BOSTON, Mass – The Boston Bruins continued their 2008-09 domination of the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-1 win in front of a crowd of 17.565 at the TD Banknorth Garden. The win marked the fifth time this year by Boston over Carolina with none of the games being decided by less than two goals.
There was plenty of discussion and focus on how rusty the Bruins would be after their long layoff of eight days since sweeping the Montreal Canadiens. All that talk turned out to be a gigantic waste of breath and time as the Bruins scored just over a minute and a half into the game.
Despite the goal the Bruins did have a sluggish first period and they started slowly in the second period too until they scored twice to put the game away. Boston will try to win their six consecutive playoff game (and sixth in a row over Carolina) this year when they host the Hurricanes on Sunday night.
With the score tied at one after the first period Boston goaltender Tim Thomas kept his team in the game with several fine saves. Perhaps the best save of the evening both for quality and timing came when Thomas robbed Carolina defender Joe Corvo while the Bruins were on their heels. Corvo took a drop pass and tried to break the tie with a wicked slap shot while labeling a shot for the top corner.
Finally the Bruins offense came to the rescue of Thomas with two second period goals to decide the game. Marc Savard scored the eventual game-winner when he picked up a rebound of a Phil Kessel shot and tucked it under the stick of Carolina netminder Cam Ward. Kessel claimed an errant pass from a Carolina defender and fired a shot on Ward who allowed Savard to pick up the rebound.
An unforced error by the Hurricanes would result in an insurance goal for the Bruins when Carolina winger Tuomo Ruutu fired the puck from the right wall near his own blueline into the middle of the ice. Boston’s Michael Ryder read the play and picked off the pass. Ryder skated into the zone and while using Blake Wheeler as a decoy on a 2-on-1 the sure-shot Ryder placed the puck just over Ward’s shoulder and just under the crossbar.
Savard and Kessel would team up for the club’s last goal of the night when Kessel took yet another turnover by Carolina and gained the Hurricanes zone before leaving a perfect drop pass for Savard. Savard skated in looking for a teammate to pass to and when he could not find a suitable option Savard ripped a slap shot past Ward.
The game opened with the clubs bracketing the first period with goals. David Krejci was credited with the game’s first goal at the 1:34 mark when he did, or did not deflect Boston defender Aaron Ward’s wrist shot from the point past Ward in the Carolina goal.
Carolina held play for most of the remainder of the period but had nothing to show for it until they scored with just over a minute to go. The play started when Boston’s Mark Stuart had a shot blocked. Carolina’s Joni Pitkanen picked up the blocked shot and started Ryan Bayda up ice. Bayda gained the zone and left the puck for Jussi Jokinen who fired a slap shot through Thomas’s legs.
Game Notes
Boston head coach Claude Julien was announced as one of the finalists for the Jack Adams Trophy which is awarded to the best coach in the National Hockey League. With the nomination Julien became the third Bruin to become a finalist for a major award. Thomas is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy which is awarded to the league’s top goaltender while Zdeno Chara was named a finalist for the Norris Trophy which is awarded to the league’s best all-around defenseman.
This playoff series is the fourth overall between the Boston and the Hartford Whalers/Carolina organization. Boston has won all three previous series. The last one was decided in the 1999 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, a series Boston won in six games.
Chara and Erik Cole went at it physically in this game. Chara was the only player on the Bruins to pick up a penalty and he was awarded two different penalties. Cole also picked up two penalties of his own. Both the players received coincidental roughing minors after a pileup at the Bruins net.
As expected Andrew Ference returned to the lineup for the Bruins after recovering from an undisclosed lower body injury. Ference’s return sent Shane Hnidy to the press box. Ference had a solid game and was on the ice for just over twenty minutes.
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