six in Raleigh and appeared to have the edge on home ice "advantage" alone.
But once the Sudden Death began, the Canes showed as much life as the hosts and came very close to sealing the deal early in the fourth period.
Thomas held fast and then it was Boston's turn to go into fifth gear. The response was sterling saves by Ward followed by a siege at the other end. Back and forth the play went with each coach forced to rest his troops with a time out.
Without Brind'Amour and Jokinen the Canes appeared more exhausted than their opponent as the first overtime began winding down. At one point the Bruins commanded the puck behind Ward and all five Carolina defenders were virtually dead in their tracks.
Eventually, though, they cleared the puck and tested Thomas who was his unorthodox brilliant self, preventing rebounds over and over again -- UNTIL...
Scott Walker never had tallied an overtime goal but, with both teams apparently ready to settle for a between- periods break, he headed toward Thomas at the worst possible moment for the Boston goalie because this time Tim DID allow a rebound and the puck instantly came to the Cane who bunted it home.
End of the Big, Sometimes Bad, Bruins and their Stanley Cup dreams.
On the other hand, the Ducks were NOT supposed to be good enough to beat Detroit.
Boston WAS supposed to take out Carolina.
Maybe the Bruins got too cocky reading their press clippings after the opening series win; maybe they underestimated the Hurricanes.
Maybe Claude Julien was out-coached by Paul Maurice.
But the game and series was settled fair and square.
This time it wasn't so much a case of Good vs. Evil when it came to Carolina-Boston as much as David beating Goaliath. And if you don't think Zdeno Chara isn't Goliath, you haven't see the Bruins.
Both teams deserve the most sincere bows of appreciation for their scintillating hockey.
Ditto for Detroit and Anaheim.
The only difference was in the Motor City where it was clearly Good vs. Evil and the Gods of Hockey didn't even need an overtime to make their case.
Game Six- Bruins 4 Hurricanes 2
What Could Be Better
By Craig Kaufman
Game Seven.
Is there anything more exciting? The sheer statement itself comes with a sense of such finality that one can hardly utter it without excitement. One game to decide it all. Absolute joy for the winner, and unbelievable agony for the team that comes up short, knowing they had one chance to move on.
The agony can only get more intense if, like the Carolina Hurricanes, you had not one chance but three chances. The Boston Bruins in essence faced three game sevens against the team from Raleigh, one of them away from their home ice. Twice, Boston has answered with sound thumpings of the Canes with a 4-0 home shutout and then a solid 4-2 road win.
Although many expected Boston to fight back and win game 5 at home, I did not think that the Hurricanes would roll over in their own building and come out with such an uninspired display in game 6. By the 6:00 mark of the first period, it was already 2-0 Boston and the Carolina team travel agents were booking their flights back to Beantown.
Now, there is one game tonight in Boston to see who will face the Pittsburgh Penguins and their dangerous scorers like Malkin, Guerin, and Sid the Kid.
But no one is looking ahead to the Penguins yet. The Bruins and Hurricanes each have a task at hand. A simple task: Win.
They keys to this game are simple for each team: Eliminate what has plagued you in the games you lost this series.
For Boston, that means shutting down the Hurricanes top scorer Eric Staal, who has scored a goal in every one of the Canes’ win in this year’s playoffs. Zdeno Chara and the rest of the B’s blueliners dealt well with Staal in Games 5 and 6, and Big Z needs to be on his game more than ever tonight.
Boston also has to be stalwart on the penalty kill. They are 9-9 killing penalties in their three wins this series, while they have allowed three power play goals in eight opportunities in the three games they have dropped.
Of course, Boston would do well to be more disciplined to begin with and try to not take penalties at all, as they did in games one and two of the series.
Carolina needs to play a stronger trap in the neutral zone. They have often allowed Boston to walk into the offensive zone in the last two games, leading to lengthy offensive sets and an overall domination of shots, possession, and scoring chances. The Hurricanes need to be strong and clean with the puck, and commit to clearing the zone when they have the opportunity to. If the puck continues to find Bruins’ sticks at the Carolina blueline, the Canes could be in trouble.
On the attack, Carolina needs to spread out their offense into the triangle they had success with in game 3, with a player like Samsonov or LaRose dropping back in the formation and taking a trailer pass with an open shot at goal. The Canes will not win by bunching up in the middle of the Boston zone, because Boston has too many big defenders and good shot blockers.
I have to think that Boston has the advantage, coming back to their building at home, two-thirds of the way through a remarkable comeback. Carolina can not feel good about the way they defended home ice, and you wonder how much they still have left in the tank after running the middle of this series.
Still, Boston can not consider the task done. Getting to game seven and losing is no better than losing in game 5. In fact, it may be worse.
With three of the conference semi-finals going to seven games and the incredible matchups we’ve seen, you gotta wonder: Is this the best playoffs in a long time?
Either way, after tonight, it’ll be another Eastern Conference team short.
Game Five - Bruins 4 Hurricanes 0
Bruins Best Players Bounce Back
By Brad Kurtzberg
Two keys to the Bruins 4-0 win over Carolina in game 5 were the strong play of two of their best players: Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas.
Chara awoke from his playoff doldrums to play a strong game Sunday night. He finished with two assists, five shots on goal, five hits and a plus-three rating in 24:34 of ice time. Chara also helped shut down Eric Staal who ended the day with a minus-three rating and had limited scoring opportunities. Perhaps the most important thing Chara did was boost the confidence of his teammates by leading by example.
Goalie Tim Thomas wasn’t tested all that often, but it’s hard to argue with his 19 save performance in game 5 that earned him his first career playoff shutout. Thomas was very ordinary for the balance of this series and the B’s need him to return to his impressive regular season form. He did a very good imitation Sunday night. Boston will need strong play from both Thomas and Chara if they hope to win Tuesday night in Raleigh and force a seventh and deciding game in this series.
Carolina’s Scott Walker will almost certainly be suspended for his sucker punch of Boston’s Mark Stuart in game 5. Walker dropped his stick and gloves and smacked Stuart in the face before he had a chance to discard any of his equipment or defend himself. He was given a match penalty and will receive an automatic one-game suspension. Walker will meet with NHL VP Colin Campbell Monday afternoon to further discuss the incident and determine the exact number of games he will be forced to watch from the press box.
Walker should be made to sit for longer than the one mandatory game suspension that comes with the match penalty. His move violates both the rules of the game and “The Code” –that unwritten list of behaviors that the game’s fighters and enforcers follow. He was trying to give his team a shot in the arm by winning a fight, but Walker at least needed to give Stuart a chance to ready himself. Early indications are that Stuart, who is Zdeno Chara’s most frequent defense partner, will miss substantial time due to the injuries sustained in the incident.
Speaking of incidents and injuries, there is little question that right or wrong, the league has a double standard when it comes to stars and superstars as opposed to muckers and grinders. The fact that Alexander Ovechkin did not receive any penalty for his knee on knee hit to Sergei Gonchar is further evidence of that.
The double standard should not come as much of a surprise as it’s true in all sports. In baseball, a future Hall of Fame pitcher like Greg Maddux would almost always get the benefit of the doubt on close calls on balls and strikes. How many times did Michael Jordan get away with traveling to make a beautiful slam dunk? Does anybody really believe that Wilt Chamberlain never deserved to have six fouls called on him in a game? Despite the fact that he was a physically imposing player, Chamberlain never fouled out in his 1,200-plus game NBA career.
The bottom line is that people pay money to see stars like Ovechkin play hockey. Very few people would be willing to fork over $200 per ticket to see third line players grind if there were no skilled players. Right now, the league is promoting Ovechkin vs. Crosby during this playoff series. For Ovechkin to be suspended, the foul would have to be flagrant and leave almost no doubt as to intention. The hit on Gonchar left just enough doubt.
The Penguins will be hurt by Gonchar’s absence. In the short term, they can rally around the incident and the injury but the longer the Pens play without their top defenseman; the more difficult it will be for them to play at a high level. This season, the Pens were 18-4-4 with Gonchar in the lineup and a mere 27-24-5 when he was out due to injury. Gonchar is a major contributor to the Pittsburgh power play, plays steadily in his own zone and makes key transition passes to help clear the puck and transition to the attack. If the Pens do get past the Capitals and advance to the next round of the playoffs, Gonchar’s loss absence would greatly reduce their chances of returning to the Stanley Cup Finals.
'Canes Sink Low But Can't Keep Chara Down
By Matt Kalman
BOSTON — Regardless of how hard he gets hit, you see Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara fall to the ice as often as he skips a day of workouts.
But with 28.8 seconds remaining in the second period tonight, there was the Bruins’ 6-foot-9 captain down in pain in the Boston zone grabbing for his left ankle and writhing in pain. Although he went to the dressing room under his own power, he was still gimpy. Replays showed that Carolina forward Jussi Jokinen had hacked Chara’s ankle with his stick lumberjack style. There was no penalty on the play.
“I’m going to let the league and the referees comment on that,” Chara said after the Bruins staved off elimination by beating the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-0, in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at TD Banknorth Garden.
While Chara didn’t want to say much about the play, head coach Claude Julien had plenty of comments about the Jokinen slash and the third-period sucker-punch Scott Walker threw at Aaron Ward, who possibly suffered a broken orbital bone.
“Again, it’s playoff hockey. The emotions run high. The slash obviously on Zdeno was a cheap shot. We all know that,” said the coach. “But I thought the Walker incident was certainly something, it’s something that (he) shouldn’t be proud of because obviously the other guy’s not ready to fight or willing to fight and right now I think we fear that he’s got a broken orbital bone. That’s what our doctors fear right now and it looks like that might be the case. Obviously, something like that is not something that you want to see, your player put in that position and he’s trying to be disciplined. Walker decided to do something a little different, come in and help his teammate, but hopefully the people that are in charge will do their job and decide what they want to do with it.”
Here’s a look at the Walker hit:
To their credit, the Bruins didn’t step over the line in their retaliation. However, Walker, assessed an instigator and a 10-minute misconduct with just 2:47 remaining in regulation, is now suspended one game pending review. And Carolina head coach Paul Maurice will be fined.
Instead of taking an eye-for-an-eye approach, the Bruins took a scoreboard approach. Chara returned to the bench just as the third period started and was on the ice for the team’s fourth goal of the night. He finished a plus-3 and threw a team-high five hits.
“It’s something that we all take some sacrifices and it’s nothing unusual,” said Chara, whose ankle showed no visible signs of the slash. “You see guys going back to the team and it’s pretty normal.”
While Chara’s teammates knew he was going to be back, the fans didn’t until he actually emerged. When he jumped over the boards for his first shift, he played the puck behind the Boston net and the crowd chanted, “Chara! Chara!” It’s an easy name to chant, but not one we’ve heard too often in the three seasons since he signed with the Black and Gold.
“It’s really overwhelming. It’s very much appreciated,” Chara said. “We all realize that the fans were a big part of our win tonight. They were very passionate and obviously we are very thankful for that. And it’s obviously great to have them involved in a game like that.”
Unbelievably, Jokinen wasn’t buying that Chara was hurt.
“I think you guys saw what happened,” he said. “It was a little tap and we was laying there for five minutes and then he’s out playing the next shift.”
Jokinen’s sense of time is obviously as off as his sense of a tap vs. a slash. And Maurice obviously has the same lack of sense about the gravity of the situation with Ward. When asked about the Walker incident, the Hurricanes bench boss only responded that “Scott probably has sore knuckles.”
So now the war of wills on the ice and the war of words off the rink are both in high gear heading toward Tuesday night’s Game 6 in Raleigh. When asked if he’d be all right for Game 6, Chara simply said, “Of course.”
Bruins Head South To Carolina For Game Six
By Craig Kaufman
One down, two to go. The ride is not over yet for the winners of the Eastern Conference’s regular season.
The Boston Bruins avoided being the second number one seed knocked out of this year’s playoffs with an authoritative 4-0 victory over Carolina on Sunday night in Boston.
Everything that the Bruins had failed to do well on their three-game playoff losing streak seemed to be working again, and Boston looked like the team that had demolished Montreal in the first series of this year’s playoffs. The Bruins were winning races to the puck, chipping in well to space, and pinching in to keep the puck in the offensive zone. As the old adage goes, hard work creates lucky breaks, and it seemed that Boston was finding pucks on their sticks at every turn, when they could not connect a pass to save their lives in Carolina. The Bruins were entering the Canes’ zone with ease, and keeping the puck there for extended periods of time, peeling off only to make a line change before pressuring Carolina’s defense and Cam Ward again.
Phil Kessel and Marc Savard were sharp, with the latter finding Phil with neat passes for two of Boston’s goals. Tim Thomas was barely challenged, but came up trumps when he was, robbing Sergei Samsonov who thought he had a wide open net, en route to his first shutout of the postseason and of his career.
The Bruins set the physical tone early and kept it up throughout the night. In the first period, Milan Lucic put a bone-crushing hit on defenseman Dennis Seidenberg while playing a puck in the corner, which sent the sell-out crowd in Boston into delirium. Seidenberg raced up the ice for revenge and was flagged with a slashing penalty. While he was in the box, Boston needed only seven seconds to take a lead when Mark Recchi tipped big Zdeno’s blast into the net. From that point on, the crowd noise level never drooped again and Boston was physically in control of the game. “That’s what Luch does best, he gets in, gets speed for a big man and he hits hard,” said Bruins blue-liner Dennis Wideman, who also assisted on Recchi’s goal. “Any time we can get the puck into his corner and get him in there throwing hits that’s gonna help us.”
The Bruins threw out 25 hits on the Canes and sent a message for game 6 that they were the dominant physical team.
Unable to beat the Bruins on the scoreboard, Carolina tried to cripple Boston with cheap shots and fisticuffs. Tim Conboy twice picked fights with Bruins players in the third period and was planted on the ice by both Shawn Thornton and Mark Stuart. With frustration getting the best of them, Jussi Jokinen slashed Chara in the back of the leg, sending the captain to the ice in pain. Later in the game, Scott Walker hit Aaron Ward with a blow to the face, earning himself an instigator penalty and a game misconduct. With it being in the last five minutes, Walker may find himself suspended for game 6 in Carolina. Unfortunately for Boston, Ward may have suffered a broken orbital bone (face) and his status is uncertain for the immediate future.
Boston stymied Carolina on all five of its power-play opportunities, conceding only four shots to the Canes. The Bruins looked sharp on their penalty kills, picking up the forecheck in the neutral zone and not allowing Carolina clean access into the offensive zone. PJ Axelsson had a great night on the penalty kill, picking up Eric Staal at his own blueline and pestering him relentlessly. “We always try to be aggressive,” Axelsson told Maxhockey.com. “That’s how we try to kill, aggressive style and not giving them the zone.” When the Canes did enter the zone, the Bruins cycled well, covering each point and not allowing any angles on Tim Thomas’s goal. Byron Bitz had two key blocked shots within a minute early in the game to keep the Canes scoreless.
The Bruins put the hammer down on Staal and the Hurricanes all night, limiting the top scorer to only three shots in 19:07 on ice. Staal has nine goals in this season’s playoffs, and the Hurricanes are 7-0 when he lights the lamp. Bruins Coach Claude Julien credited the entire team for their work on Staal, noting that the focus was on shutting him down as a team, rather than on playing into the storyline of Staal vs. the giant Zdeno Chara. In the past few games, Chara has had difficulty with the crafty winger, but in Game 5, the pressure seemed to be taken off the Boston captain. Chara finished +3 on the night with two assists while keeping his side of the ice free of Hurricanes.
Boston now faces its toughest challenge of the playoffs – going to Carolina with a must-win game in front of them.
“From this game tonight to next game, nothing changes. That’s what we have to understand,” reinforced Coach Julien to the media and undoubtedly to his players, as the Bruins still have their back against the wall.
“We’ve been good on the road this year. We have confidence we can win on the road, and if we bring the game we played tonight to Carolina, we’ll have a chance.”
Boston posted a 24-13-4 record away from home during the regular season.
Right now, all they need is one.
Stayin' Alive
By Patrick Hoffman
Just after Boston Bruins’ head coach Claude Julien said his team was playing its worst hockey, the club goes out and dominates the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 in Game 5 to avoid elimination. The B’s controlled ever facet of the game - shots, hits, loose pucks, battles along the boards, defense and goaltending – all things needed to win a playoff hockey game.
The Bruins looked like the team they were during the regular season and got contributions from key guys such as Mark Recchi (one goal, four shots), Phil Kessel (two goals, six shots), Milan Lucic (one goal, four shots) and obviously, goaltender Tim Thomas (19aves). On the other side, the Hurricanes struggled all game to put quality pucks on Thomas (except for an unbelievable post-to-post save in the first period), protect their goaltender Cam Ward (36 saves on 40 shots), win battles along the boards – little things that help win postseason games.
The two teams will go back at it in Game 6 on Tuesday night at the RBC Center. For the Hurricanes, all they need is a win to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. For the Bruins, all they need is the right team to show up to force a Game 7.
Game Four - Hurricanes 4 Bruins 1
Are They Choking On Beans in Boston Or Apples?
By Stan Fischler
It's called Beantown but APPLEville might soon be a better hockey nickname for Boston.
That's APPLE as in CHOKE which the Big, Very-Bad Bruins are doing so rapidly and, er, well you'd have to do a double-take to believe that it's happening.
But it IS and it happened again on Friday night in Raleigh where the hurry-up Hurricanes disposed of the Massachusetts skaters with such third period dispatch that one must wonder whether the Bruins will show up on Sunday night at their Gahden.
So, the team that a week ago thought it was riding the New England Thruway to the Stanley Cup Finals suddenly finds itself down three games to one; and that one win seems so far away it feels as if it took place last Spring.
Now we'll find out just how good a coach Claude Julien. (Could his job actually be on the line? I don't think so.)
Soon enough we'll learn whether Tim Thomas has been masquerading as a big-time goalie or a one-season wonder. (He showed some good American League moves in Carolina while Cam Ward out-goaled him by a ton.)
Yup, and we'll get a line on captain Zdeno Chara's leadership as well as the so-called Cam Neely-schooled rough-and-tumble "power forwards," who, so far, have been neither powerful nor moving forward.
Perhaps it's more realistic to say that Paul Maurice has developed a gritty, never-say-die homestretch-honed club that proved over and over in the first round that it combines speed, hot-shot goaltending and Eric Staal into a very threatening combo.
Oops!
The Maven nearly forgot about Jussi Jokinen, who never stops delivering BIG goals, a la the tie-breaker in Carolina, along with two assists.
Maurice's theme song every time he sees Double J should be "You Came To Me From Out Of Nowhere."
And speaking of finding a diamond in a scrapheap, how about Sergei Samsonov.
At 14:31 of the third period SS did an end run around Boston's right side and completed his maneuver by powering in toward the crease before lifting a five-footer over Thomas The Broken Engine.
THAT was precisely the kind of goal Julien has been expecting from Milan (Are You In Italy?) Lucic, Marc (I Remember You) Savard, Phil (I Want To Be Remembered) Kessel and Michael (Very Low) Ryder.
No doubt before Sunday's game, Neely will earn his keep by delivering a rah-rah message to the troops and Julien will try to make sense out of Ward pyrotechnics.
That one-two off-ice combo might help but, at last look, the game was being played on the ice.
The lads from Carolina are doing very well at it.
The Bruins?
How about a chorus of "An Apple For The Teacher?"
Whats Up With Thomas?
By Craig Kaufman
As the Boston Bruins prepare for game 4 in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes, much of th focus may be on Tim Thomas, who has not played well in the last two contests, with the Bruins falling 3-0 and 3-2 in Overtime to now trail the sixth seeded Canes 2-1 in this best of seven series.
Thomas found himself out of position on Jussi Jokinen’s overtime winner in Game 3, choosing to come out of his crease to attack the puck rather than falling back into the net, leaving the entire right side open for Jokinen, who only had to make contact with the puck to shovel it into the net.
Thomas also made a mental error in game 2, not coming out to play a loose puck on the Bruins power play, and allowing Chad Larose to feed Matt Cullen for a shorthanded goal. “I probably could have beat the guy to the puck. I had to make a judgment, I wasn’t sure, so I played it safe and sat back,” said Thomas after the game. “So I guess I could have diffused the play if I would’ve went and played it, but I played it cautious and then it was just kind of a messed up play.” Thomas also admitted that he hadn’t seen either of the pucks shot by Carolina until he was picking them out of his net.
The Vezina Candidate has also been sloppy with his rebound control, allowing many bouncers off his pads and onto the sticks of Hurricanes forwards. Boston nearly escaped a 3-0 deficit at the end of the second period of Game 2 when Thomas fed the rebound right to Chad LaRose who snapped it over his shoulder and, it appeared, into the net. By a sheer stroke of luck, the puck bounced on the goal line and Boston was able to clear it away. A lengthy delay held up the call of no goal, ending the second period, but the Bruins were unable to capitalize on this momentum and climb back into the game. Game three was more of the same from Thomas, who had difficulty controlling pucks and left many rebounds bouncing straight up the middle of the ice, particularly in the first period. He will need to be on top of his game Friday if Boston is to even up the series.
The Hurricanes, who went 17-3-2 over the last quarter of the regular season, found success because of their ability to attack in triangles, with one player dropping back and providing some room to move the puck laterally. Earlier in game 3, Jussi Jokinen had thrown the puck behind Joni Pitkanen when the Canes came out flat on their attack. At 17: 58 in the second period, however, the Canes executed this triangle offense perfectly, and Jokinen and Scott Walker cleared out space for Sergei Samsonov, whose snap shot gave Carolina a 2-1 lead heading into the final break. In overtime, it was Samsonov returning the favor, firing the puck at the net and creating the rebound for Jokinen’s game winning tap in.
It was a familiar role for Jokinen, who scored off his skae with 0.2 seconds left in game 4 of the Canes first round series against the New Jersey Devils.
Boston, usually so disciplined in the first two games, took some bad penalties in Game 3, including an unnecessary cross-check on Erik Cole by Michael Ryder, and a stupid goalie interference penalty when Marc Savard ran into Cam Ward in his own crease. Ryder’s penalty led to Carolina’s first goal when Eric Staal deked onced and snapped the puck over Thomas to tie the game. The goal was unassisted, but Staal was aided by Bruins defenseman Steve Montador, who fanned on his windup trying to clear the puck and instead handed it to the Hurricanes top scorer in front of the Bruins net.
Discipline and sharpness will be the keys for Boston as they try to return to their winning ways on Friday in Raleigh and Sunday night back at the Hub of Hockey in Boston.
Game Three - Hurricanes 3 Bruins 2 OT
By Patrick Hoffman
It was just two weeks ago that Carolina Hurricanes forward Jussi Jokinen scored a goal with .02 seconds left to beat the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 to tie up the series at 2-2 in the first round. Tonight, it was the same Jokinen scoring in overtime to give his team a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins and a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4.
The Hurricanes peppered Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas (35 saves) and got goals in regulation from Eric Staal, Sergei Samsonov. They also got another solid performance from Cam Ward (21 saves), who has yet to lose a playoff series in his young career.
Prior to the game, the Bruins preached getting in the face of Ward and continuing to throw pucks at the net. Tonight, the Bruins were not able to do enough and that is why they trail the series. If they play the same way on Friday night, they could find themselves in the thick of a storm when the series shifts back to Boston.
Game Three Preview
Adjustments the Key To Success
By Craig Kaufman
Tied at one apiece, it’s now game on, or rather series on, between the Boston Bruins and the Carolina Hurricanes as the teams head to Raleigh for Wednesday night’s game three. Following a sound 4-1 victory by Boston in game one, Cam Ward and the Canes shut out the Bruins 3-0 on Sunday night, and it has been the team’s ability to make adjustments that have led them to victories.
After a sloppy first period in game one, Bruins Coach Claude Julien tweaked his lines, putting Milan Lucic back on the top line (with Marc Savard and Phil Kessel) that he played with for a good part of the season. “I just felt we looked a little bit flat offensively,” explained the Coach. “We weren’t generating much, and we just kind of put some players back together that had played together before.” Veteran winger P.J. Axelsson dropped down to the fourth line with gritty players Stephane Yelle and Shawn Thornton. Boston saw results immediately, as Savard tallied twice in the game, and Kessel and Lucic had three assists between the two of them. “I love playing with him. He creates a lot of room,” Savard said of being reunited with Lucic. Carolina did not help themselves by turning the puck over many times at their own blue-line, one leading unassisted to a snap-shot over Ward’s shoulder that was Michael Ryder’s fifth goal of the postseason.
It was Carolina’s turn to make adjustments before Game 2, and they certainly did, focusing in on Boston’s approach to getting the puck into the offensive zone. This enabled them to make life miserable for Boston on Sunday, forcing turnovers in the neutral zone that led to scoring chances. While the Bruins benefited from Carolina’s sloppy play in game one, Boston seem unable to move the puck in the loss thanks to strong checking by the Carolina forewards. Carolina forward Joe Corvo recognized the difference in play from the first game. “On five on five, our defense and our forwards were really better,” said Corvo, who scored Carolina’s first goal of game 2. “Our forwards back checked well and didn’t give them a lot of time to crisscross and make plays.”
Canes goalie Cam Ward was on his game, making thirty-six stops for his second shutout of the postseason. However, the Bruins barely tested him early on in the contest, sending shots directly into his chest or easy floaters that he could snatch with his glove. By the third period, when Boston created some offensive pressure, Ward was on his game, and made a stellar pad save against Michael Ryder on a power-play opportunity.
Paul Marice did some line tweaking as well, posturing during warm-ups that he was going to split up Ray Whitney and Eric Staal from the front line. When the team came out, however, it was Chad Larose who was bumped down a line in favor of Erik Cole on the top line. Staal, who was double-shifted throughout the game as well, playing on both the top line and with Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsonov, assisted on Corvo’s goal, and then put into an empty net to seal the victory. Still, Canes coach Paul Maurice would not take credit for the coaching changes leading to the victory, instead tipping his cap to the compete level of his players. “What we did off the bench had no impact on the game. I think that you can do all you want and if the players don’t sweat, and don’t compete, and don’t battle, it just doesn’t matter.”
Don’t get me wrong, the Bruins did not play well in game 2, and made it easy for the Hurricanes to even the series. Milan Lucic had difficulty keeping the puck on his stick, as did Marc Savard and Michael Ryder. Boston got another disappointing performance out of their line of Mark Recchi, Patrice Bergeron, and Chuck Kobasew as well, a trio that has produced zeros across the board in the two games of this series. The fourth line (Axelsson, Thornton, and Yelle) was the only line that showed any type of jump, as Axelsson created a few offensive chances particularly in the third period, but by then the damage had been done.
Captain Zdeno Chara had one of his worst games ever, going -3 on the night and giving away the puck to Chad LaRose that led to Carolina’s second goal of the game, a shorthanded goal. When once teams were afraid to go to Chara’s side of the ice, his performance Sunday proved that he is human and beatable, and Carolina may look to pound the puck in against him in the next few games.
The Bruins were outplayed in game two, and defenseman Aaron Ward knows it’s their turn to make adjustments and turn the tables back on the Hurricanes in Carolina. “They reevaluated exactly how we played in game one and came out and now it’s our turn to go back, look at video, manipulate the power play, work on the penalty kill, figure out what we need to do in the neutral zone,” said Ward. “There you go, there’s game three in a nutshell for you.”
The Bruins started this process by taking Monday’s practice off to hold a team meeting and watch tape. They will skate again Tuesday morning before heading to Carolina for Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 4 on Friday night.
Bonus Bits:
-Cam Ward became the Hurricanes’ franchise leader in playoff games played on Friday, making his 31st appearance. On Sunday, captain Rod Brind’Amour played in his 150th career playoff game, and also became the Carolina franchise leader for playoff appearances by a skater, playing in his 63rd postseason game with the franchise.
-Before Sunday’s shutout, Phil Kessel and Michael Ryder each had points in all five of Boston’s playoff games.
-Bruins center Marc Savard scored two goals in Friday’s win, one each during the second and third period. Amazingly, each goal came at exactly the 7:21 mark of each period.
The Bruins have three players nominated for awards at the NHL Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas. Tim Thomas is nominated for the Vezina Award as best goalie, Zdeno Chara is up for best defenseman (Norris Trophy), and Claude Julien was nominated for the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year.
Game Two - Hurricanes 3 Bruins 0
By Matt Kalman
A loss. Do you remember what it looks like when the Boston Bruins are on the wrong end of a score?
Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes did their best to remind you tonight, and they managed to end the Bruins’ five-game postseason winning streak with a 3-0 win at TD Banknorth Garden in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tonight.
Ward stopped 36 shots for his second shutout of the postseason.
Combined with their losses to Carey Price and Montreal in Games 4 and 7 last spring, the Bruins’ last three playoff defeats have all occurred in shutout fashion. The loss also ended Boston’s longest playoff winning streak since May 1-9, 1992.
Matt Kalman is the Founder/Managing Editor of TheBruinsBlog.net and he covers the Bruins on a daily basis.
By Patrick Hoffman
The last time the Carolina Hurricanes were in the playoffs, they relied on strong goaltending, specifically netminder Cam Ward to win hockey games. Ward came up big time and time again during that magical postseason as the Hurricanes marched to the franchise's first Stanley Cup title.
Three years later, not much has changed as Cam Ward and the Hurricanes find themselves even with Boston Bruins going into Game 3. Ward was outstanding in Game 2 as he led to his club to a 3-0 victory to help tie series as it shifts over to Raleigh for Games 3 and 4. The team will need to continue to get contributions from Eric Staal (9 points), Chad LaRose (8 points) and Ray Whitney (7 points). If Erik Cole can gets his game going (got his first point of the postseason yesterday, the Canes could find themselves in a position similar to what they were in back during the team’s magical run 2006.
Yesterday’s loss was the Bruins’ first of the postseason as the team had won its first five games before dropping Game 2 to the “Cardiac Canes”, as so perfectly described by Shawn Roarke of NHL.com. The team didn’t play poorly but will look to Michael Ryder (9 points) Philip Kessel (8 points), Marc Savard (7 points) and Tim Thomas (5-1, 1.51 goals against average, .944 save percentage) to step it up in Game 3.
Patrick Hoffman Patrick has covered the NHL for various online resources since 2003. You can currently find his work at Kukla’s Korner.
Game One - Bruins 4 Hurricanes 1
Staal Says Zee Isn’t Frustrating Him
By Matt Kalman
The words out of Paul Maurice’s mouth were almost music to the Boston Bruins’ ears.
“We’re benching him; we’re not playing him tonight,” the Carolina coach responded when asked after his team’s morning skate what star center Eric Staal has to do to get going against the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinal series that continues tonight with Game 2 at TD Banknorth Garden.
Maurice could hardly hide his smirk and his chuckle before actually addressing his star player’s goose egg in the scoring column through five head-to-head meetings with Boston this season. Obviously, the presence of Bruins captain Zdeno Chara has limited Staal’s production, but Maurice also wants those around Staal to raise their level.
“We have to keep in mind, this is never a one-game, one-man sport. Occasionally it is for the goalies. But there are four other people on the ice that need to be effective with Eric and have found a way to be effective with Eric against a very strong five-man New Jersey defense that they put with (John) Madden and (Colin) White,” said the coach whose team trails the best-of-seven series, 1-0. “Clearly, Chara’s in a different class of defensemen. He’s world-class. … We have to get to the other four guys that are on the ice with him and Eric has to find a way to use the four guys with him as well.”
Staal only managed two shots on net in Game 1. But he’s confident that as this series goes on he’ll gain an edge on the towering defenseman.
“I wasn’t frustrated in Game 1. I think as a team and as a line we didn’t generate enough moving our feet and cycling,” said Staal, who finished Game 1 flanked by the Hurricanes’ other top offensive weapons — Erik Cole and Ray Whitney. “I’m not worried about him too much, to be honest. I’m just playing my game. Hopefully, tonight we can be better as a team skating and in on the forecheck, controlling pucks a little bit more. If we do that, we’re going to get our chances. He’s good but he’s the guy who you can work on and keep on the attack because you’re going to get your chances eventually.”
Matt Kalman is the Founder/Managing Editor of TheBruinsBlog.net and he covers the Bruins on a daily basis.
Series Preview By Craig Kaufman
It was ten years ago when the Boston Bruins last faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, beating them in a first-round six game series. Heading into this postseason, that Bruin four games-to-two victory over the ‘Canes was the last time that the B’s tasted victory in a playoff series.
The names on the back of the sweaters may be different, as only Bruins winger PJ Axelsson remains from either side that played in 1999, but I expect the team moving on to again be wearing black and gold. After their sweep of Montreal last week, Boston seems poised to advance past the Hurricanes, moving onto the Eastern Conference Finals and would thus improve to 4-0 in playoff series against the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise.
Offense:
Boston went 4-0 against the Hurricanes this season, outscoring them 18-6. The Bruins never failed to score less than four goals against the Canes, while Carolina was unable to pot more than two in any contest. The Bruins got production up and down its lineup against Montreal, with only two players not tallying a point in four games. Michael Ryder and Phil Kessell (four goals each) and Marc Savard and David Krejci (five points apiece) all had strong first rounds. I also look for young scoring star Blake Wheeler to shake off the awe of playoff hockey and break his slump with a big second round.
Eric Staal has been hot for the Canes, leading the team with five goals, but other than Staal and linemates Ray Whitney and Chad LaRose, Carolina has gotten very little production from the rest of its lineup. They will need to have four strong lines to compete with Boston offensively, not only physically.
Edge: Boston
Defense:
Boston lost young gun Matt Hunwick to a spleen operation last series, but may welcome back the services of Andrew Ference for round two. The Bruins defensemen were clicking well at both ends of the rink during the first series, and Norris Trophy finalist Zdeno Chara continued to make his case for the award. Carolina’s unheralded defense struggled with consistency during their clash with the Devils, and it will not be as easy to come back against Boston if the defense falters.
Edge: Boston
Goaltending:
Tim Thomas as on his game during the Montreal series, posting a 1.5 Goals Against Average, although Cam Ward played three more games and did post the shutout that eluded the Bruins’ keeper. Ward can be very strong at times, but also struggles with inconsistency, and if the Bruins can shake his confidence early, Cam may have a long night between the pipes. Still, the Bruins have shown at times this season that a strong goal-keeping performance can affect other parts of their games as well.
Slight Edge: Boston
Intangibles:
Boston cruised through their first round playoff series, leaving them with a week of rest. Despite practicing hard and coming into the second round with fresh legs, I worry about a team who has not played competitive hockey in so many days. Carolina is coming out riding high on the wings of a last minute comeback against New Jersey. The underdogs again, expect them to come out playing physical and with nothing to lose against the top team in the East, particularly when the series moves to Carolina.
Edge: Carolina
Prediction: Boston in five. A few goals by Staal’s line and a strong game by Ward could steal one low-scoring contest for Carolina, but expect the Bruins to pick up where they left off in the regular season and against Montreal, and continue to pump goals into their opponents’ nets.
