RALEIGH, NC – Sergei Samsonov had some fine seasons as a Boston Bruins player, now he’s paying them back by shoving them towards the exit in the playoffs. Samsonov scored the team’s second goal of the evening and was given the primary assist on the overtime game-winner after doing the lion’s share of the work to set the table for that goal. Thanks to tonight’s win the Hurricanes can claim a 3-1 series lead with a win at home on Friday night.
Those who have to ask who scored the overtime goal for the Hurricanes just have not been paying attention in these playoffs. In case you missed it Jussi Jokinen is in the midst of a playoff season for the ages. Jokinen’s late-game heroics have helped the Hurricanes to two last minute wins and he added another to his resume’ as he scored the overtime game-winner to put Carolina further in control of this series. Tonight the Finnish winger was in the right place at the right time as he collected Samsonov’s rebound and tucked it into the goal behind Boston goaltender Tim Thomas.
Thomas deserved far better for his efforts as he kept his club in the game despite the Bruins being outshot by a margin of 41-to-23 and being outplayed by a margin further than that.
Despite the uneven play if not for Carolina’s goaltender Cam Ward this would be about how the Bruins pulled out an unlikely victory in front of a boisterous North Carolina crowd. Ward was hardly tested during the game until early in overtime when he was called on to stop Boston’s Milan Lucic on a break-in and a testing bid by Marc Savard in rapid succession. Ward was up to the task and for the second game in a row a turnover by Boston’s Zdeno Chara would be the difference.
The game-winning sequence came when Chara made an unforced error by failing to clear his own zone when presented with an opportunity to do so. Chara’s errant pass was claimed by Jokinen who tapped the puck to Samsonov. The shifty winger worked the puck lower into Boston’s zone and switched to his backhand for a shot from atop the face-off circle. The shot was saved by Thomas, but the goalie could not contain the rebound and Jokinen claimed the puck.
The fact the game even went into overtime was rather surprising. Carolina shook off a first period goal by the Bruins and scored two goals in 69 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. The lead would hold until Mark Recchi deflected a Chuck Kobasew shot past Ward mid-way through the third period to force overtime.
Boston got on the board first after a session of relatively even play to begin the game. Savard gained control of the puck and fired it to defenseman Dennis Wideman whose shot went directly into Lucic’s body. The puck fell to Lucic’s feet and the physical forward kicked the puck into his stick and fired it by Ward who could not adapt to the change of pace.
An interference penalty to Michael Ryder opened the door for the Hurricanes to rally. Ryder was penalized in the midst of a long pressure-filled, momentum-changing shift by Carolina and the Hurricanes would not waste their opportunity. With just over a minute expired in the ensuing power play Eric Staal blocked a clearing attempt by Bruins defender Steve Montador. Staal picked up the loose puck and ripped it past Thomas for the equalizer. Samsonov picked up the second goal just over a minute later when he capped a 3-on-2 break by ripping a slap shot past Thomas.
Notes
Carolina won for the second time in a row after losing five straight in the 2008-09 season including Boston’s Game 1 victory.
Boston defenseman Andrew Ference went out with an injury in the second period. He missed most of that period and the remainder of the game. The injury left the Bruins with just five defensemen for over half of the game. If Ference cannot return for Game 4 his replacement would be Shane Hnidy.
History was on Boston’s side after the first period due to the fact they were 3-0 both when scoring first and when leading after the opening frame. Meanwhile the Hurricanes were just 1-4 when allowing the first goal to be scored against them.
Contact tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
