Canes-Bruins: Cardiac Canes Do It Again in Game Three

He is becoming a popular name in hockey, and he is becoming a popular name in Raleigh.

His name is Jussi Jokinen.

"The Juice" scored in sudden death against the Bruins to give the Hurricanes their second straight win against the Bruins and give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead in the series.

Jokinen scored after a steal in sudden death, and the puck trickled in front of the net until Jokinen put it home on Thomas.

The Bruins took the early lead as Milan Lucic powered his way in front of the net and put one in on Cam Ward.  Lucic has been a strong force for the Bruins in these playoffs, but he scored his first goal of the playoffs tonight to give the Bruins the 1-0 lead.

The Carolina crowd heated up in the second period, after an interference call by Michael Ryder led to many scoring chances on the delayed penalty. Ward was out of net for nearly a minute and the Canes had four scoring chances by Ray Whitney. With the crowd behind the Hurricanes, an Eric Staal steal led to an easy powerplay goal on Tim Thomas to tie the game at one.

A minute later, the Hurricanes crowd pumped up after the Staal goal roared some more, and a beautiful pass by Scott Walker one-timed by Sergei Samsonov led to Samsonov's first goal of the 2009 playoffs.

In the third period, former member of the 2005 Stanley Cup Carolina Hurricanes team, Mark Recchi scored his first goal of the postseason on Ward to tie the game at two.

As easy as it is to say this was a close game because it went to overtime, the Hurricanes controlled every aspect of the game. The Hurricanes out shot the Bruins, they were laying more hits, more steals, and the Hurricanes crowd was in it the full 62 minutes.

With the goal by Staal, it leads to my favorite Hurricanes stat of the postseason. In games where Staal has a goal in the postseason, the Hurricanes are now 6-0. In games where Staal doesn't have a goal, the Hurricanes are 0-4.

Jokinen has just been phenomenal in the postseason. He has more goals in the postseason then in the regular season.

His goals include a game-winning goal with 0.2 seconds on the clock against Martin Brodeur, a game tying goal in game seven against the Devils, and now a game-winning goal in sudden death of game three against the Bruins.

Jussi "the Juice" Jokinen may be getting a new nickname in Raleigh. Jussi has just been clutch this postseason.