THN.com Playoff Blog: Staal, Canes make Chara, Bruins look average en route to Game 2 victory

Eric Staal had two points in a 3-0 win in Game 2. The Canes are tied 1-1 with the Bruins heading home for the next two. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ken Campbell
2009-05-03 22:45:00

When he was asked after the Sunday morning skate about Eric Staal’s struggles in Game 1 of the Carolina Hurricanes series against the Boston Bruins, Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice responded in his customary deadpan manner that Staal would be a healthy scratch for Game 2.

Staal looked less-than-stellar in Game 1, but he played like a player who was afraid of being scratched with a monster performance in Game 2. In fact, he did what almost nobody else was able to do all of this season – he made Zdeno Chara look downright ordinary.

In fact, Chara actually looked kind of stinky in Game 2, prompting memories of his days with the Ottawa Senators when Chara was more often than not a 6-foot-9 detriment in the playoffs. In the head-to-head battle between Chara and Staal, the Hurricanes star without a doubt got the better of the day in Game 2 with a key assist on the first goal and the empty-net clincher in a 3-0 victory.

In fact, Sunday’s game between the Bruins and Hurricanes looked an awful lot like a microcosm of the Hurricanes playoff tournament so far this season. They are, without a doubt, the cockroaches of the 2009 post-season because they simply will not die. You would have been excused for thinking the Hurricanes had hit reality head-on after their limp effort in Game 1, but there they were in Game 2, winning almost all the 1-on-1 battles, almost all the races to the pucks, playing inspired hockey and getting a gargantuan performance in goal from Cam Ward, particularly in the third period when the Bruins outshot the Hurricanes 16-3.

All of which makes the Hurricanes more than a little scary. Their power play stinks, their talent level and depth aren’t nearly at the Bruins level and, let’s face it, they’re a reincarnation of the Hartford Whalers, a team that seemed to be star-crossed against the Bruins. But they continue to hang in and now go home for the next two games with the series tied because they continue to play with determination, grit and a dizzyingly high tempo.

Not even a disputed goal that would have given the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead in the final seconds of the second period could dampen the Hurricanes enthusiasm. Countless video reviews failed to conclusively prove the puck crossed the goal line – unless, of course, you believe they did prove it conclusively – so the NHL’s video review crew was unable to overturn the referees’ original call.

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None to worry for the Hurricanes, who continue to wear the plucky label proudly through the post-season. What will be interesting now will be how the Staal-Chara confrontation will continue to play out throughout the rest of the series. Boston coach Claude Julien said earlier this season that Chara has an uncanny ability to, “make it hard for everyone on the other team to have success,” and that could have been the case with Staal. It was clear from early in the game that Chara had Staal in his sites and was intent on wearing him down physically.

But instead of breaking Staal’s spirit, Chara appeared to awaken the beast within. The next move now belongs to the man who will almost certainly win the Norris Trophy this season as the NHL’s best defenseman.

Let the epic battle continue.

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Ken Campbell, author of the book Habs Heroes, is a senior writer for The Hockey News and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Wednesday and Fridays and his column, Campbell's Cuts, appears Mondays.

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COMMENTS (9)

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oil_country Posted
(2009-05-04 17:53:36)

I'll argue, that because you can clearly SEE THE GOALINE BEHIND the top of the cross bar gives us the ILLUSION that the puck was in. A clear, definitive angle given at exactly ZERO degrees above the goaline and not the 5 degree angle given in the replay is the reason that the goal was not counted. Until the NHL figures out how to mount cameras exactly on the very BACK EDGE, above the line, plays like this will continue to happen. The game has come down to fractions of an instant...the league needs to figure out how to make OPEN plays like this conclusive.

aoystreck Posted
(2009-05-04 13:36:46)

That was supposed to be in reference to naming players, not the geography thing. My bad. I guess when you write at 5am, sentence structure takes a back seat. But Canadians definitely know more about the US than Amerians know about Canada. There's really no arguing that.

flyerfan52 Posted
(2009-05-04 12:24:07)

The Canes were out & out robbed on that goal. The replay on TSN showed it clearly & I'm sure TO has access to those tapes. This Canadian knows Raleigh is in NC. I remember the Whalers well from the WHA days & have kept an eye on how they're doing in their new incarnation. I like a lot of the players (a few are even ex-Flyers), admire the coaching staff (especially Francis & McCarthy) & they have a lot of good prospects ready to make the jump. I'm glad the chance they took on Samsonov paid off. I hope they cut the Bruins down to size & move on to the eastern final.

ivyleeger Posted
(2009-05-04 12:15:04)

I don't think Chara has the Norris Trophy locked up. At least, I hope not. Mike Green may have something to say about that. Green gets my vote.

angrybaldguy Posted
(2009-05-04 09:59:13)

What the HECK was that NO GOAL call in the second!!! If we can see it why can't they? The war room really blew it. MAKES ME ANGRY!!!! Thanks

reelpirate Posted
(2009-05-04 08:58:45)

aoystreck....I would agree that maybe denovoinnc was maybe a little over the top, but I would completely disagree with your assertion that Canadians are geography majors. I have traveled to Canada more than once for youth hockey (Jr Hurricanes) and most of them couldn't even tell you what city the Hurricanes call home, and when they found out it was Raleigh they couldn't tell you if that was in NC or SC. It is not just Canada though, that is true for most of the US. The truth is that most people in the US (including NC) could not tell you what a Canadian province is and probably couldn't list 3 of them. It would also be true that most people in Canada could not point NC out on a map if you gave them 25 chances.

whatisthatsmell Posted
(2009-05-04 07:28:18)

I admit it. Year after year I under-rate Carolina. Again right now I'm thinking that they are playing above their true capabilities. Next year, I am going to put more stock in the boys from Raleigh. Fact is Carolina has a good team, a good coach, and a great goalie. That performance by Ward last night was incredible. By the way, the score should have been 4-0.

aoystreck Posted
(2009-05-04 06:29:24)

Wow, denovoinnc, overreact much? No matter how good your team may or not be, the fact of the matter is they finished the 6th seed in the East. The Bruins were dominant all year. A sixth seed upsetting the 3rd seed in the first round, then losing a game to the 1st seed is certainly an example of having "hit reality head-on," or at the very least, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think so. With the possible exception of Eric Staal, pick a position, and Boston's best at that position is better than Carolina's best. As for Canadians knowing the team exists...wow that's ignorant. Take a random sample of 100 hockey fans in Raleigh and ask them to name 5 guys who play for Edmonton or Ottawa. Or better, get them to find those cities on a map. Most Canadian hockey fans could do the same for Carolina. And if Rutherford is so great, why did the team miss the playoffs in consecutive years after wionning the Cup? Learn to take a compliment...

denovoinnc Posted
(2009-05-04 00:50:13)

Ken: Come now. You wrote: "You would have been excused for thinking the Hurricanes had hit reality head-on after their limp effort in Game 1, but there they were in Game 2, winning almost all the 1-on-1 battles, almost all the races to the pucks, playing inspired hockey and getting a gargantuan performance in goal from Cam Ward...." Maybe the average Canadian hockey fan should be excused, but you, as a professional hockey writer, should not be. And why excuse a Canadian? Because they hardly know the Hurricanes even exist. Many probably still think they are the Whalers (as you obviously do...more on that later). So they wouldn't know that the Hurricanes had four (4) fewer losses over the last three (3) months of the regular season vs. the Bruins. And they wouldn't know that Cam Ward was the best goalie in the NHL (by any measure) in those last three months. But you should have, Ken. And you just couldn't resist, so you wrote some more: "...and, let’s face it, they’re a reincarnation of the Hartford Whalers, a team that seemed to be star-crossed against the Bruins." Most U.S. writers stopped comparing the Hurricanes to the Whalers after the 'Canes went to the Cup Finals in 2002 and won the Stanley Cup in 2006. (ESPN was especially tough, since they were based in Connecticut). Alas, the word may not have reached Canada -- do y'all stop watching the playoffs after all teams from Eastern Canada are eliminated? But for the owner, retaining probably the best GM in the NHL, and a head coach who endured a pit stop in Toronto (but, lucky for us, can be appreciated down here), the team has no personnel that even knows where Hartford is located. So, Ken, sit back and enjoy (for the first time, apparently) the frenetic playing style and grit of the Carolina Hurricanes...the Rocky Balboa of the NHL. Heck, you might even come to respect them, although I hope you don't. They just love being unappreciated.

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