Round 2 - Boston Vs. Carolina

Carolina 3, Boston 0

	1	2	3	T
CAR	0	2	1	3
BOS	0	0	0	0

Final

7:30 PM ET, May 3, 2009, TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

Cullen's short-handed goal backs up Ward's 36 saves as Canes drop Bruins

BOSTON (AP/ESPN)-- Cam Ward's second playoff shutout in four games and a rare misplay by Zdeno Chara gave the Carolina Hurricanes a split of their first two games against the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.



Ward turned aside 36 shots, and Chara's bad pass led to Matt Cullen's short-handed goal as the Hurricanes won 3-0 and headed home for Games 3 and 4 Wednesday and Friday nights.

The Bruins were the last unbeaten team in the playoffs after the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in triple overtime Sunday. Boston goalie Tim Thomas' winning streak ended at 11 games, including the last six of the regular season.

Joe Corvo also scored, and Eric Staal added an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left.


Fast Facts


• Cam Ward stopped 36 shots for his fourth career playoff shutout and first playoff shutout on the road.
• Joe Corvo scored the only goal Carolina needed. It was the defenseman's second goal of the playoffs.
• Eric Staal had a goal and an assist to give him 37 career playoff points, just two shy of tying Ron Francis as the franchise's all-time playoff scorer. Staal's six goals in the playoffs leads the NHL.
• Boston lost for the first time in the postseason, leaving the league with no unbeaten teams in the playoffs.
• This was the first time in the 21 playoff games between the franchises that the Hurricanes shut out the Bruins.
-- ESPN Stats & Information


Ward, the MVP of the 2006 playoffs won by Stanley Cup Champions Carolina, preserved his shutout with 6:37 left when Michael Ryder pounced on a loose puck in front of the net.

Ward flashed his left pad out to stop the shot then made a save after Dennis Wideman got the rebound.

The Hurricanes had done poorly on the power play in their previous eight playoff games, scoring just twice in 30 opportunities. They did well on a power play on Sunday -- Boston's.

The Bruins got the man advantage with 6:24 gone in the second period when Joni Pitkanen was sent off for elbowing. Chara, a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman, passed the puck from the left point toward Wideman at the right point, but Chad LaRose stepped between them and stole it.

He raced down the left side, skated behind the net and fed the puck out front to Cullen, who snapped a one-timer past Thomas.

The Hurricanes nearly made it 3-0 with less than 3 seconds left in the period when Larose's shot from the inside edge of the left circle beat Thomas to the far side.

The puck ricocheted from the post along the goal line. The red light went on but an official signaled that it hadn't crossed the goal line, a call that stood after a long video review.

Ward's first playoff shutout of the year came in a 4-0 win in Game 6 against New Jersey, a series Carolina won by scoring two goals in the last 80 seconds of Game 7.

But he nearly lost this shutout midway through the first period when Chuck Kobasew stole the puck from Pitkanen and fed Patrice Bergeron in front of the net. Bergeron shot it from the slot but it flew over the crossbar.

Then the Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead at 2:30 of the second period on Corvo's rising slap shot from 5 feet above the left circle that went by Thomas' left arm.

The win was Carolina's first of the season against Boston, which went 4-0 in the regular season, then won Friday night's opener 4-1. The Bruins are 3-0 in playoff series against the Hurricanes, including a 1999 win that was their last series victory before this year.

Game notes
Rob Brind'Amour played in his 150th postseason game and 63rd with Carolina, passing the franchise record set by Ron Francis, now the team's associate head coach. ... The Bruins' 2-0 deficit after the second period marked the first time they'd trailed after a period in this year's playoffs.

I still see Boston winning this series.

will be interesting to see how Boston handles the setback, now mind you, they played one hell of a 3rd period, there was just no beating Ward in this game, so Julien has to keep the intensity going for game 3.

I'm surprised no one has brought up how Chara was neutralized in this game and how the Boston forwards were made to cough up the puck so often by Carolina's relentless checking...

Taking nothing away from Ward's superb performance.

If the Hurricanes can somehow manage to continue to do to Boston what they did in Game Two--as they did to the Marty N Da Devils...is the series up for grabs?

:??:

davetherave wrote:I'm surprised no one has brought up how Chara was neutralized in this game and how the Boston forwards were made to cough up the puck so often by Carolina's relentless checking...

Taking nothing away from Ward's superb performance.

If the Hurricanes can somehow manage to continue to do to Boston what they did in Game Two--as they did to the Marty N Da Devils...is the series up for grabs?

:??:

Certainly Carolina has to be brimming with confidence after that game two performance which goes a long way in the playoffs. They know they can do it the question is can they do it again? Can they win another 3 games?

You've got to think Chara was pissed as all hell at the mistakes he was forced into last game... he'll no doubt be a monster tonight looking to correct that.

davetherave wrote:I'm surprised no one has brought up how Chara was neutralized in this game and how the Boston forwards were made to cough up the puck so often by Carolina's relentless checking...

Taking nothing away from Ward's superb performance.

If the Hurricanes can somehow manage to continue to do to Boston what they did in Game Two--as they did to the Marty N Da Devils...is the series up for grabs?

:??:

I really, really hope so.

Boston 2, Carolina 3

	1	2	3	OT	T
BOS	1	0	1	0	2
CAR	0	2	0	1	3

Final
OT

7:30 PM ET, May 6, 2009, RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina

Jokinen scores OT winner to help Ward, Canes put B's in 2-1 series hole

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP/ESPN)-- Jussi Jokinen came through with another dramatic goal for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Jokinen scored at 2:48 of overtime to lift the Hurricanes past the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Sergei Samsonov scored a goal and assisted on Jokinen's winner for the Hurricanes. Carolina outshot the Bruins 41-23 to claim a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 set for Friday night in Raleigh.

Mark Recchi and Milan Lucic both scored their first goals of the playoffs for Boston. The top-seeded team in the East has lost two straight and finds itself trailing a playoff series for the first time this year.

That is because Jokinen -- who in Game 4 of the first round scored off his skate with 0.2 seconds left to beat the New Jersey Devils -- delivered yet another clutch goal.

Samsonov set up the winner by moving into the low circle and firing a backhander off Tim Thomas' pads. Jokinen was positioned perfectly to tap in the rebound for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Jokinen also scored the tying goal in Game 7 against the Devils with 1:20 left in the third period before Eric Staal netted the winner with 31.7 seconds remaining.

Thomas made 38 saves for the Bruins. Carolina's Cam Ward stopped 21 shots.

Recchi -- a key member of the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup championship team in 2006 -- tied it with just under 11 minutes left in regulation when he scored on a deflection, redirecting Chuck Kobasew's shot from the wing past Ward to make it 2-all.

Thomas kept it tied by withstanding an onslaught by the Hurricanes, who had a 38-19 shots advantage before overtime.

Two straight shots -- from Staal and Samsonov, 69 seconds apart in the second -- got past Thomas, gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead and put Carolina in control for a while.

Staal started the scoring burst when he stole the puck from Steve Montador near the end line and whipped it by Thomas with 3:11 left in the second for his team-leading seventh goal of the playoffs. Samsonov -- one of several high-profile Hurricanes with no postseason goals -- ended that dry spell just over a minute later, snapping in a pretty feed from Scott Walker.

That reignited a cowbell-clanging crowd of Caniacs, who were still buzzing after Carolina's 3-0 win Sunday in Boston that shifted home-ice advantage to Tobacco Road.

Lucic did his best to silence them for a while, scoring his first goal of the playoffs about 8 1/2 minutes in. He kept alive the sequence that led to Boston's first goal by tracking down the puck behind the goal line. It worked its way out to Dennis Wideman at the point, and the defenseman's blast clipped Carolina's Tim Gleason. Lucic then stuffed the rebound into the net.

Game notes
Carolina improved to 2-1 in overtime in the playoffs. ... Boston fell to 3-1 in the postseason when scoring first. ... Carolina D Frantisek Kaberle was a healthy scratch, while the Bruins scratched D Shane Hnidy and RW Byron Bitz. ... NASCAR driver Tony Stewart was in attendance, and was cheered by the crowd. Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, a Raleigh native and former N.C. State linebacker, sounded the siren that announces the Hurricanes' pregame entrance to the ice.

How smart is Clutchie looking now. For those interested check out this thread I started before the playoffs began.

http://www.gmhockey.com/boston-bee-s-f13/boston-this-year-s-flop-t1874.htm

Boston at Carolina

GAME FOUR, STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS WEST SEMIFINAL
HURRICANES LEAD SERIES 2-1

7:30 PM ET, May 8, 2009
RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina

Bruins-Hurricanes Preview

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Carolina's improbable playoff run has been fueled by dramatic finishes and unlikely heroes.

The Hurricanes' flair for drama has taken the hockey world by surprise, however, the Carolina players look at it as business as usual.

That attitude has helped them snatch home-ice advantage from the Boston Bruins and placed them on the verge of putting the East's top-seeded team in a deep hole Friday night in Game 4 of the semifinal series.

"It's been going on here for a long time," captain Rod Brind'Amour said Thursday. "It doesn't seem to be just lately, and I don't know if there's any reason for it, other than the fact that we're pretty level-headed. We don't get too rattled in big situations. It's not that big a deal. We just seem to be able to go play, whether it's overtime or whether it's the first period. Maybe that has something to do with it."

Brind'Amour would know -- he was one of the centerpieces of the Hurricanes' march to the Stanley Cup in 2006, a run fueled by a flurry of late rallies and dominant third periods.

Back in the postseason for the first time since then, they've come up with a list of fantastic finishes while eliminating New Jersey in Round 1 and taking a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series with Boston.

- Defenseman Tim Gleason, who hadn't scored all season, fired a slap shot that clicked off a Devil's skate and beat Martin Brodeur in overtime of Game 2 to give Carolina a 2-1 win.

- Forward Jussi Jokinen broke a tie with 0.2 of a second remaining in Game 4 when a shot deflected off his skate past Brodeur to make it 4-3.

- Jokinen and All-Star center Eric Staal scored in the final 80 seconds of Game 7 to help the Hurricanes rally past New Jersey 4-3.

- And Jokinen struck again Tuesday night in Game 3 against Boston, tapping a rebound into an open net at 2:48 of overtime to beat the Bruins 3-2.

Chalk up the team's string of timely goals to the snowball effect, Jokinen said.

"When you get the first one ... we were able to come back, we were down in the third period and we got a couple of goals and got a win," Jokinen said. "It gives you so much confidence going forward, and your team knows you can come back from behind and win some games. I think it's been step-by-step. You believe (in) yourself, you believe your team is going to (score) a goal."

Jokinen, who passed through waivers by the Tampa Bay Lightning before they dealt him to Carolina in February, is one of a handful of Hurricanes making the most of their second chances. That list includes forwards Sergei Samsonov and Erik Cole and even coach Paul Maurice, who was fired by Carolina in 2003 but was rehired in December.

General manager Jim Rutherford "has brought back players to fit a need, and because they fit a need, they get the opportunity that maybe they weren't getting somewhere else," Maurice said. "It's not enough to acquire good players. You have to acquire good players who fit your needs, and then they get better opportunities."

The Bruins are trying to rediscover the rhythm that carried them to five straight wins, including a first-round sweep of Montreal, to open the postseason.

But after they couldn't bounce back from their first loss of the postseason and wound up on their first losing streak of these playoffs, coach Claude Julien gave the players a day off to help them refocus.

"We're not in trouble. We're in a series that's a hard-fought series," Julien said.

"What we have to do, probably, is get our game going in the right direction, which means our commitment to outworking the other team and our commitment to making better decisions on the ice.

"And it's a combination of both, which brings it to, again, it's a mindset," he added.

"Right now, we've struggled in the last couple of games, but there's ups and downs in a season. You win a game, you're Stanley Cup contenders. You lose one, you're in trouble. That's what you have to face every day. So we just have to keep our focus on what we have to do, believe in ourselves and go out and do it."

Question for tonight...

Will the Yogis continue to be distracted by the navel jewelry of the Canes' seriously smokin' Storm Squad?

Serious hockey fans want to know...
:##:

B's will even it up tonight.

shabbs wrote:B's will even it up tonight.

Chara has a huge game too to make up for his blunder the other night.

SensFan71 wrote:

shabbs wrote:B's will even it up tonight.

Chara has a huge game too to make up for his blunder the other night.

He's had a few blunders in the past two games...

Bruins need to work it out
By Stephen Harris / Bruins Beat | Friday, May 8, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Boston Bruins

RALEIGH, N.C. - In hindsight, it now seems so clear that we should have seen this coming. It really shouldn’t have been that hard to predict what could befall the Bruins.

So many people embraced the premise that the B’s are a great team - including the players themselves.

And do not misunderstand: This is a very good team.

Even if they do not rally to beat the Carolina Hurricanes - whom they trail 2-1 in their second-round series, which resumes tonight - it will have been a very successful season.

But it may be that these guys were set up to fail by their own success.

The first hint of trouble came in February and March. Running away with the Eastern Conference at 39-8-6, reveling in an utter dream of a season, the B’s hit a 4-8-3 skid. Why? Because they lost interest in doing the dirty little chores that had made them so successful.

“We had a really big lead, and it was kind of the dog days of the season,” B’s defenseman Dennis Wideman said Wednesday. “Emotionally, we weren’t there as much as we needed to be. We knew what we were doing wrong. Mostly it was just getting outworked and being lazy.”

Now jump ahead to the final weeks of the season, as the B’s returned to form and went 10-3-1 down the stretch. All was well again, and a first-round demolition of the Montreal Canadiens only added to the confidence.

Pumping the B’s still higher was an easy Game 1 win against the Hurricanes.

At 5-0 in the postseason, scoring four or more goals every time out, the B’s were thinking this game isn’t so tough, after all.

But hockey is just different in the playoffs. The Bruins may have been a powerhouse all season, but that means nothing when the Cup is on the line and the others guys are willing to go to war to win it.

The Hurricanes started playing playoff-level hockey in Game 2, and it was painfully obvious the Bruins were not.

The B’s can talk all they want about execution. But their problem in losing the last two games was that the relatively no-name Hurricanes looked like a team that wanted to win more.

The emotional shortfall has been revealed in the B’s play. The team has lacked poise with the puck, giving it away too many times, and has lost too many one-on-one battles.

The Hurricanes have just been able to set the tone for too much of the last two games.

While there were references from Bruins players Wednesday night about, “passengers” - some teammates not really working or competing as hard as others - there is no question the ’Canes are getting absolutely everything possible from every player.

“It’s a huge part of the playoffs and a huge part of our team, for sure,” said Carolina star Eric Staal. “We have a lot of character guys in this room, a lot of guys who are proving to themselves and to the league that they’re players. In the playoffs, and the last few months of the season, we’ve had everyone contributing.”

Bruins coach Claude Julien acknowledged yesterday that the Hurricanes wanted the game more than his team Wednesday.

The same was true in Game 2.

He talked about the B’s needing to make better decisions, and about, “our commitment to outworking the other team.”

The Bruins better get committed to doing that, immediately, or they’ll be dragging a 3-1 series deficit back to Boston for Game 5 Sunday night.

“We just have to be a little better in all areas,” Julien said. “It takes one good game to get you back on track. That’s what we’re looking for now. That game (tonight) has to be one where we play as well as we know we can. We just have to believe in ourselves and go out and do it.”

If they do, then the whole picture changes - And this is not just some fickle, on-again, off-again criticism.

The B’s are in trouble largely of their own making, and it’s up to them to give the Hurricanes a much higher level of competition the rest of the series.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view.bg?articleid=1170878

Go Kings 2010

robertdean wrote:Go Kings 2010

welcome to gm hockey robert, and those kings are looking better every year, it will be soon their time to make a serious run.

davetherave wrote:Question for tonight...

Will the Yogis continue to be distracted by the navel jewelry of the Canes' seriously smokin' Storm Squad?

Serious hockey fans want to know...
:##:

Instead of the Playboy Bunny navel stud they should get some Teddybears. I want more pictures.