NHL Eastern semis: Hurricanes at Bruins, Game 1
The Carolina Hurricanes are not supposed to be in the Eastern Conference semifinals. After all, no team is supposed to win a Game 7 against Devils Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur, especially on his home ice. Yet Carolina managed two goals in the final minute to stun New Jersey, and now the Hurricanes face an even bigger test in the East No. 1 Boston Bruins.
This best-of-7 begins Friday night in Boston, with the B’s -200 favorites on WagerWeb.com for Game 1 with an over/under of 5.5 goals.
The season series between these two was one-sided, with the Bruins winning all four. In three of the four games, Carolina actually scored first. But those were the only times the Hurricanes led as they were outscored 18-6 overall. Boston’s power play was 3-for-12, while the ’Canes were 1-for-15. But the teams haven’t met since February, and Carolina played well down the stretch, going 17-5-2 in its final 24 games before upsetting Jersey.
Three players — David Krejci, Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder — scored three goals each for the Bruins in the season series. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas went 3-0-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage, stopping 89 of 93 shots against Carolina. He yielded just six goals on 111 shots in Round 1 of the playoffs.
Boston hit on all cylinders in its first-round sweep of the Canadiens. Ryder (four goals, seven points), Phil Kessel (four goals, six points) and Krejci (five points) all excelled against Montreal.
Carolina goalie Cam Ward played all but 36 minutes of the season series against Boston, going 0-4-0 with a 3.89 and a .871, although Ward looked stellar in the first round against the Devils. Eric Staal, who scored the series winner and had three goals in last two games vs. New Jersey, failed to record a point against Boston in the regular season.
Bruins coach Claude Julien dismissed Staal’s regular season struggles against Boston.
“You know what I think about stats. They don’t mean much to me right now,” Julien said. “He, among others, is playing a lot better and seems to be a lot more confident. The challenge of shutting him down, like we did during the regular season, is going to be that much tougher.”
Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference hasn’t played since April 4 because of an unspecified injury, but is expected back for the second round.
WagerWeb.com Key Trends
* Over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
* Favorite is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
* Hurricanes are 8-3 in the last 11 meetings in Boston.
* Road team is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings.
* Hurricanes are 0-5 in the last 5 meetings.
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