BOSTON, Mass – The Carolina Hurricanes spent the first period of Game 2 proving they deserved to be on the ice with the Boston Bruins. They spent the first seven and a half minutes of the second period taking over the series.
By virtue of their 3-0 win over Boston in Game 2 the Hurricanes now own home ice in their Conference semifinals series with the top-seeded Bruins. Simply put, if the Hurricanes can win all their games on home ice it would be impossible for them to lose this series.
Carolina owned most of the first period while outshooting the Bruins by a 13-9 margin. On the rare occasion when the Bruins were in control of play Hurricanes netminder Cam Ward turned them away.
Although neither team could score in the first period, after 20 minutes of play it was noticeable to all in attendance the Hurricanes were a much better team than they were in Game 1.
There was finally something tangible to see for the Hurricanes efforts when Joe Corvo’s slap shot beat Boston netminder Tim Thomas just two and a half minutes into the second period. Boston appeared to have a chance to get back into the game when Joni Pitkanen was called for elbowing and gave the Bruins a power-play chance. But all that changed in a blink of an eye when Chad LaRose disrupted a pass at the blueline and raced down ice. LaRose took a bad angle shot and was stopped by Thomas but the Carolina winger completed the play by sending a centering pass to Matt Cullen.
At this point the Hurricanes turned their fate over to Ward. Ward, who had a pedestrian Game 1, was outstanding as he turned away 36 shots by the Bruins. Perhaps no shot was more dangerous than the one Michael Ryder took during a third period Boston power-play, but Ward was not to be beaten in this game as the netminder dove across the crease to block the apparent score.
Boston had a chance to get back into the game with two power play chances late in the final frame, but the fine goaltending by Ward on one hand and a power play that struggled at times cancelled the Bruins chances.
The final margin was set when Corvo interrupted a clear-in attempt by Boston and sent away Eric Staal with a bounce pass off the boards for an empty-net goal. Corvo and Staal both finished the game with a goal and an assist to their credit.
The teams will have a two day break between games before hitting the ice in Raleigh on Wednesday, May 6.
Game Notes
Game 2 was not without controversy as the officials and the NHL Situation Room in Toronto ruled a LaRose shot late in the second period was not a goal. The shot came with less than three seconds left in the period and the play was ruled no-goal by Dan O’Hallahoran on the ice. After a long break the league’s video room in Toronto backed up the call saying the puck was never clearly over the goal line.
The loss to Carolina broke a six-game winning streak for the Bruins. The first game of the streak came during the club’s last regular season game. For Carolina it marked the first win over the Bruins in six games this year.
The first goal in Game 1 originally credited to David Krejci was changed to Aaron Ward. Initially it was ruled Krejci had touched the puck on the way into the goal, but upon further review and by Krejci’s own admission the goal was changed.
There were no changes in either lineup as both teams had the same cast of players as they dressed in Game 1.
Rod Brind’Amour appeared in his 150th career playoff game and 63rd with the Hurricanes, which set a franchise record breaking associate coach Ron Francis’ mark.
After two games certain elements of strategy are playing out. Carolina is putting as much traffic as they can in front of Thomas in an effort to distract the likely Vezina-Trophy winner. Meanwhile Boston has devised a strategy to hit defenders Joni Pitkanen and Dennis Seidenberg as much as possible in an effort to wear down those defenders. Pitkanen and Seidenberg (along with Joe Corvo) see the lion’s share of the ice time on the blueline for Carolina. Pitkanen was on the ice for nearly half the game registering 27:51 of ice time.
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