Staff photo by Chris Seward
• Photo gallery: Canes 4, Bruins 1
• First Look: See 309 raw images from the game
The Hurricanes scored a pair of goals late in the third period to win 4-1 and take a 3-1 lead over the Boston Bruins in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series at the RBC Center Friday night.
First, Hurricanes forward Sergei Samsonov gave Carolina a 3-1 lead over the Boston Bruins with 5:29 left in the third period.
Hurricanes forward Tuomo Ruutu took a big hit along the board in Carolina’s zone, but Samsonov got the puck and danced around Boston goalie Tim Thomas before putting a backhander past him.
Then Eric Staal added another on a snap shot with 4:19 left in the game to cement the win. Staal snatched up the puck along the right boards just before it was going to leave the Bruins zone, then weaved down the right wing before cutting to center and putting a snap-shot past Thomas' outside shoulder.
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Hurricanes forward Jussi Jokinen has given the Hurricanes their second power play goal of the game and a 2-1 lead at 2:52 in the third period.
Jokinen moved to the right of the goal to put in a rebound of Anton Babchuk's shot from the left wing. The puck bounced off of Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour, who was directly in front of the net.
The Bruins finished the second period with momentum after scoring earlier and keeping the puck deep the Carolina zone late in the period.
The Bruins out-shot the Hurricanes 10-6 in the second period, but the Canes still lead the game total 18-14. Carolina was unable to make anything of Chuck Kobasew's holding penalty, and Boston's goal did come on the power play, with Marc Savard scoring the Bruins' fifth power play goal of the playoffs. ...
Bruins center Marc Savard has tied the game at 1-1 with a power play goal at 2:37 of the second period. In front of the goal, he wristed the puck off of the glove of Carolina goalie Cam Ward. ...
The Hurricanes’ 1-0 lead after 20 minutes came after matching the Bruins’ bruising rampage that certainly set up their only goal. It did give the Hurricanes their fourth power play goal in 35 chances in the playoffs.
The Hurricanes have matched the intensity, and they’ve out-shot the Bruins 12-4 in the first period. They also had several scoring chances they just missed on, though the Bruins twice hit the upper right corner of the Hurricanes’ goal.
When Carolina defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and Bruins forward Milan Lucic went at it, and more Bruins piled on, Hurricanes forward Erik Cole jumped in. All four were sent to the box for two minutes on roughing penalties. ...
Center Eric Staal has given the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead only 4:54 into the game on a power play, after Boston’s David Krejci committed a dumb penalty, sucker punching Hurricanes center Jussi Jokinen.
It negated Sergei Samsonov's hooking penalty and gave the Hurricanes more than a minute of power play time.
Hurricanes forward Ray Whitney passed into the slot from the right corner and Erik Cole dished the puck back out to Staal, who put a one-timer past Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. ...
So much on the line tonight at the RBC Center, where the Carolina Hurricanes host the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Hurricanes, who lead 2-1 in the series, are expecting a physical game out of Bruins.
They’ve inserted Tim Conboy into Ryan Bayda’s spot in the lineup. Bayda is out sick.
Conboy would likely take Bayda’s spot on the fourth line.
Here’s the lines:
Whitney-Staal-Cole
LaRose-Cullen-Walker
Samsonov-Jokinen-Ruutu
Conboy-Brind’Amour-Eaves
N.C. State coach Sid Lowe manned the horn before the game. ... The game was a standing room-only sellout, with 18,878 in attendance.
Javier Serna has covered sports for The News & Observer since 2007. He previously covered growth for the North Raleigh News, and sports at The Truth in Elkhart, Ind. E-mail 
Comments
jumptheship
Sun, 05/10/2009 - 00:15 — gmwannabeeIf you knew anything about hockey..you would have thrown what boston did during the season out the window. Game 1..boston was rested after playing a weak 8 seed in montreal. Wow..you beat them finally. Carolina showed up wore out from a 7 game series..loss in game 1 was not a biggie. I grew up watching islander teams beat up O'Reilly and company. a 3-1 lead means nothing to me right now. If we win #4..and we should..go to fenway.
I've Been Censored!
Sun, 05/10/2009 - 11:42 — JumptheSharkMy posts are mysteriously dissappearing....Must be DeCock.
That's not cool...
Sun, 05/10/2009 - 17:34 — hockeyhickI really hope that isn't the case...Good luck to your boys tonight Sharkbait. Can't wait to see how they respond with their backs against the wall. Should be a great game.
ooops!
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 15:54 — hockeyhickI thought I had destroyed all that footage....
Bruins are ugly stepchild in Boston
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 08:22 — bbruin91With the 3 other teams winning championships this decade, the Bruins should care but are reacting like a marshmallows under pressure, or should I call it a Fluff (TM) performance?
Google it Raleigh, it's real stuff.
Hockey fan first, Bruins fan 2nd. Canes are deserving of wins. It ain't over til it's over.....
I like it when hockey here is under the radar, it's cheaper.
Thank You for razzing Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan,
could not have happened to a nicer guy, he's a blowhard.
Boston Globe
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 07:39 — Otag1Opening summary to article @ The Boston Globe regarding Raleigh & the Canes. It reads:
RALEIGH, N.C. - Too fast. Too skilled. Too tough.
If you read some of the fan's posts at their website, they continue to abandon the bandwagon. They are very negative regarding their team, very few give the Canes the credit due. Tired of hearing them rant about their poor play vs. at least entertaining the idea that perhaps the Canes have something to do with their performance. We are the team dictating the game. The B's can not keep up. We wear them down. Anybody else notice Lucic only ended up with about 12 minutes of total ice time last night, that was mostly in the 1st. Possibly hurt? I thought the Sabre fans were the worst, but at least they are passionate about their team and remain loyal to them. I would not turn my back to Boston fans in an alley, or anywhere for that matter.
Dude!
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 07:56 — hockeyhickCheck out my post on the game 4 blog on the globe! I said those very things! It is amazing (1) how quick the "fans" turn on their team, and (2) how, even after 3 convincing wins they refuse to give credit to the opponent.
We are soooo lucky to have such great fans. It's like a big cycle: support your team and they give it their all, they produce wins, and the support grows. Around and around it goes!
What the French!
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 08:41 — JumptheSharkHickey, don't be such an a-hole. I've been giving the Canes props. You fanboy. As a fan of the game, I give credit when credit is due. At the beginning of the series, the Canes hadn't earned their due. They had lost 5 straight. Since then, I've posted all over this site giving them their props.
Why do you have to be such an a hole? Why don't YOU give some credit once in a while. Wait, I know why, because you're a one-way-street fanboy. And if the tables were turned, you'd either be whining about Mo and Babs and Brindy, or you wouldn't be here at all. You'd be sulking in your Park Model trailer home.
Knock off the fanboy crap and get a life.
WOW!
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 11:14 — hockeyhickI have said all along how good the B's were old man, so get off your pulpit. I am entitled to my opinion, and most of the things i stated were fact, like Raleigh having better, more loyal fans and Raleigh being a better hockey town. Truth hurts. If that makes me an arsehole, so be it. And when did you get so sensitive? You been hangin' out with Manny?
It's not a one-way street. Boston Bruins "fans", at least the ones represented on the Globe, are fair-weather, arrogant, rednecks. Yup. "Rednecks" are not confined to south.
I have been a HUGE promoter of positive support for the Canes on this blog. Go back and look. Most of my jabs were at fans that do nothing but complain and bash the team. So, if the tables were turned in this series, I doubt I would be whining about anyone save the fans that whined about our team.
I haven't gloated. But the truth is what it is. Your team got beat 3 games in a row, convincingly in 2 of them. And I have agreed all along that the Bruins would be very tough to beat. My jabs have not been at your team, but aimed at your "fans". To the victor deserve the soils, and should the Bruins win they will have my support the rest of the way. maybe it is an inferiority complex on my part. I just got tired of half-arse, fair-weather fans that think they know everything. You are lucky to have the Bruins in Boston, but the general attitude of the fans makes them very undeserving.
Get a clue, Randy...
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 12:42 — JumptheSharkHey Hickey, the Globe is a left-wing hack rag that will hopefully soon be out of business (they are about as insolvent as you can be). I don't hang out around that hack rag site. As far as fair weather fans, you have those in every city, with every sport. The real fans are are here, now. Can the Bruins come back? I doubt it. It doesn't mean I'm jumping off the wagon. I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'll have to wait at least another year.
Hey, is this you draining the waste tank?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9sY6iH9Ojg&feature=related
A team of destiny? We don't
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 07:35 — SkylinerA team of destiny? We don't really know yet, but this I do know: This is an incredibly good group of people. My wife, bless her sweet soul, is "in love" with Cam Ward and Eric Staal. I recently told Eric that she was battling a severe form of cancer. He rose, shook my hand and in a very kind way told me to remember his good wishes to her. I shared the same story with Cam. Difficult to describe that moment, I shall forever remember the compassion in that man's eyes and the look on his face. Almost brought tears from this old rock. I know Patrick Eaves to be a very nice man, as is Frank Kaberle and so many of the other Hurricane players. I told Paul Maurice that "You are a gentleman and a marvelous coach. Look at our won/lost record since he joined the team. He was very gracious, as he always is. It's one thing to be a good hockey player, but quite something else to be a great human being. And everyone I've met associated with the Hurricanes seems to be an outstanding individuial. Good hockey talent is essential to a team; good character outside the arena is imperatrive to being a superior human being. Everyone I've met associated with the Huricanes represent "class, class, class." Thanks Mr. Rutherford and Jason K. Tom Barasso promised me we would make the playoffs. Glad he's a man of his word.... Love the Hurricanes!!! As an aside, don' t you just love our fan base? I love the posts from Esteban and Hockeystick. Especially when they go back and forth with their almost face-to-face conversation-like posts, which are always informative.
Thanks Skyliner
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 09:06 — esteban1949Thanks for the kind words, but in reality i am just a fan. grant you like your self i too have been around the block a time or two in life. And have supprted and cheered for The Chicago Blackhawks ( where i was raised) And later became a even greater fan of the minor leauges with the WHL Spokane Chiefs where i lived until transfered here to the Carolinas. Yep i be one of those dang yankees who came and stayed. Like you i too have wondered but never out loud does the canes have what it will take to have a dynasty? If we look at the current roster, there are the makings of one to be sure. Like yourself, it would be a wonderful shot in the arm not only for the triangle or state to have a "dynasty' type of team, but for ther NHL as a well. Personally all this fan can do is hope and the canes can go even far in the playoffs...but no matter how far they get ...the hardest job will be by Jim Rutherford. he can only do with what he is given to work with. Whether it's money, or the current pool or talent and the upcoming players from the River rats ( AHL) and our younger players from the WHL like Zach Boychuk. I don't envey the man's job. The canes have a good solid working base to start a dynasty type of team and like you & you wife, i'd love to see such a thing happen. But we fans must know and understand all we ( the fans) can do is take it one game, one series, and one season at a time... And hope and pray fro the best.
Again Skyliner i humbly thank you, but i'm just a fan...nothing special...just a fan...
Go Canes !!
It's posts like this that
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 07:50 — hockeyhickput everything into perspective. Thoughts go out to you and your wife sir. And I echo your sentiments about the class of this organization. I don't really ever get the opportunity to mingle with the members of this organization, but one quick story:
I attended many of the practices going down the stretch and one day happened to be leaving the RBC behind JR. He seemed in a hurry, but I stopped him just to simply tell him "Thanks." We stood and talked for a good 15 minutes. He actually asked me questions about how I thought the team was being received in the community among other questions and seemed genuinely interested in my responses. Just a small gesture, but for this die-hard fan it spoke volumes to the team's connection and committment to this community. I think the team has realized what many other people already know, that our area is a great place to live, work, raise a family, and play hockey.
It may be a simple byproduct of the fact that hockey doesn't get the same level of press of the other big 4, but you just don't see the thuggery and pomp out of hockey players. I think that is the allure for me. It just seems to be a more "working class" sport with down-to-earth and relatively humble players. The Staals and Wards of the world are a shining example of character. They are great ambassadors for humility, decency, and respect. Wins and losses and games aside, doesn't that make them the real winners?
Predictably, the responses
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 11:39 — SkylinerPredictably, the responses from Esteban and Hockeystick demonstrated quiet dignity, quite unlike some low-rent district comments that resort to name calling if anyone dare disagree with their opinions. And I do forgive Esteban for being a transplanted Yankee, inasmuch as this Southern boy who journeyed Nawth to work on newspapers in New York and New Jersey still seeks absolution for his wayward directions...as some say. A Chicagoan, huh? Well, two of my all time favorite song writers, John Prine and Steve Goodman, are also from that "toddlin' town." Geography notwithstanding, keep your posts about the Hurricanes coming. Everyone needs the voices of reason.
Where is jumptheshark ?
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 07:05 — Otag1Jump the shark has been found. Seems the over confident B's fan took a trip to Boca Raton, Florida to try to recover, but alas his luck seems to not have changed after a long night Wednesday: see web site below.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=13355300&ch=4226726&src=news
What a statement
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 06:44 — hockeyhickmade by the Canes!!! Now all we need is the exclamation point!!! But as has been stated many time in the last 12 hours-that's the hard part-closing out the series. I, too, will try and keep my emotions in check until the final .2 seconds tick off the next game and we are ahead. Overconfidence and lack of respect for an opponent has certainly been a factor against the Bruins, no need to follow their lead.
As for the officiating-it has been bad, but it has been evenly bad. It seem like the refs want to let the boys play but then call marginal penalties. Seeing some of the things that both teams got away with, I was surprised that Chara got that hooking call. Just no consistency.
Anyway, can't wait for Game V . Would love to see them close out the series at home, but I'd rather them take next available!
A Very Good Game
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 03:56 — esteban1949And yes the " dudes with the orange arm bands failed. Not as bad as it has been, but enough to get noticed, yet again. The head " steward" of officials was at the caps & pens game...heck even Verses gave him his 15 seconds of fame...maybe just maybe...when the Canes go to boston, a officiating crew from out west will come, but then again...maybe not...sigh...but the canes can't get cocky or complacent...they need to be mindful or think like sunday's game on Verses HD will be a win or go home. If they don't have that kind of mentality...it could be a long night @ the garden sunday night !
Go Canes !!
Hmm...
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 00:52 — irbefanStaal gets too goals even with "Big Z" on him like white on rice. The Juice gets a game winner. Samsonov scores on the breakaway to haunt his former team..... Typical Carolina Hurricanes hockey. Man we look good out there! However, need I remind anyone of the 2006 finals where we almost blew a 3-1 series lead! This is "far from over" in Staal's words and the Canes know that. Ask the Rangers about coasting after going up 3-1 in a series..
Dont Get Cocky
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 23:57 — CaniacG4The Rangers had the 3-1 lead over the capitals and you saw what happened. I will continue to hold my Whooo until we win the 4th one.
where is shark jumper?
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 23:48 — jejohn8where is shark jumper?
Shark Jumper?
Sat, 05/09/2009 - 08:46 — procellaeHe's jumping off the Boston bandwagon.
Officiating...Part 4
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 22:26 — procellaeAgain. You know what I'm going to say. These officials are the most one-sided refs I have ever seen!
A few plays come to mind:
1) Lucic delivers a late hit on Seidenberg. Cole comes in to try to split them up, and Savard comes up and punches him in the face. Penalties? Matching!
2) Jokinen (i think) came into the Boston zone on a powerplay and just outright gets tripped. One of the most obvious call to make, and it goes uncalled.
3) Ruutu stationed in front of the net gets hit legs pulled out from under him. The Boston play even acted like he was getting a penalty and stopped playing for a second and started heading to the penalty box. No call.
4) Ruutu tries to get around a Boston defensemen, touches him, and gets called for "holding." Boston scores on the PP. Horrible call.
Blown Away...
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 22:01 — whirligigI must admit I'm more and more surprised as each game unfolds...where has this team been hiding? Or is it that we really, finally, actually took a good look at what we weren't doing (forechecking, crashing net, traffic, shooting) and started doing it? I'm amazed, and (maybe?) I'll be heading to Tuesday's game (solo, actually) and will enjoy every minute of this team's miraculous rebirth.
Go Canes!!!
OMG
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 21:13 — ammy144What can you say......our CANES ROCK!!!!!
Can You Smell
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 21:09 — PhilcobrownThe Bruins getting fried! Boston is done! Canes up 3-1!
I hear Ric Flair...!
Whooo!