Can the Carolina Hurricanes weather the almost constant physical pressure from the Boston Bruins and eliminate the costly mistakes made in game one? That is just one of several questions that will be answered tonight as both teams will meet for game two of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Beantown.
Carolina fans are looking for a few players to come alive and make their presence known in the scoring column in this series. But Paul Maurice is more concerned about tightening up the play in the defensive and neutral zones. Even though they have yet to score a single goal the entire postseason, he does not want Erik Cole, Rod Brind'Amour, Sergei Samsonov, and Matt Cullen to throw caution to the wind as they try to pick up their offensive games.
According to Chip at Canes Now, the Hurricanes had a "loose" pregame skate this morning, but Paul Maurice preferred to call it an "excited" bunch. Either way, the team is looking forward to tonight's matchup.
While Carolina has lost five straight to the Bruins, New Jersey was able to split their games with the Eastern Conference champs this season, so obviously the "Big Bad Bears" are not invincible. Regardless how well or poorly one might think the Hurricanes played in game one, if they can come back home with a split they will have succeeded in their primary objective for the first two games of this series.
Jussi Jokinen is the only Carolina player streaking and he has scored goals in the past three games.
Tim Gleason is tops on the Canes in penalty minutes during the postseason and ranks fifth in the NHL. The defenseman is also second in the NHL with 28 hits and fourth with 17 blocked shots.
Will Coach Mo rotate defensemen like he did against the Devils? If he does, who will sit, Dennis Seidenberg or Anton Babchuk? Will the coach continue to mix and match lines? At times during game one, it was tough to tell what the lines were.
Versus has exclusive rights to tonight's game, but familiar voice John Forlsund will have the call. Andy Brickley will provide the color. The puck drops at 7:30.
Will the Canes make this a series?
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audio from this morning's skate-