RALEIGH -- Too much Tim Thomas.

The Boston Bruins' 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday was won with some timely offense and some gritty defense, but mostly it was won by Thomas in goal.

Thomas was the winner in Sunday's All -Star Game for Team Lidstrom at the RBC Center, denying the Canes' Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner and Cam Ward a victory in front of the Canes' home fans. Two days later, Thomas was the winner again in a more important game, making some sprawling, desperation saves when needed.

"You can't figure out how it gets done but it's certainly been getting done all year long," Canes coach Paul Maurice said of Thomas, who leads the NHL in goals-against average and save percentage and is the leading candidate for the Vezina Trophy.

RALEIGH —  The Carolina Hurricanes missed a golden opportunity to pay back the Boston Bruins at the RBC Center Tuesday.

The Bruins (26-13-7) made off with a 3-2 road win a day after thumping the Hurricanes 7-0 in Boston.

The Hurricanes failed to take advantage of several scoring chances in the second period and failed to capitalize on a 45-28 shots advantage over the Bruins.

BOSTON — Two days after the birth of his son, Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward gave Nolan a game to remember.

Ward made 37 saves for his 13th career shutout and the Canes scored three power-play goals in beating the Boston Bruins 3-0 at TD Garden.

"Cam was the difference," Canes coach Paul Maurice said. "He was our best player."

RALEIGH — Aaron Ward was on the seventh hole of MacGregor Downs Country Club in Cary, playing with a member of Kid Rock’s band, when his cell phone rang this morning.

The number was familiar, and he didn’t have a good feeling about.

“It was [Boston Bruins general manager] Peter Chiarelli, and I knew it wasn’t good when your general manager calls you in the middle of the summer,” said Ward at a press conference at RBC Center Friday.

The news wasn’t all bad, as disappointing as it was to learn he was no longer with the Bruins. He was coming back to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he helped win a Stanley Cup in 2006 and still lives in the offseason. The Bruins shipped him back for a fourth round pick and forward Patrick Eaves, who they immediately placed on waivers.

The Carolina Hurricanes turned to a familiar face to shore up the blue line, acquiring Boston Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward in a trade that sends forward Patrick Eaves and a fourth-round selection in the 2010 NHL draft.

"With this trade, our defense really takes shape," Jim Rutherford said in a news release. "Aaron played very well during his time in Carolina and had maintained that consistency with New York and Boston. We envision him complementing Joni Pitkanen well as a defensive pairing."

The wife of Scott Walker was diagnosed with cervical cancer sometime during the Carolina Hurricanes’ playoffs semifinals round with the Boston Bruins, the team announced today.

The team said Julie Walker’s cancer is treatable and that she’s expected to fully recover.

Scott Walkers goal in overtime gives the Canes a 3-2 win over the Bruins and advances then to the Eastern conference finals.

Staff photo by Chris Seward

• Photo gallery: Canes 3, Bruins 2 (OT)

• First Look: See 166 raw images from Game 7

BOSTON — There is a tomorrow for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Scott Walker's rebound shot with 1:14 left in the first overtime has given the Hurricanes victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Hurricanes will face the Pittsburgh Penguins next.

It does not surprise me that when the Carolina Hurricanes play a team from the higher latitudes, such as Michigan or Massachusetts, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, that newspaper columnists from the north make fun of us.

We are Mayberry. Or, as Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe recently put it, we are "goobers." Same thing.

This is what some writers do when they have no clue about what's south of Foxborough, or they are hurting on deadline for something to say.

I have lived south of the Mason-Dixon since 1971. I came down from the suburbs of Boston to attend college. I have never once regretted it.

Boston is a terrific place to live, but it is a very provincial place. If your whole concept of the South is derived from watching the Andy Griffith Show, then I guess you can't fathom how this region has changed in the past few decades because your worldview doesn't extend much past Hopkinton, where they start the Marathon.

Boston's nickname is the Hub. As in Hub of the Universe. I am not original with this observation: There's an old joke that if a celestial rock obliterated Los Angeles, the Boston Globe headline the next day would be "Hub Man Perishes/As Comet Devastates LA.

I'd like to take Shaughnessy over to Cary's SAS, one of the biggest private software companies in the world. Or over to Research Triangle Park. Or over to Centennial Campus at N.C. State. Or the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. Or to Red Hat.

I know, I know. I'm starting to sound like the folks at the chamber of commerce who, every time there is a slight to this region in an out-of-town newspaper, begin reciting all its cutting-edge companies, its swell amenities, etc. etc. Stern letter to follow.

Truth is, we don't have to defend ourselves. People vote with their feet. Between 2000 and 2006, the population of Boston was essentially flat, up 0.3 percent. It would have dropped, no doubt, except that the Hub's world-class technology companies and universities draw in lots of folks from all over the planet.

During the same period, Raleigh's population grew by 25 percent.

People didn't come here because they made a wrong turn on Route 128 and kept going until they saw "For Sale" signs at Wakefield. They came here because this is where you can get a house for less than $785,000 (the price of a falling-down shack in my home town of Newton), because they can get jobs, because they have grown tired of cranking up the snow blower every third day.

Some of the folks who came to Raleigh, no doubt, have Southie (not Southern) accents. To them, I say, wicket cool that you are heah.