Carolina cuts series lead to 1-1

The Carolina Hurricanes got their underdog win tonight as Cam Ward shut out Boston 3-0, the third goal scored as an open-netter by Staal.

Cam Ward had an absolutely flawless night, getting his fourth playoff shutout. Too bad he's a Hurricane, not a Bruin.

Boston didn't come out shooting and it wasn't until the the third period that they actually start pressuring Ward and Carolina's defense. Boston, needless to say, had one of the worst second periods I've seen in awhile. Carolina has had one of the best games against Boston in years and this game was all about Cam Ward.

Boston's first period wasn't that strong, they had some shots but lacked the intensity they had in Game 1. Joe Corvo got Carolina on the board with the eventual game winner in the first and Boston went into the second trailing which is something they haven't done in awhile.

After Game 1, the feeling from Boston was that they knew it'd be an easy win, which is something that ticked me off a little bit. Carolina didn't get this far to be pushed over by Boston. They went to seven games with the New Jersey Devils, a team lead by record breaker goalie Martin Brodeur. Carolina pushed Brodeur and scored two goals with ninety seconds left during game 7, which pushed them into the second round against Boston.

Boston took this game too lightly. They came out with the idea that they'd win easily, as they did against Montreal and against Carolina in game 1. Milan Lucic came out after the game and said he knew it'd be an easy win.

Too bad Boston doesn't think things through. Carolina came back to topple New Jersey. Carolina won the Stanley Cup in 2006, with Eric Staal at the head. Cam Ward has had an excellent playoff season, registering two shutouts so far (including tonight's).

The Bruins offense didn't even come out until the third period, but by then it was too late. Boston let up two goals in the previous periods and their defense was shotty at best. With Carolina taking turnovers just like Boston did in Game 1, Boston has to step up their game big time for Game 3 in Carolina.

And Joe Corvo certainly didn't hide his disdain tonight when, at the end of the second (with .2 seconds left), Larosse shot what he thought was a goal. The NHL situation room took a look at the goal, for about ten minutes by the way, and determined it wasn't. And it wasn't, it literally danced on the line before it was taken out by Boston. When the 'no goal' announcement was made, Joe Corvo looked like he was about to blow up.

Boston was responding to the hits Carolina was doling out, which was exactly what Carolina wanted. With that happening (and, by the way a lot of falling done by Boston), Carolina managed to get countless opportunities.

Boston also had opportunities they didn't capitalize on. One in particular was during the second period with the fourth line out when Axie had a shot on goal, which was deflected by Corvo, with the back door open and neither Thornton or Yelle capitalized on that. The lack of players being where they should be made me a little mad.

But the fourth line (Axie-Yelle-Thornton) seemed to be the only line producing shots. Boston's top line with Chara and Bergeron seemed to be slumping this game, except in the third period when they did have some excellent opportunities during the power plays.

But this game also reminded me a little bit of the Dallas-Boston game earlier in the year. Refs were pulling players apart during that game, not allowing the players to duke it out and ending in an all out on-ice brawl on the East end of the Bruins ice.

Tonight's game seemed like the beginning of that. Refs weren't allowing players to fight and I have a feeling during Game 3 that will come out and something big (and I'm guessing involving Kessel and Lucic) is going to go down and result in a misconduct, possibility of a disqualification.

But despite the fact that Boston came out fighting during the third period and despite the fact that Boston's fourth line was producing like it was no one's business, they still lost. And they really need to pull it together for Wednesday night when they face Carolina on their home turf.

Right now is not a time when Boston needs to be slipping. Boston ended up with 35 shots on goal, none of which got passed Ward (who was the #1 star of the night, go figure). At least Carolina's coach Paul Maurice dressed better tonight.

Until Wednesday night: Keep up the faith. If the Bruins can get it together, we might come out with a lot better offense in Raleigh.