After losing three straight games for just the third time this season, the Boston Bruins were facing elimination on Sunday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Bruins, behind a 19-save shutout by Tim Thomas, managed to keep their season rolling with a commanding 4-0 win at TD Banknorth Garden. Following Boston's 4-1 loss in Carolina on Friday, head coach Claude Julien made mention that his team picked a bad time to be playing its worst hockey of the season, getting outscored by a 10-3 margin during its three-game skid. For one night, all of that was forgotten as the Bruins played a relatively perfect game in every phase.
Boston opened the scoring late in the first period when Mark Recchi re-directed a Zdeno Chara slap shot past Carolina goalie Cam Ward to give the Bruins all the offense they would need, as Thomas recorded his first career playoff shutout. The Bruins also received a pair of goals from Phil Kessel, while Milan Lucic added his second of the postseason when he ripped a laser behind Ward late in the third period.
This game was never really close, as Boston held a 40-19 edge in the shots department, while also outhitting Carolina by a 25-15 margin. The only area the Hurricanes held a statistical advantage was penalty minutes, as they seemingly lost their composure in the third period. Tim Conboy was involved in two altercations, including a fight with Mark Stuart. With just under three minutes to play in regulation, Carolina's frustration continued to boil over as Scott Walker was issued 17 minutes in penalties for punching Aaron Ward.
The Bruins did an excellent job keeping Eric Staal in check, as the 40-goal scorer was held off the score sheet and finished the night as a minus-3. Carolina is now 0-5 in the postseason when Staal does not score a goal. The Hurricanes also struggled on the power play, and with their 0-for-5 effort on Sunday they're now 3-for-14 in the series, and just 5-for-43 in the postseason. Statistically, it's the worst power play unit of any team still playing.
The two teams return to action on Tuesday night for game 6 in Carolina.
