CANES PULL EVEN WITH DEVILS IN OT WIN

After a horrible performance in an opening game 4-1 loss, the Carolina Hurricanes looked like a completely different team on Friday night.  Carolina received exceptional goaltending from Cam Ward to play the New Jersey Devils to a standstill in regulation, and got a goal from Tim Gleason just 2:40 into overtime to pull out a 2-1 road victory and tie the series at 1-1.  The action resumes on Sunday, with game three at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The two teams traded power play goals in the first period, with the Devils scoring first on Zach Parise’s second goal of the playoffs at 10:44 assisted by Paul Martin and Patrik Elias.  Carolina would answer just before intermission as Eric Staal evened the contest with his tally assisted by Ray Whitney and Sergei Samsonov.   That would be all of the scoring until Gleason’s OT game winner assisted by Joe Corvo.  Gleason took a pass from Corvo just inside the blueline and took a shot that deflected off of Devils’ defenseman’s Niklas Havelid skate and past Martin Broduer.  Gleason recounted his big goal after the game:

"It was a good pass by Joe Corvo. He laid it right out there for me. Eric Staal had a great screen in front of the net. I closed my eyes and shot that thing as hard as I could."

And Havelid said that he wasn’t sure at the time if the puck hit him in the process:

"It's one of those unlucky ones. I can't tell. It might have hit me. I can't really tell. It was a bang-bang play. It doesn't matter who it hits, it went in the net."

Carolina has had New Jersey’s number in the postseason—at least when the game is tied at the end of regulation.  This was the ‘canes fifth straight OT victory over the Devils.  Gleason addressed the marked improvement in his team’s play:

"Obviously, we came out flat in the last game. We knew he had to change our game. We are a competitive team. We can be gritty. People sometimes say we're soft, Candy Canes or whatever they use. It was a different story tonight. We came ready to play."

Both team’s goaltenders played well, with Carolina’s Ward stopping 33 of 34 shots on net and the Devils’ Brodeur stopping 30 of 32 shots.  He never had a chance on either Hurricanes goal—in addition to the OT deflection the other goal he allowed was also something of a fluke.  Ray Whitney took a hard shot from the point that missed the net and bounced off of the end boards at a odd angle—an angle that put it right on Erik Stall’s stick in the slot for an easy score.  Staal recounted his good fortune:

"Ray let one rip and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. It was good to get that boost going into the first intermission and to get it going from there."

Despite the loss, New Jersey’s Parise gave props to his team’s effort:

"We had some good chances and unfortunately couldn't bury them, and Ward played well. I just don't think there is a lot we need to change. We played a solid hockey game."

The Devils hope that their recent postseason form doesn’t continue as the series moves south of the Mason-Dixon line—New Jersey has now lost eight of their ten previous playoff games, which doesn’t bode well with the next two scheduled for enemy ice.