Scott Walker scored with 84 seconds left in the first overtime period on Thursday night to lift the Carolina Hurricanes over the top seeded Boston Bruins in the deciding Game 7 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. This means that the Canes will now face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the conference finals, a series in which home ice advantage will be held by the Penguins.
Eric Staal has had a nice playoff for Carolina, notching 13 points in 14 games to this point. Jussi Jokinen, Ray Whitney, and Chad LaRose have molded the primary supporting cast around the franchise player Staal.
Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo lead an underrated defensive core that has done a nice job against stars like Zach Parise and Phil Kessel in the first two rounds of the postseason. Dennis Seidenberg and Tim Gleason are also pure quality on the blue line for the Canes. Niclas Wallin and Anton Babchuk get the job done, while Tim Conboy is generally scratched.
Cam Ward is a truly outstanding goalie. His performance three years ago that saw him win the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe as MVP of the playoffs planted a seed, and he's built on it. Ward is regarded by some as the frontrunner to start in the nets for Team Canada in Vancouver next winter during the Olympics.
The Penguins have their own Staal brother, though theirs isn't quite as dominant as Eric. Jordan Staal has turned it on of late with two goals in the last three games of the Washington series.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will have to play like superstars. Marc-Andre Fleury will have to be more than just adequate in goal. Sergei Gonchar, Rob Scuderi, Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang, Hal Gill, and Mark Eaton must play sound two way hockey on defense.
Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour was injured when a puck struck his face while he was seated on the bench during the overtime in Game 7 against Boston. He did not return, but there is nothing to indicate he'll miss any time against Pittsburgh.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment