Tim Thomas proved too much once again for the Carolina Hurricanes as the home team dropped another contest to the visiting Boston Bruins by a score of 3-2, this time on Tuesday night at the RBC.
The Canes came out with a lot of jump and at one time were outshooting the Bruins, 10-2, but Boston came roaring back and ended the period with a 15-10 shot advantage. Cam Ward matched Thomas save by save in that period though and it ended in a scoreless tie.
Daniel Paille would start off the scoring in the second with a tip of a Zdeno Chara shot just four minutes and change into the period. It was Paille's first goal of the season.
The Canes would tie things up later in the period though when Sergei Samsonov skated through the Boston zone and found Jamie McBain on the doorstep.
The third period started out all tied up 1-1, but Boston controlled the game at this point and took the lead just 3:54 into it when David Krejci found Nathan Horton alone at the side of the Carolina net. Horton beat Ward with a nicely placed high shot at an angle.
Just one minute and 10 seconds later, Patrice Bergeron beat Ward with what looked like a fluky shot from the blueline. It didn't look like the goalie was screened on the play, but perhaps the puck hit something or it fooled him.
Either way, the goal obviously took the wind out of Carolina's sails for awhile, but Jeff Skinner would draw his second penalty of the game a bit later in the period and the Hurricanes went on another powerplay, their fourth of the contest. This time the team would score when Joe Corvo's hot blast bounced in the net off of former Cane, Dennis Seidenberg.
The Hurricanes got close a few times down the stretch but could not solve Thomas, who once again, seemed on top of his game at the RBC.
Quick Stats and Thoughts:
- When asked about it, Maurice said after the game that he was pretty happy with the powerplay overall. "The first powerplay was excellent and on the last powerplay we scored. So when you run at 25%...." the coach went on. In other words, he felt that 25% was good against that goalie and that defense.
- The Bruins ended up with 33 shots on goal to 26 for the Canes. Brandon Sutter and Jamie McBain had four each to lead the way for the home team.
- Ian White had a team high three blocked shots.
- The team had 32 hits led by Patrick Dwyer with eight.
- Cole and Samsonov each finished with two assists.
- Jussi Jokinen left the game with a lower body injury after the first period and did not return. Maurice did not elaborate when asked about the nature of his injury, or if it was a relapse of his previous injury. The team will know more tomorrow.
- While Staal won 58% of his faceoffs, the rest of the team was lower and as a group, the Canes were at 40% for the game.
- There were 18,126 fans in attendance. That is excellent for a Tuesday night.
- The only penalty of the game for Carolina was a five minute major to Jay Harrison, so the PK unit did not have to go to work in this one. Harrison dropped the mitts again with Milan Lucic and fared much better this time around than he did last year. This fight was probably close to a draw.
- Scouts from the Penguins, Blackhawks, Flyers, and Sharks were in the press area for the game.
- The team will practice at the Rec Zone at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday before leaving for snowy Toronto for a match with the Leafs on Thursday night. Remember all the big talk from Clarke MacArthur after the game before the All Star break?
Postgame Interviews: