Hurricanes advance to semis: Shock Devils with last minute heroics!

Are you kidding me? I still don't believe what happened last night. 

A friend of mine, a former pro hockey player who knows the Devils’ system well, told me yesterday.  “Look, if the Devils have a lead into the third period, the Canes are dead. They’ll suffocate them!” And, as play moved into the late stages of the game, I was beginning to accept that fate. But, it didn’t start that way... 

The Canes got off to a quick start, with Tuomo Ruutu scoring at 1:02 of the first. This was what they needed to set the tone of the game and silence the crowd – one of the game keys I had noted yesterday. But the lead was short-lived, as Jamie Langenbrunner, playing through injuries, beat Cam Ward about a minute-and-a-half  later. Ok, so this wasn’t going to be an easy night for the Canes. What else is new? 

The game pretty much see-sawed back-and-forth for much of the game. Trailing 3-2, following a 2^nd period power play goal by Brian Rolston, the Hurricanes had a chance to tie it when Brendan Shanahan was called for hooking while the Canes were on the powerplay. Suddenly, the Canes had a 5-on-3 for over a minute. I was thinking, now’s the time to take hold of this thing! Unfortunately, the Canes power play was ineffective for the most part and nothing much came of it, except Marty Brodeur’s spectacular save on Jussi Jokinen. Shortly after, Tim Gleason clipped Zach Parise with a high stick and was nailed for four minutes. This was definitely not going in the right direction. The Canes killed that penalty off for the remainder of the period, with Cam Ward making a number of big saves. 

Between periods, Canes Assistant Coach Tom Rowe, outlined the plan. He pointed out that the Canes would play the third period in 5-minute segments, would tie the game, and, then, ultimately go on to win it. He was brimming with confidence! Sounded easy enough, right? 

First things first. The Canes had to kill the final minute-twenty of the Gleason penalty and come out unscathed. They did that, highlighted by some outstanding work by Ward and Dennis Seidenberg. Following that, as expected the Devils went into shutdown mode and the Hurricanes’ chances were limited to low percentage shots from the periphery. But the Canes kept pressing and, as the period went on, more of the play was concentrated in the Devils zone. I had this feeling that if they could only get one, just maybe… 

With a few minutes left on the clock, I was thinking about Tom Rowe’s comments. Sorry, Tom, not this time. Cam Ward said after the game, “with a minute and a half to go, I was looking for Mo to call me to the bench.” But Maurice never had the chance to pull him, because at 18:40 the Finnish connection created some magic. A seeing-eye pass from Joni Pitkanen to Jussi Jokinen, set up a beautiful one-timer, beating Brodeur, five-hole.

Now, you’re thinking, let’s just get into overtime and anything can happen, right?  The Canes had other ideas as Eric Staal pointed out after the game, “might as well go for it!” And that’s exactly what they did. Tim Gleason, who had an outstanding series, scoring the game winner in game 2 and being instrumental in shutting down Zach Parise throughout the series, made a perfect break-out pass to Chad Larose, who while taking a big hit from Colin White, found Eric Staal in full-flight and, the rest is history, as they say. It stunned the 18,000 plus Devils supporters along with the rest of us. You couldn’t have written a better script, an amazing ending to a memorable series. And here is how it all happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wetkgb54G7Y 

This was a night with many heroes for the Canes. This was a full team effort, for sure. Of course, Eric Staal comes to mind. How about Cam Ward’s effort? He made numerous tough saves in the third period to give the Canes a chance to win. He stopped Jamie Langenbrunner, not once but twice, point blank in the third and John Madden on a clear break-in. I’ve mentioned Tim Gleason a number of times previously. Time to put the Jack Johnson discussion behind us. Chad Larose had an awesome series and was instrumental on both Whitney’s and Staal’s markers.  Joe Corvo, playing over 26 minutes, just went about his business as he has all season, with aplomb. And finally, Jussi Jokinen, who did everything the coaches asked of him in the series, including killing penalties, playing the power-play, and scoring the biggest goal of his career. Jay Feaster must have had blinders on. This guy can play! 

And what a job done by Paul Maurice and his staff!  “Mo” stuck with his game plan and he and his coaching staff made a number of smart decisions during the game. Not sure you noticed that Jussi Jokinen was inserted in place of Patrick Eaves with Brind’Amour and Samsonov in the crucial last minutes of the game. That led to the tying goal. And what about teaming Joni Pitkanen with Timmy Gleason during that same critical period. That combination not only shut down the Devils but were instrumental in both of the Hurricanes’ goals. I previously chastised Joni for sub-par play in game 6, but on this night he came to play! 

What an incredible series!  Both teams played their hearts out. Paul Maurice said it right in his post-game press conference. “It was a good series, great series.” Either team could have won this series. The good news is that it was the Hurricanes. The golf clubs will have to wait! 

Next up, the big, bad, Bruins. Are you ready for this?