(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
"I'm ten years older then Staal and Ward and I learn more from them every day," a tearful Scott Walker said in a postgame interview after he scored the game winning goal in Boston on the road in game seven to advance the Hurricanes into the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Scott Walker has been in the NHL since 1994, but the 35 year old has only played in 11 career playoff games before this season. Tonight was his 25th career playoff game, and in that game, he scored his first career playoff goal, a game-winning goal on Tim Thomas with 1:12 left in the first overtime.
In a game that was equally balanced on both sides, Boston got the game started with an early goal by one of the most underrated players of the playoffs Byron Bitz.
Later in the first period, Dennis Seidenberg took a slap shot from the blue line that Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour tipped in through the five hole of Tim Thomas to tie the game at one.
In the Second Period, Sergei Samsonov scored his fourth goal of the playoffs as he put one past Tim Thomas to make the score 2-1.
It took six minutes into the third period for Milan Lucic to put one top shelf on Cam Ward to tie the game at two and later force overtime.
In a winded overtime that saw the Hurricanes lose Rod Brind'Amour and Jussi Jokinen leave the game, and leave the Hurricanes with two centers, Ray Whitney took a shot on goal in which Tim Thomas left the rebound out and Scotty Walker barely knocked it out of the air, and put it past Tim Thomas to give the game, series, and match to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Hats off to the Boston Bruins who may be a first seeded team, and may have lost, but definitely played a seven game series as hard as a team could play. They were beaten by the better team. Marc Savard, Tim Thomas, and Milan Lucic played about as good as three players could play in the playoffs. Hats off to those three.
The Penguins and Hurricanes faced off four times in the regular season, in which the Penguins won two games, and the Hurricanes won two games. But in all honesty, these stats don't matter anyway.
The sports experts picked New Jersey to beat the Hurricanes. The sports experts picked Boston to beat the Hurricanes. Without a doubt, the sports experts will pick Pittsburgh to beat the Hurricanes.
They aren't called the Cardiac Canes for nothing. It's hard to bet against a team that has nothing to lose.
We're going to send you the most entertaining Carolina Hurricanes articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
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