BOSTON, Mass – All season long the Boston Bruins have been flying under the radar. Even though they swept their long-time rivals from Montreal and have home-ice advantage for as long as they can remain in the playoffs the attention is not on their series against the Carolina Hurricanes. In the East, the media is focusing on the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins which makes the fairy-tale turnaround by the Bruins seem all the more like a dream. Apparently a tremendous season will go unnoticed until Boston can rudely shove themselves into the Eastern Conference championship series before they too can appear on national television. For the Hurricanes, the post-season was indeed a dream as they “upset” the New Jersey Devils with two magical wins in an emotion-packed seven-game series. For most the Hurricanes series win was unexpected. But those who followed the20Eastern Conference this year could have predicted the win based on the fact the Hurricanes beat up on the Devils in the regular season winning three of the four games they faced them. In this series, if the Hurricanes win it will truly be an upset as they hardly belonged on the same ice as the Bruins in head-to-head play. Boston beat Carolina in each of the four games they played with none of the games being decided by less than two goals. The last two games of the season between the teams weren’t even close as Boston won by twin 5-1 scores, once in Boston and once in Raleigh. This series will probably be less physical than the previous series for Boston. What they will need to deal with is playing against a better goaltender, better and more top end forwards and a defense which can activate and contribute offensively. For Carolina to succeed they are going to have to be able to move the puck through the layers of Boston’s defense and score timely goals to put pressure on Boston. Right now the Hurricanes have to believe they are liv ing on borrowed time. All but buried for dead in New Jersey the Hurricanes rallied back from down a goal. The comeback started when Jussi Jokinen scored at the 18:40 mark of the third period in Game 7 to tie the game and then Eric Staal followed him with the series-winner just 48 seconds later. This improbable comeback along with others during the series against New Jersey has to have led a feeling of being a team of destiny for the Hurricanes. That being said, destiny will hop off the bus as soon as it jumped on if goaltender Cam Ward’s play dips at all. Ward appeared in 68 games during the regular season and his top level of play is higher than back-up Michael Leighton’s is. Those who remember history remember Ward had a difficult time during part of Carolina’s 2006 Stanley Cup run and was spelled by Martin Gerber. Gerber helped Ward through the Conference semifinal and final before Ward took over again in the Finals against Edmonton. A real position of strength for the Hurricanes is their scoring from the blueliners. Joe Corvo rang up 14 goals from the point while Anton Babchuk chipped in 16 scores. Carolina head coach Paul Maurice leaned heavily on Joni Pitkanen and Corvo in the playoffs with each of them playing over 25 minutes per game against New Jersey. Dennis Seidenberg, Tim Gleason and Anton Babchuk each contributed over 18 minutes apiece although Seidenberg and Babchuk both missed time due to injury in the opening round. Niclas Wallin is the sixth defender and he will play more if those two players or another top defender goes down. The depth defenders include Frantisek Kaberle and Tim Conboy. Maurice was pretty much a three-line kind of coach in the opening round. Staal plays over a third of the game and was the offensive key against New Jersey as he registered five goals. Ray Whitney (3-4-7), Chad LaRose (2-5-7) both see lots of ice time with Staal and form a dangerous line. What the Hurricanes have to receive in this series is second line scoring. Tuomo Ruutu scored 26 times in the regular season but only came up with a single goal against New Jersey and he is a good candidate for depth scoring. Jokinen scored three times in the first round and had some clutch scores as did Ryan Bayda who popped in two goals despite seeing an average of just 6:42 minutes of ice time per game. Rod Brind’Amour is a veteran leader and sees almost as much ice time as any other forward. Brind’Amour and his defensive play will be crucial to the team’s success in this round. Matt Cullen, Erik Cole, Scott Walker, ex-Bruin Sergei Samsonov and Patrick Eaves round out the forward lines with Dwight Helminen in reserve. The key to Boston’s success all season long has been their ability to play with four lines and through some difficult times—an example of which came when defenseman Matt Hunwick was rushed to the hospital for spleen surgery between Games 1 and 2. The team also passed a professional test when they held off everything the Canadiens had to through at them in Games 3 and 4 and still either tied or won the first period in Montreal’s hostile atmosphere. Another example could be made for when Milan Lucic was suspended for Game 3 and Byron Bitz came in and the team did not miss a beat. In the preview concerning Montreal and Boston, the playoff play of Tim Thomas was brought into question. You can consider the question about his playoff abilities in a series answered. Now the question is, can Thomas back up a superb series in which he posted a 1.50 goals against average and a .946 save percentage with another great series? While on paper the Bruins were never tested the Montreal series could have gone quite differently without some of the saves Thomas made before Boston broke the games open. One20or two goals let in by Thomas at a different time and the Canadiens series could have gone six games. Should Thomas falter the Bruins would probably turn to Manny Fernandez although Tuukka Rask pitched a shutout in his only start this year. Everyone chips in and has a defined role for the team on the forward lines. Boston might have the most depth up front in the NHL. The team has three lines which can score and fourth line players who can kill penalties, take key face-offs and even play on a scoring line if need be. Only one player, Blake Wheeler, did not score at least a point in the first round and he helped the club out by playing well on the fourth line and chipping in on the club’s perfect penalty-killing unit. Marc Savard is the key player for Boston as he plays a well-rounded game and is a leading scorer. Phil Kessel and Michael Ryder each scored four times and David Krejci gives the club a top-notch second line center. Patrice Bergeron tosses in some offensive flair to go along with a terrific defensive game and makes the Bruins three players deep at center. Stephan Yelle is a solid defender as is P.J. Axelsson. Lucic and Shawn Thornton each bring the hammer and Chuck Kobasew is an underrated threat and is a guy who makes things happen. The one guy who was brought in for playoff production, Mark Recchi, did not produce in the first round, but if he starts scoring the Bruins will be even more dangerous. Bitz is the top player in relief and he would probably dress each and every night for most, if not all, of the other clubs who remain in the playoffs. Zdeno Chara is a Norris Trophy finalist for a good reason. He can play well on both sides of the ice and is physically intimidating. It would be safe to assume he will be given the opportunity to limit Staal’s chances. Dennis Wideman leads the second unit and has proven to be a capable puck-moving defenseman. Wideman has improved in his own zone immensely since arriving in Boston. Aaron Ward sees more time than the other defenders, but not much more than the group of Steve Montador, Mark Stuart and Shane Hnidy does. If top-four defenseman Andrew Ference can return to action he will play with Wideman and change the dynamics for the other players. In case of Ference’s return it is likely Hnidy will move into a reserve role. Boston head coach Claude Julien will pass another test if he can get his club to play well in Game 1. His club has been idle since April 22 and you can be sure his roster to a man knows how easily they beat Carolina=2 0this year. Overconfidence and rust is hardly a mixture for success in the NHL and beating those particular foes will be Julien’s and his staff’s job. Should Boston take the first two games of the series the Hurricane-warning will dissipate quickly. That said; it is more likely to go six games with Boston the likely winners.
Contact tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.