Carolina Hurricanes (1-1) over the Boston Bruins (1-1) 3-0
Cam Ward pitches a shutout to send the series back to Raleigh tied 1-1
(Photo Credit: AP)
by Brian Finkelstein
Cam Ward won the goalie duel last night as the Hurricanes bounced back with a solid effort shutting out the Bruins 3-0 Sunday night. Ward stopped all 36 shots and posted his fourth career playoff shutout. "We needed to rebound strong," said Ward. "We haven't had much luck against these guys going back to the regular season, and this is a big confidence booster." Though Ward was solid in the first two periods, he wasn’t truly tested until the third period when the B’s outshot the Canes 16-3. Ward’s best save of the night came on a point-blank rebound opportunity by Michael Ryder on the power play late in the third. "He's our rock," Eric Staal said. "He needs to play well every night for us to have a shot and he did."
Meanwhile, Eric Staal finally broke through against the Bruins with an empty net goal, an assist, and a +2 rating. Staal set up the first goal of the game two-and-a-half minutes into the second from behind the net. Staal sent a pass to Joe Corvo at the left point who fired the one-timer past Tim Thomas.
The Hurricanes would continue to dominate the period, even while a man down. With a little over thirteen minutes left to play in the second, Joni Pitkanen took an elbowing penalty giving the Bruins their first power play chance. On the ensuing power play, Zdeno Chara at the left point was pressured and fired a cross-ice pass along the blue line. Unfortunately for Chara, Chad LaRose anticipated the pass and the steal led to a shorthanded rush the other way. After Larose’s chance hit the side of the net, the gritty fourth liner passed the puck to the trailing Cullen for the shorthanded goal and the 2-0 lead.
LaRose almost had a goal himself. As time was winding down in the second period, Dennis Seidenberg fired a long shot on net. Thomas simply blocked the puck back into play where LaRose beat the defending Bruin to the puck. LaRose chipped the puck over Thomas’s shoulder and hit the crossbar. Fortunately for the Bruins, the puck came straight down and spun on edge over the goal line. The referee ruled that the puck never fully crossed and replays in Toronto were inconclusive despite a few camera angles which appeared to show white between the puck on edge and the goal line.
But the Canes were able to overcome that and prevent the Bruins from finding the back of the net themselves in the third period. The Bruins can blame their power play for that. Boston went 0-4 On the PP, and only on one of those did they generate multiple scoring chances. Unfortunately for Boston, that’s when Cam Ward stepped up and robbed Ryder and Dennis Wideman.
Eric Staal fittingly capped off the game with an empty net goal in the final minute. "We definitely didn't play into their hands," Staal said. "We still had a few turnovers, but that happens. That's the game of hockey. There are always mistakes. But we didn't continually do it. We did the simple things, we fought the puck out of our end and into theirs, and that's what you have to do."
As long as the Hurricanes can continue to do those simple things, they may find themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Analysis:
From Carolina’s point of view, this game was about two things, Cam Ward and Eric Staal. The Hurricanes are obviously at their best when those two perform the way they did last night. Staal took a beating from Chara all night long, constantly ending up flat on the ice, but almost every time, he continued to control and move the puck. It’s that determination Staal needs this series to overcome the 6’9” 260 lb. Chara, and with the help of linemate Eric Cole, Staal was able to tame the beast. Zdeno Chara ended up -3 on the night, including the turnover that led to the Carolina’s second goal.
Ward on the other hand, was simply terrific in the third period. He was constantly under siege as the desperate Bruins fired all types of shots at the net, but Ward answered every last one of them.
The Bruins played a very uninspiring first two periods, and maybe finally showed some of the rust many of us expected to see in Game 1. The biggest sign that the Bruins played poorly is that their best line all night was the fourth line, P.J. Axelsson, Stephane Yelle, and Shawn Thornton. They kept it simple and generated more than their fair share of chances. The Bruins will need better efforts from everyone else on their team in Carolina if they want home-ice advantage back."
Game 3 is Wednesday night in Raleigh at the RBC Center
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