Canes looking to keep their edge

With a win in Game 2 in Boston, the Canes now have the home-ice edge in the playoff series with the Bruins.

Can the Hurricanes make the most of everything that goes into that edge — the support of the "Caniacs," the noise, the excitement, being at home?

"Oh, definitely," forward Tuomo Ruutu said. "We've just got to use it the right way. We must have that emotion — not too much, just perfect. I think we can definitely use it."

The Bruins made two visits to the RBC Center this season and won both times. But that was then. The building seems to be a different creature come playoff time, drawing the praise of several of the New Jersey Devils during the first round.

"It seems to be the place to play," Canes captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "Everyone is talking about how much fun it is and the atmosphere, the feel of the building.

"That's because of the people who are in it. Give them a lot of credit for supporting us but also coming out and enjoying it."

The Devils won their first playoff game at the RBC Center in overtime. But the Canes won Game 4 on Jussi Jokinen's deflection with 0.2 of a second left and then rolled in Game 6 to force a seventh game.

The Canes are coming off a 3-0 victory in Game 2 against the Bruins that gave them a split of the two games at TD Banknorth Garden. Joe Corvo and Matt Cullen scored in the second period — Cullen's a shorthanded goal — and Eric Staal added an empty netter for the Canes, who had better puck control and limited the Bruins' transition game.

"We competed — that's the big thing," forward Scott Walker said. "You've got to compete. You don't have to outfight them or outhit them, but you have to compete and I thought we competed harder.

"We battled for loose pucks, we won some one-on-one battles getting the puck, and when we lost it we got it back. That's what we did against New Jersey. It was the second and third effort."

The Canes still had to withstand a Bruins assault in the third as Cam Ward made 16 stops in the final period.

"We didn't beat 'em handily," Canes forward Ray Whitney said. "They outshot us, they dominated us in the third period. We got two (goals) in the second but we didn't play that great in the third.

"We think they'll probably be a little more aggressive in what they do. But they're very disciplined. I don't think they'll make huge changes in what they're doing."