SCP '09 GAME DAY: THURSDAY MAY 14--CAROLINA AT BOSTON, 8PM ET

Carolina at Boston

GAME SEVEN, STANLEY CUP EAST SEMIFINALS
SERIES TIED 3-3

8:00 PM ET, May 14, 2009
TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

TSN/RIS/VERSUS

Hurricanes-Bruins Preview

BOSTON (AP) -- Claude Julien has a score to settle -- with himself.

Five years ago, he coached the Montreal Canadiens to a Game 7 win after they'd trailed the Boston Bruins 3-1. Now he's on the verge of a similar comeback as coach of the Bruins.

"I'd love to be able to return that favor," Julien said Wednesday.

He gets his chance Thursday night when the Bruins hope their revitalized game and their raucous fans will overwhelm and unnerve the Carolina Hurricanes, who failed to wrap up the series on their own ice in a 4-2 loss Tuesday night.

"If you said at the start of the series that we had one chance to win one game to go on, we'd have said, 'Let's take it," Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour said before his team flew to Boston. "What's done is done. This team has been resilient."

Carolina overcame a 3-2 deficit in the first round and beat New Jersey, scoring twice in the last 80 seconds of Game 7 to take the series.

The Bruins won the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinal 4-1. Then the Hurricanes outscored Boston 10-3 in taking the next three games. Faced with a clear choice, play better or get eliminated, the Bruins rallied with a 4-0 win in Game 5 and a 2-0 lead in the first 5:04 of Game 6.

"This series has (had) more momentum swings during games than any series I've probably been involved with," Boston goalie Tim Thomas said. "So it's crucial to try to keep that momentum."

The Bruins entered the playoffs as the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference and played like it in a four-game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens. Now they have a chance to reach the conference finals for the first time since 1992.

The Hurricanes were seeded sixth but finished the season strong and then eliminated the Devils, winning Game 7 on the road. They have a shot at their second Stanley Cup championship in four years.

"Yes, we're home, but they're a good team on the road as well," Boston's Patrice Bergeron said. "So we have to feed off the crowd."

The Hurricanes have to give goalie Cam Ward, the 2006 Stanley Cup MVP, more help.

"We forced our goaltender to go post-to-post three times on 15 even-strength shots" Tuesday, Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "You have to give your guy that chance to be the difference, especially when you've got a goaltender like Cam that's capable of doing that."

The Hurricanes played well for much of Game 6 and outshot the Bruins 22-10 in the last two periods.

They cut the lead to 2-1 on Matt Cullen's second-period goal, but Boston's Marc Savard scored six minutes later. Julien said Savard, who left in the third period as a precaution after injuring his knee, is expected to play Thursday.

Scoring first may bring momentum but it doesn't guarantee victory. The Bruins gave up the first goal in the last two games against Montreal. The team that has scored first in the Carolina series has lost two of the six games.

Still, "you've got to show the other team that you're in control," Julien said. "That was part of our game plan (Tuesday). Don't wait and see what they're going to throw at you. Go out there and show them what you're going to throw at them."

Last year the eighth-seeded Bruins came back from another 3-1 deficit and tied top-seeded Montreal before losing Game 7. But those Bruins were tired from a late-season surge they needed just to make the playoffs.

Then they went 4-0 in the regular season against Carolina but such dominance has disappeared in the playoffs.

The Bruins have lost all 20 series in which they trailed 3-1. But they never made it to a seventh game in the first 19 and won only one game in 18 of them.

Now they just have to win one game to advance.

So forget about history.

"I don't think any of us (gives) any weight to that," said Steve Montador, who scored Boston's second goal Tuesday. "We really don't have any more to control than what we do today and how we prepare for tomorrow."

The Hurricanes' win over New Jersey was their third straight in a Game 7. The Bruins haven't played one this year.

"Yeah, we might feel a little bit more comfortable in Game 7, but ... nothing can prepare you for that," Carolina's Sergei Samsonov said. "The more you think about it, you just have to treat it like one game. Not a Game 7. One game."

GO BRUINS!

Neely4Life wrote:GO BRUINS!

Yeah, I think they take this one as well.

Go Paul Maurice and Ron Francis.

Good ole Soo boys.

GO CANES!!

Im just pulling for them, Im a closet Bruins fan and it's nice to see them back in the mix of things like they were when I started watching and playing hockey.

If I was a kid today, I would be wearing #17 every team I played on, not #8 (which is the greatest number any one player can wear!)

Hmm, I thought you'd have said #4.

I'm pulling for Boston. Need those 4 points, especially if Anaheim wins.

Can the Canes surprise the Bruins in their lair?

Can Claude get his B-Boyz to play like hungry bears?

Whoever wins this one (not really caring either way honestly), I am just hoping they sock it to the Penguins again to make Crosby cry. Can't deal with the Pens in the finals again.

I'm feeling a Bruins win tonight.

Well I picked Bruins in 6 and I'm doing poorly in the pool so I need a Bruins win and a Detroit win. Otherwise I really don't care.

shabbs wrote:I'm feeling a Bruins win tonight.

We need a poem from The Shabbinator...

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:I'm feeling a Bruins win tonight.

We need a poem from The Shabbinator...

Nah... every poem I've written has resulted in my "feeling" being wrong... so I'm just gonna let it ride...

Hurricanes confident going into Game 7

CHIP ALEXANDER/Raleigh News & Observer, May 14, 2009

BOSTON - Eric Staal stood in the Carolina Hurricanes' locker room at the RBC Center with a look of determination, his voice filled with conviction.

"We're going to come out with some good energy," he said firmly Wednesday. "In the playoffs, you need to leave games behind, no matter what happens, win or lose.

"For us, we're focused on getting the job done, getting a win, and not worried about everything else."

Coming after two consecutive losses that left Carolina with a win-or-die return trip to Boston for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, those were strong, confident words from the Canes' star center.

Then again, they were an echo of the assurances offered the day before Game 6 with the Boston Bruins.

More tentative than energetic in that game, the Canes fell behind 2-0 in the first five minutes Tuesday on Carolina's home ice. The Bruins went on to win 4-2, forcing Game 7 at 8 p.m. today at TD Banknorth Garden.

What's left to be said? Not a lot. The Hurricanes either win tonight and keep the Stanley Cup in their sights, or they have a bittersweet ending to their season and start facing the speculation about who returns and who won't for next season.

"It's Game 7. You want to play in those games," Staal said. "Obviously, we wanted to finish it off when we could, but it didn't happen. We look forward to Game 7, look forward to the challenge. You dream of playing in those games growing up as a kid, and it's going to be fun."

When they led 3-1 in the series, the Canes talked about theurgency of winning Game 5 andand finishing off the Bruins in Boston.

Now, the common refrain -- as if the Canes were trying to convince themselves of it -- is that that they gladly would have accepted and embraced a one-game, winner-take-all scenario before the series began against the Eastern Conference's top seed.

"Obviously we didn't want to put us in this situation, but here we are," goaltender Cam Ward said before the team flight to Boston. "We've got to enjoy it and have some fun and get on that plane with one mission: to win a hockey game."

The Hurricanes did that against the New Jersey Devils in the opening round of the playoffs.

Forced to a Game 7 in New Jersey, they pulled out a 4-3 last-gasp victory at the Prudential Center.

Staal had the winner, scoring with 31.7 seconds left and gliding along the boards with a huge smile on his face. Staal has nine playoff goals -- four against the Bruins -- and the Canes are 7-0 when he scores.

"I'm probably not the only one with stats like that," Staal said. "If I'm helping contribute offensively, there's a better chance our team is going to win, and that goes for a lot of the guys who are counted on in that respect."

Ray Whitney, the team's leading scorer in the regular season, also falls in that category of higher expectations. However, the veteran winger has no goals and one assist in the series.

There's also Tuomo Ruutu, a 26-goal scorer this season who has two assists against the Bruins. Or Erik Cole, who has not scored in the playoffs. Or Rod Brind'Amour, another Hurricane without a goal in 13 playoff games.

Canes coach Paul Maurice said Wednesday there could be some line changes and adjustments on defense, but he declined to name names. It's possible that veteran defenseman Frantisek Kaberle, a good puck-handler with big-game experience, could return to the lineup for the first time since playing in three playoff games against New Jersey.

Maurice said the Hurricanes must solve the "puck-control issues" in their zone and give Ward more help.

"We forced our goaltender to go post-to-post three times on 15 even-strength shots," Maurice said of Tuesday's loss. "It's the type and quality of chance against. I don't think we put Cam in a position to be the difference in the game."

But Tim Thomas was, in goal for the Bruins. Among his 31 saves were the kind of sparkling stops that should make him the Vezina Trophy winner.

"I'm trying to think of the last playoff game I saw where the goaltender wasn't the difference, and there hasn't been too many," Maurice said. "At the end of the day, you have to give your guy in the net the chance to be the difference, especially when you've got a goaltender like Cam that's capable of doing that."

With that said, it's back to Boston for the Hurricanes, for another elimination game.

"It's Game 7, do or die," Staal said. "Nothing else matters before this game, [or] what happened to get us there. We're there, both teams.

"I like the character we have. The fight and the compete level is right at the top of anyone I've ever played with. We just need to get it done."

Staal sounded determined, speaking with conviction. This time, a day before Game 7.

chip.alexander@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8945

Go Canes! Do it!

GO CANES!!!!!!!!!