Jussi, Jussi, Jussi!

If you are a Canes fan, you would probably pick Eric Staal and Cam Ward as likely heroes for the Canes in the play-offs, and with good reason. Staal has been dominating and Ward has been exceptional. 

But, as we began this play-off run, I am very sure that Jussi Jokinen’s name was not even on the long list. After all, the Canes pulled Jokinen literally off the scrap heap. Not only did the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning give up on him, but Jussi passed through waivers not once, but twice with no takers. Canes boss man, Jim Rutherford, (JR) saw enough in Jussi that he conjured up a deal packaging up spare parts Wade Brookbank and Josef Melichar to the Lightning for Jussi. 

You might recall that Jussi broke into the league with the Dallas Stars in 2005 , enjoying an outstanding rookie season on an all-Finnish line with Jere Lehtinen and Anti Miettinen. He ended that season with a respectable 17 goals and 55 points, not to mention Jussi’s prowess on the shootout, where he led the league with an astounding 77% success rate. (10 for 13) Following a so-so second season in Dallas, he was a key component along with goalie Mike Smith and Jeff Halpern in the Brad Richards blockbuster last year. Unfortunately, the move to Tampa turned out to be a disastrous one for Jussi. Enter JR.

Back to the play-offs. Jussi had a strong series against the Devils, scoring the winning goal in game four with .2 seconds left  and the game-tying goal in the waning minutes of game seven.  Not only that, he was strong on face-offs and played a key roll on the power-play and penalty-killing units. He carried that over into this series, particularly making his presence felt on a newly-created line with Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsonov. (another smart move by “Mo”) That continued into game three in the friendly confines of the RBC Center.

Smarting from an upset 3-0 loss to the Hurricanes in Boston, the Bruins were an angry bunch heading into game three. But no matter what they threw at the Canes, little resulted from it. The Canes soundly outplayed them and only a goal by former Cane, Mark Recchi, mid way through the third period, sent the game into overtime and salvaged an opportunity for the Bruins to steal the victory. Early in the overtime, Cam Ward, make a monstrous save on Milan Lucic and, a few minutes later,  with the RBC crowd electric, the table was set for Jussi to do his magic. Jussi started the play by knocking down a Zdeno Chara attempted clearing-pass at the blue-line. Sergei Samsonov, another Rutherford reclamation project, took a Jokinen pass, undressed the same Chara (He is human, after all!) fired a zinger at Tim Thomas, whose rebound landed on the stick of Jokinen. He promptly deposited the puck in the back of the net, lickity-split. Thanks, and good night!

Then, on to last night, an opportunity for the Canes to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. My feeling was that the Bruins would come out, all guns blazing and very snarly. And that they did, starting fast, but the Canes got some help from the goal post on a couple of Bruins shots early on. And then, it was the Canes who struck first. With an electric hometown crowd behind them,  they took the lead on Eric Staal’s power-play goal at just about the five minute mark. Staal’s goal followed a huge save by Cam Ward on a clear-cut breakaway by P.J. Axelsson, with the Bruins shorthanded.  How many times have we seen that happen - a huge save a one end, leads to an odd man rush and a goal at the other end. The Bruins battled hard and started quickly in the second period culminating in a Mark Savard’s power-play goal at 2:37, one of the few the Canes have given-up in the play-offs. 

With the Caniac crowd in a fever pitch to the start the third period, the Canes came out energized. This led to another Zdeno Chara penalty and an odd man opportunity for the Canes. Early into the powerplay, Ray Whitney was robbed by Tim Thomas, but the Canes continued to press. A huge save by Thomas on a howitzer from Anton Babchuk, left a juicy rebound for Samsonov, whose shot bounced off the left goal post and ended up on guess who’s stick.  The “Finnisher” wasted no time, ripping a blast past Thomas and giving the Canes the lead to stay. Talk about smoking hot, take a look at this! 

The Canes went on to dominate the Bruins for the remainder of the game, outshooting the Bruins 14-7 in the 3rd and racking-up two more goals, by Staal, his second on the night, and Samsonov, whose beauty sealed the deal. Jokinen ended up with three points on the night, including this outstanding effort to set up Samsonov.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU9HcNt-Ov8

It will be interesting to see how this series plays out from here. The Canes have the momentum and are playing with confidence. On the other hand the Bruins seem to be lost at times, playing what Bruins’ coach Claude Julien says is “our worst hockey of the season.”  In addition, the Canes have thrived on adversity, whereas the Bruins are showing their inability to deal with it. Nonetheless, you have to believe there is still more left in the Bruins’ tank and that game five, with home-ice advantage, will be a tough battle. On the other hand, if players like Staal and Ward continue their outstanding play, you have to like the Canes chances of moving on to the next round.  

And you know what?  Who better to deliver the final blow that knocks the Bruins out of this series once-and-for-all, than the Canes red-hot “Finnisher”, Jussi Jokinen.