If you're looking for the blueprint to beat the Boston Bruins in 2011-12, all you have to do is seek out the Carolina Hurricanes. For some unknown reason, the worst team in the Eastern Conference completely owns the B's.
Carolina (19-25-9) wrapped up the first season sweep (4 games!) in franchise (Hartford Whalers/'Canes) history by dispatching Boston (32-15-2) 3-0 this evening at TD Garden.
The B's submitted arguably their worst effort of the season; Tuukka Rask (28 saves; 11-6-2) actually played pretty well but he couldn't make up for the listless play in front of him. Truth be told it could have been uglier too since Carolina hit the post twice.
Cam Ward stopped an NHL-high 47 shots to earn his third shutout of the season. However, don't be fooled by the gaudy numbers. Boston looked like the team from a few years ago that would constantly settle for shots from the point. Even worse, they didn't get any traffic in front of Ward.
Boston outshot Carolina 22(tied for their most in a period this season)-8 in the first and 20-9 in the third but it was all window dressing. Ward was never really tested. If it's possible to make that many saves and get a shutout but not be too impressive, this was it.
Bruins killer Eric Staal (12th of the season) made it 1-0 at 11:51 after a nice feed from Jiri Tlusty. Johnny Boychuk got a butt end to his midsection so he went down on the play which created the easy chance for the Hurricanes.
Tuomo Ruutu (16th of the season), who could be traded soon, put in a rebound at 16:41 of the second to make it 2-0.
Any thoughts of another two-goal rally by the B's, something they did on Tuesday vs. Ottawa, were quickly erased as Brandon Sutter (12th of the season) put it out of reach at 3:13 of the third.
It's strange to say this but thank God the Bruins don't have to see the Hurricanes again this season (yes I'm assuming they won't make the playoffs). This was only the third time that Boston had been shutout in 2011-12.
This weekend is a vital one for the B's in terms of the Eastern Conference standings since they host Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon then go back to D.C. on Sunday afternoon to face the Capitals.
The last time they played on Dec. 5, the Bruins won 3-1 in Pittsburgh. That was nearly two months ago and the Penguins have been one of the NHL's hottest teams so Boston will need to shake off this funk they've been in lately; they haven't won two in a row in three weeks and they're 4-4-1 in their last nine games.
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