Game 21: Hurricanes 3, Bruins 0

Just a couple of quick ones today, I don't want to spend too much off-day time dwelling on this stinker.

The Good

• What do you mean "good?" As far as the Bruins are concerned? Uhh.........Brad Marchand played pretty well?
• Cup-winning form Cam Ward was excellent today, making 37 stops to shutout the B's. Ward made plenty of highlight-reel saves as well, including a sparkler on Nathan Horton to keep the game scoreless in the third. When a team that occasionally struggles to score goals like the B's do runs into a hot goalie, it's a recipe for disaster. Today was a hockey disaster.
• Solid showing from Skinner Before the season started, one would've thought the star rookie in this game would have been the B's Tyler Seguin. However, 18-year-old Jeff Skinner, chosen by the 'Canes with the seventh-overall pick in this year's draft, stole the spotlight from Seguin with the game's first goal (the eventual game-winner). Skinner now has seven goals and 11 assists on the young season.

The Bad

• He started it! The B's were dominating the 'Canes in this game, hanging on by a Cam Ward-woven thread, when the Blake Wheeler went off for holding towards the end of the first period. During that PK, Daniel Paille, starting in place of scratched Jordan Caron, who was experiencing flu-like symptoms, started a 2-on-1 rush up ice shorthanded. Zdeno Chara joined the rush to make it a 3-on-1, but as Paille pulled up to make the pass, he lost the puck. Tuomo Ruutu took it the other way for a 2-on-1 of his own, eventually slipping the puck the Skinner, who buried it. Hard to place all of the blame on Paille, but that turnover started the trouble for the B's.
• PK? More like P.U.! The B's took three penalties; the 'Canes scored on all three. The B's got four power play opportunities; the B's scored on zero of them. There's your game right there.

The Rest

• I wonder if Milan Lucic is going to get billed by Jeremy Jacobs for breaking glass in the Garden. Everyone remembers his glass-shattering hit on Mike Van Ryn* two years ago, but today he knocked out (but didn't shatter) another pane of glass when he missed a check on a 'Canes player. Jacobs, in a Mr. Burns voice: "Those panes are coming out of your check, Mr. Lucic!"
  
• * Odd that Jack Edwards would get his info on Van Ryn wrong. He claimed during the broadcast that Van Ryn retired due to repeated concussions, but the most pressing physical issue was his right knee. A bit of a sad story, as Van Ryn finally got the chance to play for his hometown team (the Leafs), but his body wouldn't hold up. Good to see he's landed on his feet though.
  

Attaboy: Ward. He shut down the B's and made a ton of grade-A+ stops. Definitely looks like he's back to his Cup-winning form.

Providence shuttle: Special teams (again). Something's gotta give here; the thought was that the power play would pick up a bit when David Krejci returned. Well, he's back, and it's still a big problem.