RALEIGH, N.C. -- After Sunday morning's skate, Eric Staal was calm, cool and collected. He preached how he and the Carolina Hurricanes needed to play with desperation and how they needed to continue to pepper Martin Brodeur with shots.
Sunday night, Carolina accomplished both. And because of it, Staal’s season ain't over yet.
Staal had two goals and an assist, Ray Whitney had a goal and three assists and Cam Ward made 28 saves as the Hurricanes staved off elimination with a convincing 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal at the RBC Center.
The series is now tied 3-3, with the deciding Game 7 to be played at the Prudential Center on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET, TSN2, RIS). It marks the first Game 7 for both teams since their last Stanley Cup championships (New Jersey, 2003; Carolina, 2006).
"He clearly enjoyed playing tonight," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said of Staal. "That extra energy of desperation … certain players really enjoy that."
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Ducks put overtime loss in the past
Most of the Ducks that played in their Game 5 overtime loss to San Jose took the day off Sunday as practice was canceled and those who wanted to skate could hit the Honda Center ice.
The mission: Get past the near-miss in eliminating the top-seeded Sharks and mentally prepare for another opportunity in Game 6 Tuesday night in Anaheim.
Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said he’s already past it.
“You turn the page,” Carlyle said. “Start over tomorrow.”
Defenseman Scott Niedermayer, the team’s captain, said he’s learned over time how to move on from a tough defeat. The Ducks rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period before Patrick Marleau’s overtime goal gave San Jose a 3-2 victory.
“That’s sort of the challenge of playoff hockey,” Niedermayer said. “You really always keep your eye on the next shift. Keep it as simple as that. It’s not easy. It’s easily said, tougher to do, I guess.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=420230Phaneuf's status unclear for Game 6
CALGARY — Dion Phaneuf is known for his hellacious hits, but this time it’s the Calgary Flames’ defense corps that may be absorbing a body blow.
Phaneuf, the hard-hitting former Norris Trophy finalist, was knocked out of Saturday’s Game 5 of this Western Conference Quarterfinal after a third-period, helmet-on-helmet collision with Chicago’s Troy Brouwer.
Phaneuf was nowhere to be seen following the Flames’ off-ice training session Sunday afternoon at the Pengrowth Saddledome, and Calgary head coach Mike Keenan wasn’t revealing much about his status.
"It’s the same thing we tell you about every other injured player," Keenan told reporters. "He’s day to day."
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=420234Penguins know they need more in Round 2
The Pittsburgh Penguins are the first team since the 2000 Dallas Stars to win a playoff round the spring after losing in the Stanley Cup Final.
If they'd like to become the first team since the 1996 Detroit Red Wings to win two playoff rounds the year after losing the Cup final, however, they know there is much more work needed.
"We can and we're going to have to (raise our game)," Penguins forward Bill Guerin said.
The Penguins did a lot of things right in getting past the Philadelphia Flyers in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, capped by rallying from a 3-0 second-period deficit for a series-clinching 5-3 victory Saturday in Game 6. But the one glaring problem is the Penguins' power play, which went 0-for-3 in Game 6 and 1-for-19 over the final four games of the series.
That's not what you expect from a team that can trot out two of the League's top three scorers, one of the elite offensive-minded defensemen of his generation and a dominant net-front presence on its first power-play unit.
But rather than produce at prodigious levels, they showed decent puck movement, but an inability to get shots through to the net -- or even to take shots.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=420178Bruins focusing on second round, not sweep of rivals
The Boston Garden was shaking, the fans united in a thunderous ovation one April night in 1992. Peter Douris had just scored an empty-netter to seal the deal for the Bruins and finish an improbable sweep of the rival Canadiens. Hats, shirts -- even a burning Canadiens jersey -- littered the ice.
For that Bruins team, beating the hated Habs was its own mini-version of winning the Stanley Cup. But for the current Bruins, who repeated what that 1992 team did, sweeping Montreal in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the satisfaction became a memory immediately.
The Bruins are ready to move on and get back to business. That's not surprising. Since the 2008-09 season started, and even more so since the playoffs began, this team has been all business.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=419940
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