Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins 02/02/12
The Hurricanes continued their dominance of the Bruins this season as they shut them out 3-0 in what was one of Cam Ward's finest moments. He stopped all 47 shots thrown his way and was under fire in the first period when the Bruins were performing a shooting gallery on him. Ward's play in that period along with Eric Staal's goal proved to be huge because after that, the Bruins seemed to turn off the gas while the Canes took things to a different level. Carolina throttled Boston in the second period by clogging up the neutral zone and continuously forcing turnovers which led to Carolina outshooting Boston 15-4 and outchancing them 8-2. Boston did come back to life after that but still couldn't get anything past Ward despite outshooting Carolina 47-31.
The shot count may indicate that the Canes were horribly outplayed, and they were for the entire first period but the team really woke up after that and took it to the Bruins. All four of Carolina's wins against Boston this year have been in regulation and this is the third of fourth that has been by two goals or more. This might sound abnormal but there have been equitable reasons for the defending Cup champ's struggles against Carolina this year when you go back and look at the games. Cam Ward and Boston taking the second period off being the explanation for this game.
Scoring chances & more after the jump
Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins 2/3/12 Scoring Chances
| Period | Totals | EV | PP | 5v3 PP | SH | 5v3 SH | ||||||
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Carolina's chances are in red, Boston's are in white
The Canes were outshot by a wide margin but they were able to stay even with the Bruins in scoring chances, but it was mostly due to the surge they had in the second period. This may have been an even more lopsided shutout if it wasn't for Tuukka Rask standing on his head during that time but I am sure that Carolina will take the win as it stands now. The rest of the time, Boston was in control and spent a lot of time in the Carolina zone, especially in the first period. Of course, you have to factor in score effects for the third period because Carolina had a 3-0 lead and didn't need to press much during that time which resulted in Boston getting a lot more chances. Still, they outchanced the B's at even strength and kept most of Boston's 47 shots to the outside & out of the dangerous scoring areas.
The Bruins also shot themselves in the foot with not taking advantage of their powerplay opportunities. Not in the sense that they weren't creating chances, but whenever they had a powerplay, they did something stupid to cut it short.They only had two but ended when Milan Lucic took a roughing penalty and the other lasted only 10 seconds because Brad Marchand slashed Bryan Allen. They've had problems like this all year and Carolina made them pay for it back in October.
Individual Scoring Chances
| # | Player | EV | PP | SH | ||||||
| 4 | Jamie McBain |
14:55 | 4 | 4 | 2:01 | 1 | 1 | 0:52 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Bryan Allen |
19:37 | 3 | 6 | 0:19 | 0 | 0 | 1:28 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Tim Gleason |
17:27 | 3 | 5 | 0:09 | 0 | 0 | 0:15 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Jaroslav Spacek |
14:06 | 4 | 5 | 1:53 | 1 | 1 | 0:38 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Eric Staal |
14:37 | 2 | 2 | 3:46 | 0 | 0 | 1:03 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Anthony Stewart |
7:08 | 3 | 1 | 0:43 | 0 | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Andreas Nodl |
13:10 | 4 | 2 | 0:09 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Tuomo Ruutu |
14:26 | 4 | 4 | 2:10 | 1 | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Brandon Sutter |
14:59 | 6 | 4 | 0:17 | 0 | 0 | 0:53 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Jiri Tlusty |
12:59 | 2 | 2 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 0:25 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Riley Nash |
6:27 | 1 | 0 | 2:46 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Drayson Bowman |
15:11 | 5 | 7 | 1:02 | 1 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Justin Faulk |
19:02 | 7 | 3 | 3:43 | 0 | 0 | 0:08 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Cam Ward |
52:14 | 14 | 13 | 5:53 | 1 | 1 | 1:53 | 0 | 1 |
| 36 | Jussi Jokinen |
16:09 | 5 | 7 | 1:53 | 1 | 1 | 0:35 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Tim Brent |
8:44 | 1 | 0 | 3:11 | 0 | 0 | 0:08 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Patrick Dwyer |
14:21 | 4 | 3 | 0:17 | 0 | 0 | 0:42 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Jay Harrison |
19:21 | 7 | 3 | 1:15 | 0 | 0 | 0:25 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 | Jeff Skinner |
16:24 | 5 | 7 | 3:51 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
Best EV Forward: Andreas Nodl, Brandon Sutter & Anthony Stewart +2
Worst EV Forward: Jussi Jokinen & Drayson Bowman -2
Best EV Defenseman: Jay Harrison & Justin Faulk +4
Worst EV Defenseman: Bryan Allen -3
Usually known for their defense, the Nodl-Sutter-Dwyer line had other plans last night as they created four scoring chances as a unit and Sutter scored a goal and an assist. Sutter seemed to get caught in his own end a lot but I did notice that he was also very active in the transition game and a few extra chances resulted from it. The Ruutu goal is an example of that.
Anthony Stewart was also on ice for that goal and he ended up being on ice for a couple more chances than his linemates, too. Even with limited ice time, his underlying numbers have improved lately as he continues to rebound from a horrible start to the year. Should the team give him more ice time though? His incredibly high PDO and shooting percentage suggests that it's a bad idea but he's playing his role well for now, though.
Skinner-Jokinen-Bowman were one of our best lines at creating scoring chances as they had 8 total shots on goal and Jokinen had a couple great chances, but they were also caught in their own zone a little too much. It wasn't anything that hurt the team in this game but something to worry about in the future.
Justin Faulk and Jay Harrison saw a lot of time against the Lucic-Krejci-Peverley line last night and were able to keep them quiet for the most part. Yet another strong game from these two. Tim Gleason and Bryan Allen ended up being outchanced and they also started 9 of their shifts in the defensive zone, so they didn't get much help. Although, Brandon Sutter was put in the same circumstance and he did fine even if he is a forward.
Head-to-head at five-on-five
- Faulk/Harrison did a fantastic job against the Bruins top-six. Being able to outchance both the Krejci & Bergeron lines is an impressive feat for anyone. Gleason/Allen and McBain/Spacek also did a good job at defending them. It looks like the third line is what got them more than anything.
- Going head-to-head with Bergeron, Skinner's line wasn't that impressive and I guess that's where most of their chances against came from.
- Nodl-Sutter-Dwyer was the only line that was able to get Bergeron's line pinned in their own zone and it resulted in a key third period goal. Credit that to good forechecking and pressuing the Bruins defensemen.
- One odd fact from last night: Zdeno Chara was heavily outchanced when Justin Faulk was on the ice while it was the complete opposite for Bryan Allen.
- The fourth line outchanced all of their competition but keep in mind that they didn't play much. Hey, at least they're doing their job.
| Team | Period | Time | Note | CAR | Opponent | |||||||||||
| BOS | 1 | 19:01 | Seguin | 5 | 6 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 53 | 14 | 19 | 37 | 40 | 44 | 63 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 1 | 16:09 | Bergeron | 21 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 1 | 19:26 | Nash | 21 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 19 | 33 | 37 | 40 | 55 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 1 | 15:03 | McBain | 4 | 8 | 13 | 20 | 30 | 37 | 14 | 23 | 40 | 44 | 52 | 67 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 1 | 12:29 | Marchand | 4 | 8 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 53 | 14 | 19 | 33 | 37 | 40 | 63 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 1 | 9:54 | Bergeron | 6 | 8 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 53 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 1 | 8:09 | Staal - GOAL | 4 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 30 | 17 | 33 | 40 | 46 | 49 | 55 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 1 | 5:09 | Lucic | 4 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 17 | 21 | 40 | 44 | 46 | 49 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 1 | 4:43 | Lucic | 4 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 30 | 17 | 19 | 33 | 40 | 46 | 54 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 1 | 3:11 | Paille | 4 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 30 | 36 | 11 | 20 | 33 | 40 | 44 | 5v4 | |
| CAR | 1 | 2:08 | Dwyer | 5 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 14 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 12:21 | Jokinen | 21 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 17 | 21 | 33 | 40 | 46 | 49 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 12:08 | Faulk | 21 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 17 | 21 | 33 | 40 | 46 | 49 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 2 | 7:16 | Seguin | 5 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 19 | 33 | 37 | 40 | 55 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 6:13 | Skinner | 4 | 8 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 53 | 21 | 23 | 40 | 52 | 54 | 67 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 5:14 | Staal | 12 | 15 | 19 | 28 | 30 | 44 | 17 | 33 | 40 | 46 | 49 | 55 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 4:01 | Dwyer | 4 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 14 | 19 | 37 | 40 | 44 | 63 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 2 | 3:50 | Bergeron | 12 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 30 | 44 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 3:20 | Sutter | 13 | 15 | 16 | 28 | 30 | 44 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 3:19 | Ruutu - GOAL | 13 | 15 | 16 | 28 | 30 | 44 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 2 | 0:36 | Sutter | 5 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 14 | 22 | 37 | 40 | 44 | 63 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 3 | 18:46 | Jokinen | 4 | 8 | 15 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 21 | 23 | 40 | 49 | 54 | 5v4 | |
| CAR | 3 | 16:47 | Sutter - GOAL | 5 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 3 | 16:23 | Campbell | 5 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 30 | 11 | 20 | 22 | 33 | 40 | 55 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 3 | 15:39 | Kelly | 4 | 8 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 53 | 14 | 23 | 33 | 40 | 52 | 67 | 5v5 |
| CAR | 3 | 14:35 | Jokinen | 21 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 3 | 12:34 | Peverley | 21 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 14 | 17 | 40 | 44 | 46 | 49 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 3 | 11:17 | Seguin | 4 | 12 | 19 | 30 | 44 | 14 | 19 | 37 | 40 | 44 | 63 | 4v5 | |
| BOS | 3 | 5:55 | Hamil | 5 | 8 | 21 | 30 | 36 | 53 | 23 | 37 | 44 | 52 | 55 | 67 | 5v5 |
| BOS | 3 | 2:19 | Marchand | 5 | 6 | 15 | 16 | 30 | 39 | 19 | 33 | 37 | 40 | 54 | 63 | 5v5 |
