Cardiac Canes Prevail in Overtime 3-2

The Cardiac Kids Strike Again. Jokinen Wins Game in OT, 3-2



Home ice, home ice. The Carolina Hurricanes are certainly a different team when playing in front of their wonderful crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Canes are surprising a lot of hockey fans
who know very little about them. Tonight even though they fell behind 1-0 and were outplayed most of the first period, they showed their true character and grit. They were slick in 06 winning a cup and sometimes too cute in 07 and 08, but now this team has shown a new mettle since that they acquired after Erik Cole on trade deadline day March 4th.

The Bruins controlled the first period and Milan Lucic scored the game opening goal when he stopped a shot from the point by Dennis Wideman with his pad and then shot is over Ward in the top left corner. The Bruins, even though they were outshot 12-8 in the period, to me had control of the game at this point. Eric Staal was leveled by his adversary Zeneno Chara with a nice clean hit into the boards. Tim Thomas (38 saves) did make one outstanding save on Matt Cullen when after a shot from the point.
Ward was good as well keeping the game a 1-0 deficit for the Canes making 7 saves in the period.

The second period started out with the Bruins looking good. After Jokinen overpassed on a 3 on 1 break with Joni Piktanen, Phil Kessel took the puck back up ice and eventually fed Chara with a pass that he directed on to Ward (21 Saves), then the puck squired out to Aaron Ward sneaking in from the point, Ward was brilliant with his left pad and stoned Ward with about 10 min left in the period. Boston scores there and its 2-0 against the best team in the league defensively and a goalie who is a Vezina trophy finalist. Later on when Micheal Ryder took an undisciplined penalty that allowed Carolina to tie the game at 1. Staal (7 goals), when behind the net, picked the pocket of Steve Montador and then beat Thomas with a high snapshot blocker side. From this point on for the most part, Thomas and the Bruins were under siege. 69 seconds later, Samsonov (1 goal and 1 assist) scored on a nice feed from Scot Walker to beat Thomas with a low shot inside the left post to give the Canes a 2-1 lead at the end of the 2nd period. Carolina outshot the Bruins 15-7 in the 2nd period and felt really good about their chances of winning this game.

Once the 3rd period started, the Canes tried to pad their lead but after a nice play by Chad Larose to get a shot on net, Matt Cullen was staring almost an empty net. He shot it over the net and that was the break the Bruins needed to keep the game at 2-1. Even though the canes did outshoot Boston 11-4 in the 3rd, Mark Recci, against his former team, tied the game at 2 with a deflection of a Chuck Kobasew pass. He beati Ward five-hole. After the goal the only other good chance that Boston had the rest of the period was a nice snap shot in the high slot by Milan Lucic. The Canes did press to get the lead but Thomas had other ideas. Scot Walker (1 assist and plus 2) fed Matt Cullen out front but Thomas stopped Cullen again to keep it tied at 2. Later on in the period the Canes pressed, but Thomas said no with some nice saves to both Whitney and Cole.

In overtime it appeared that Lucic, who had a wonderful two way game to me, was denied by Ward. He beat Dennis Seidenberg with a nice inside-outside move. Cam Ward once again gave his team a chance to win. Chara and Kobasew tried to clear the Boston zone and were unable to do so. Samsonov stole the puck and cut down on the ride side near the circle. He beat Chara and got an backhand on goal which was saved by Thomas, but he left a rebound and Jussi Jokinen (5 playoff goals) pounced and beat Thomas cleanly for the overtime game winner. Jokinen only had 7 goals in the regular season but has really elevated his game big time in this postseason.

To sum it up, games are not played on paper. If they were, there would never be an upset in any sport. This is why we watch sports, to see the unexpected sometimes. This has been a good series so far and it far from over. On to game 4 on Friday, May 8th. I look forward to recapping that game once it is over.