CANES SHUT OUT BRUINS TO EVEN SERIES

The Carolina Hurricanes shut out the Boston Bruins 3-0 at the TD BankNorth Garden on Sunday to earn a split of the first two games in their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal.  Cam Ward stopped 36 shots for the shutout, giving his team new life in the series as they return home for games three and four at Raleigh, NC’s RBC Center beginning on Wednesday night.

After a scoreless first period, the Hurricanes got on the board early in the second when Joe Corvo scored at 2:30 assisted by Eric Staal and Erik Cole.  Carolina would increase their advantage to 2-0 just five minutes later when Matt Cullen scored shorthanded assisted by Chad LaRose.  This score would stand until the final 30 seconds of the game, when Eric Staal would light the lamp with his empty net goal assisted by Joe Corvo to produce the final 3-0 margin of victory.  The ‘canes won despite being outshot by the Bruins 36-25, and after the game Erik Staal gave praise to goalie Cam Ward:

"He's our rock. He needs to play well every night for us to have a shot and he did."

The Hurricanes are in a good spot now with the next two games at home, but Carolina coach Paul Maurice cautioned against overconfidence.  He noted that the team enjoyed a similar situation in their 7 game war against New Jersey, only to lose game three:

"We're looking to learn our lessons because we felt this good going back to Game 3 with New Jersey. The Bruins are going to come in, in some ways without the pressure of playing at home and being creative."

The game represented Carolina’s first win in five tries this year against Boston having lost four games to the Bruins in the regular season and game 1 of this series.  It was also Boston’s first loss of the playoffs, having swept Montreal in their opening round matchup.  It also ended the personal 11 game winning streak of Bruins’ goalie Tim Thomas, who noted after the game that it was important for his team to maintain emotional balance:

"It's our first loss in the playoffs. We've been practicing the not-too-high part, but now we get to practice the not-too-low part."

Bruins’ captain Zdeno Chara viewed his team’s third period onslaught as a positive:

"We played really good in the third period. We were really desperate to score a goal."

Due to the stellar play of Carolina’s Cam Ward, however, they were unable to put the puck in the net.  Afterwards, Ward talked about his solid form:

"I felt confident. I felt like I was seeing the puck really well and I was containing the rebounds."

After games three and four on Wednesday and Friday, the series will return to Boston for game five on Sunday.  Should a sixth game be necessary, it’ll take place a week from Tuesday back at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC with a prospective game 7 slated for Boston on Thursday, May 14^th.