The Hurricanes, little more bother than a misty rain in Game 1, came back strong in Game 2 of their playoff series with the Bruins last night at the Garden.
Carolina was smarter with the puck, far more physical around it, and much better able to deal with the imposing defensive force that is Zdeno Chara. In fact, the key to the game turning Carolina's way came on Chara's poor pass to fellow point man Dennis Wideman, ultimately leading to a shorthanded goal in the second period.
"Just one breakdown among the many we had tonight," said Boston coach Claude Julien after the 3-0 loss.
Yes, one blatant boo-boo, but one that was both telling and incriminating. With the Bruins working with their first power play, Chara, manning the left point, attempted a somewhat lackadaisical relay to Wideman at the opposite point. Chad LaRose, cheating high near the penalty box, picked off the relay and made tracks for the opposite end of the ice, with Wideman and Chara in hot pursuit.
The pesky LaRose didn't go directly down Broadway to try to beat Tim Thomas, but instead tried a curl and tuck near the left post, which left him unable to nudge the puck over the goal line. It was at that moment, had the Bruins been on their game, that LaRose should have been rubbed off the puck, if not delivered to Palookaville.
Instead, a bad play only grew worse when both Chara and Wideman attempted to take LaRose out behind the goal line, which left Matt Cullen free in the slot to cash in LaRose's quick dish. Carolina, 2-0. For the first time in the postseason, the Bruins would carry a deficit into the second intermission.
"I'd have to look at the tape to know exactly what happened there," said Wideman about the LaRose-to-Cullen strike. "But basically I think Z and I got a little confused there. Instead of one of us going at [LaRose], we both went. Normally, if we're sharp, and we're not sure which one of us is going take him, we'll just stay out front. We don't go if we're not sure. So that was a little mishap there."
This wasn't the Canes team that showed up dead on double runners in Game 1, still feeling the emotional and physical effects from wringing out a first-round victory with a dramatic Game 7 win over the Devils. Coach Paul Maurice gave his charges a day off Saturday to regroup, and they arrived on Causeway Street with much improved competitiveness against the Eastern Conference regular-season champions.
"They had a lot more jump than we did," noted Wideman. "We expected they would be better. And we didn't up our game."
Through the first two periods, the Bruins, though not horrible, were pretty much the same bunch that eased their way through Friday night's Game 1. With the Canes so downright hospitable, and downright messy in the neutral zone, the Bruins had an even easier time beating them than they did in wiping out the Habs.
Not so in Game 2. The Canes were sharper with their passes and noticeably stiffer with their checks. Late in the third period, big-bodied Erik Cole put a good lick on Chara behind the goal line. It wasn't a hit that dented the Boston big man, but it was one that Maurice no doubt will show again and again in today's tape review, noting that, yes, even Chara can take a lickin'.
Maurice, slow to tinker with his lines in Game 1, began mixing and matching early in Game 2, sometimes doubleshifting his prized pivot, Eric Staal, but leaving him most of the night on an effective trio with Ray Whitney and Cole. Staal, without a point in four regular-season games vs. the Bruins, and blanked again in Game 1, aided in Joe Corvo's goal that provided the 1-0 lead in the second. He also swept home the empty-netter at 19:32 for the emphatic series equalizer.
"We knew they were going to be a lot better and smarter," acknowledged Boston wing Michael Ryder, who appeared to have the lead cut to 2-1 late in the third period, only to have Cam Ward negate his power-play attempt with a quick left pad save. "For two periods, they wanted it more than we did. Then in the third period, when we finally decided to play the way we know we can, Ward really made some great saves. We were too late getting our game going."
All of which points to the nine-day delay the Bruins endured after sweeping Les Glorieux in Round 1. Two games into Round 2, the Bruins have yet to approximate the speed, passion, or execution they showed during the four games against Montreal. No one truly could have expected them to run the table against the Canes, too. After all, the Bruins have not swept back-to-back series since ousting Chicago and St. Louis, 4-0 each, en route to winning the Cup in 1970.
The Canes, though, have found some confidence - something the Canadiens never located in Round 1. They also know they'll be better able to steer Staal wide of Chara now that the series will move to Raleigh for Games 3-4. The Hurricanes, not the Bruins, will be entitled to the final line change. Which means Julien will have to be quick to signal for Chara to jump over the boards to apply his infamous Slovak "gotcha" hold on Staal, the slick Canes pivot.
What we have here, for the first time in the 2009 postseason, is a true playoff series for the Bruins. That no doubt will cause some of their faithful followers to squirm a little. Perhaps they - the Bruins and their followers - had grown a little too comfy. Well, six games into the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins are out of their comfort zone, and how they respond to that ultimately could determine whether they win their first Cup since 1972.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. 
