Hurricanes blow past Devils, 6-0
Two lucky bounces, a couple of opportunities on the power play, and the Carolina Hurricanes were off and running.
The New Jersey Devils? They simply got out of the way.
“We had our legs today, guys were skating well,” Carolina center Eric Staal said. “That’s our game. If we’re moving our feet, we’re going to create opportunities and power plays.”
Former Spokane Chiefs standout Ray Whitney scored two fortuitous goals, rookie Cam Ward got his first career playoff shutout and the Hurricanes ended New Jersey’s 15-game winning streak with a 6-0 victory Saturday in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinal series in Raleigh, N.C.
It was the first loss for the Devils since March 26 – they won the final 11 games of the regular season on the way to the Atlantic Division, then swept the New York Rangers in the previous round. The winning streak tied the longest in NHL history that encompassed the regular season and playoffs.
“We’re not looking for any excuses whatsoever,” Devils general manager and coach Lou Lamoriello said. “We didn’t do some of the little things that we’ve been doing that gave us the success that we’ve had.”
New Jersey never had a chance in this one. Maybe it was the weeklong layoff between games, or perhaps it was the play of the Hurricanes. Either way, the Devils must find a way to bounce back for Game 2 on Monday night.
“We have to play as good or better on Monday night, so we’re not tooting our own horn here, or thinking we’re something special now,” Whitney said.
Staal, Cory Stillman, Doug Weight and captain Rod Brind’Amour also scored for Carolina, which has won five straight in the postseason. Ward had to make only 21 saves, continuing his impressive play after taking over for starter Martin Gerber in the first period of the second game against Montreal.
The 22-year-old Ward finished with a 1.54 goals-against average in that series, and he was better against New Jersey.
“It’s a team shutout, really,” Ward said. “The team, I thought, played outstanding. It was well-deserving of a shutout, and any time you see them working that hard, especially in the defensive zone, you want to match your effort with theirs.”
His counterpart, Martin Brodeur, wasn’t as fortunate on his 34th birthday, suffering the worst playoff loss of his career and getting pulled late in the third period.
“Losing 6-0 in the first game of the series is not something to look back on,” Brodeur said. “A lot of things went wrong. I don’t think you can point at one thing. Our special teams were not up to par.”
Koivu prognosis good
Montreal captain Saku Koivu still doesn’t know the full extent of his eye injury but expects to make a full recovery.
Koivu was struck in the left eye last week by the errant stick of Carolina forward Justin Williams during Montreal’s 2-1 overtime playoff loss in Game 3 of the first-round series. For 48 hours, Koivu didn’t know if he would be permanently blind in the eye.
Koivu said a full prognosis on the health of his eye was still impossible to make because there is blood in the back of it, but said “It looks like the vision will be back 100 percent.”
Doctors have told Koivu that they are confident he will completely regain his sight.
It was not the first major health scare for Koivu, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2001.