BOSTON -- On Wednesday night, Tim Gleason sat down for a radio show in Raleigh and promptly said that while he doesn't mind fighting, he had been told to refrain, if at all possible.

The defenseman was told he was too valuable, that the team needed him on the ice. And especially on the penalty kill.

So what does Gleason do in the opener? He never hesitated in going after the Flyers' Daniel Carcillo after Carcillo rammed the Canes' Ray Whitney from behind and was whistled for boarding at 12:49 of the first period.

"I was doing a job and I'd do it for anybody," Gleason said today. "And I'd do it again."

The Canes' 3-0 shutout of the Bruins in Game 2 was impressive and the Canes' improvement from Game 1 striking.

But where did the Canes improve the most, especially from a defensive standpoint, from the 4-1 loss in the opener?

"You have to look at the whole game," defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said after today's morning skate at the RBC Center. "We got the puck out of our zone, which meant less defensive zone time, and we had more chance of a rush. Just by doing little things, making smart plays in our zone and not turning the puck over in the neutral zone, makes a big difference.

"We didn't try to force the puck into the middle. The first game we skated up the wall and tried to make the pass into the middle and turned it over a couple of times. We didn't have any gap on their forwards. They had a lot of time and speed to go back and create a scoring chance."

The Hurricanes, who seemed unable to match the Devils’ intensity in Game 1, brought it to a crescendo in Game 2.

The Hurricanes’ spark showed in different ways, from the hit defenseman Tim Gleason put on Zach Parise to the words Ruutu and New Jersey center John Madden shared following an early penalty to Rod Brind’Amour.

From Talking Points:

Niclas Wallin earned his 'secret weapon' nickname by scoring overtime goals in the playoffs — three, tied for the most in NHL history by a defenseman.

Friday, he passed some of that knowledge — indirectly — on to Tim Gleason, whose overtime winner won Game 2 for the Hurricanes.

Read more here. 

Niclas Wallin earned his 'secret weapon' nickname by scoring overtime goals in the playoffs — three, tied for the most in NHL history by a defenseman.

Friday, he passed some of that knowledge — indirectly — on to Tim Gleason, whose overtime winner won Game 2 for the Hurricanes.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Well, that was pretty ugly.

At least, that was the Carolina Hurricanes' perspective — almost in disbelief — after the dismal 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Wednesday's Stanley Cup playoff opener at the Prudential Center.

For the Devils, though, there wasn't a real blemish to this game, to this victory. The big smile on the face of Lou Lamoriello, New Jersey's president and general manager, after the game spoke volumes about the feelings of everyone in the organization.

"I thought through and through we got contributions from everyone," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "It was pretty precise, how we wanted to play."

Canes defenseman Tim Gleason took part in the morning skate at the RBC Center but will not play tonight against the Boston Bruins, coach Paul Maurice said.

Gleason was hit in the hand by a shot during Saturday's game against Columbus. He has a badly bruised hand and missed Sunday's game at Buffalo.

Gleason's status is day to day.

TORONTO — Defenseman Tim Gleason, the Carolina Hurricanes' player representative, sees no need in reopening the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement after this season, much less risking another lockout.

"That would be the worst thing to do right now," Gleason said today. "We're getting our fan support back — it's pretty solid so far — and there's no reason to do it.

"We agreed to these (CBA) terms a few years ago and we're going to follow through with it and keep things going."

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported Monday that there was a consensus among the player representatives of the 30 teams to continue with the CBA. A vote of the executive board of the NHL Players Association is expected Thursday in advance of the All-Star Game festivities in Montreal.

The Carolina Hurricanes officially recalled goaltender Justin Peters from AHL affiliate Albany Tuesday.

The move comes after starting goalie Cam Ward suffered a groin injury in Sunday’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks. To make room for Peters in the roster, the Canes moved injured defender Tim Gleason to injured reserve.

PHILADELPHIA -- Carolina Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette wouldn't give more detail about Scott Walker’s lower leg injury.

Ditto for Tim Gleason’s injury.

“He’s got a leg injury,” Laviolette said of Walker. “That’s about as far as we want to go with it."

A decision last summer by NHL general managers paved the way for such vague responses. And under the glare of the Philadelphia media after Friday's 3-2 overtime victory over the Flyers, Laviolette defended the lack of details.