Hurricanes' Ward Outlasts Bruins' Thomas

The fans were proclaiming, “We want it!”

What did they get?

It was entertaining. It was exciting. It was cause to stay home ill on Friday morning, for Boston Bruins fan.

Be careful; be very careful for what you ask.

As predicted, goaltenders Cam Ward of the Hurricanes and the Bruins' Tim Thomas dueled to the end. Thomas went nearly forty minutes of play without giving up a goal, but it was not enough to withstand the Hurricanes’ gale. Ward kept his perfect record for game seven in the playoffs.

6:19 into the third period, Boston’s Milan Lucic positioned himself in front of the net, took the pass, and scored to tie up the game.

At the end of three hard fought periods that produced a 2-2 tie, both teams were worn, like two boxers at the end of the fourteenth round.

Overtime was shift for shift, shot for shot, until Walker of the Hurricanes scored the winning goal with nearly a minute left of the overtime period.

There is no blame here unless you want to place some on the NHL office for allowing Walker to even be on the ice. To compare the teams’ game stats is like comparing similar resumes and wondering why the other person got the job.

The difference in this game was just one shot. The Hurricanes managed to get one more shot on goal than the Bruins.