The B's Come Out Raging In Grudge Match With Carolina

The Bruins showed what they are truly made of in their Quarterfinals rematch with the Carolina Hurricanes. The team showed the grit, determination and toughness that Boston fans expect of their team as well as showing that the opening night loss to Washington was an aberration.

The home team's 7-2 shelling of the Hurricanes was also pay back for the Bruins early exit from last year's playoffs. Seven different Bruins scored goals with Marc Savard leading the overall scoring with 1 goal and 2 assists. Tim Thomas was solid in net stopping 25 of 27 shots. Milan Lucic had an assist and won another heavyweight bout exciting the capacity crowd at the Garden.

The Bruins did draw a fair share of penalties which they were able to kill. Drawing too many penalties is a recipe for disaster and this is something that the team needs to work on. Claude Julien was satisfied with his team's effort and knows that there are still some areas for improvement, penalties being one of them.

All-in-all it was a great effort put forth by the team and it is definitely a positive building block. The Bruins displayed the hunger which propelled them to the Eastern Conference Championship last night. Sure, their opponent was Carolina but it does not matter. They need play hungry and aggressive against all of their opponents. If they had shown the same grit against Washington on opening night, then they would be 2-0 right now.

Regardless, the Bruins need to keep their focus, play agressive and watch the penalties. If they can maintain this and not be affected by the injury bug, it should be another exciting season.