NEWARK, NJ – Following a game one outing that had coach Paul Maurice reorganizing his lineup card, the Carolina Hurricanes figured they could only go up in level of performance. Turns out they were right.
Tim Gleason scored his first goal of the playoffs and the season 2:40 into overtime to give the Hurricanes a hard fought 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils Friday night at the Prudential Center. The win tied the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at one game apiece with games three and four coming back in Raleigh Sunday and Tuesday nights.
Maurice had established that the keys to winning game two were to get more shots on net and to tighten up defensively. Early on, the defense was markedly better, keeping the Devils from free-wheeling as they had on Wednesday. Offensively, however, the shots on net still weren’t coming with much frequency.
Composure became an issue for the Hurricanes midway through the period and as in game one, it cost them. Erik Cole took an unnecessary roughing penalty for cuffing John Madden at 7:44 which allowed New Jersey to find its offense. Although the Devils were not able to score on their first man advantage, they did not fail on the next one. After Carolina failed to clear the zone, Patrik Elias fed Paul Martin back at the right point. Martin’s blast found its way to the stick blade of Zach Parise standing in front of ‘Canes net minder Cam Ward who could only watch as the deflection sailed up and under the crossbar at 10:44.
Unlike Wednesday’s disaster, the Hurricanes were able to dig down and find their game. They began hitting the Devils and the physical play was paying dividends on both the defensive end with fewer multiple chance forays by New Jersey and on offense with more sustained pressure on the Devils and net minder Martin Brodeur. With just over a minute left in the first, Carolina went on a power play and made it pay off. Not long after Tuomo Ruutu clanged a shot off the post, Sergei Samsanov fed Ray Whitney who ripped a shot wide of the net. The carom off the back boards came out onto the stick of Eric Staal who fired it home at 19:35 to tie the score.
Most of the second period looked like a repeat of game one. From the outset, New Jersey tried to run the visitors out of the building with pressure. Ward and his defense held up through two Devils power plays, keeping New Jersey off the board and building confidence. Late in the period, the ‘Canes offense began to crank up, testing Brodeur who was up to the task. On the stat sheet, New Jersey had the advantage in face-offs won and Carolina won the war of hits but the scoreboard still showed a 1-1 tie.
New Jersey opened the third with a near-miss when Parise rang the post with a wicked shot and parlayed yet another man advantage into golden scoring opportunities. Ward thwarted one with a split save on a wrap-around and two others with a quick glove that snared drives by Bryce Salvador and Travis Zajac. Carolina had a couple of sniffs at scoring opportunities but none paid off to off to overtime the teams went.
The extra session seemed like it was a completely different game. The Hurricanes came out and dominated the action from the get-go, pinning New Jersey in its own end. The final sequence started with Brodeur stoning Staal on a wrap-around try. The Devils tried to clear but Joe Corvo held the puck in. He sent a point-to-point pass to Gleason who teed it up. The drive appeared to hit the skate of defenseman Niclas Havelid, changing directions and skidding past Brodeur.
Game notes…With his first period assist, Elias tied Cam Neely and Ray Bourque for most points by an opponent against the Hartford/Carolina franchise in the post season. The helper gave Elias six goals and twelve assists versus the Whalers and Hurricanes… Maurice chose to sit Tim Conboy and Dennis Seidenberg while Frank Kaberle and Ryan Bayda suited up…The Devils came out of the game banged up. Jamie Langenbrunner went out in the second period with an undisclosed lower leg injury. In the third period, Jay Pandolfo collided with Cole and left but returned later…Ward stopped 33 shot to earn the win while Brodeur made 30 in a losing effort…In their 18 previous playoff series, the Devils are 14-4 after winning the first game. They are 6-5 in series after splitting the first two at home.
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