Hurricanes suddenly twisting and turning
There would be no Jussi Jokinen magic on this night, no dancing in front of the net by Sergei Samsonov, no muscling through the slot by Eric Staal, no last-minute heroics. On this night, Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, there would be no heroics of any kind and nothing to celebrate for the Hurricanes.
They had an opportunity to close out the Bruins in this best-of-seven series and couldn't do it. They couldn't even come close, as Boston rolled to a 4-0 win at TD Banknorth Garden.
The venue switches to the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C., for Game 6 tomorrow night.
Last night was all Bruins and the score was merely a small indication of how much the Canes were dominated. They didn't have a shot in the opening period until the 11:04 mark, when Staal teed up a slapper from the left circle. The Hurricanes finished the game with 19 shots.
The Bruins turned the tables on the Canes, who had been more intense, more productive, more determined in the previous two games. Last night, that wasn't the case. If the Hurricanes had a pulse, it was hard to find.
Afterward, the Canes were terse with their answers, glum in demeanor, and said little other than, "We didn't play well, we need to play better." There was very little in the way of elaboration.
Carolina coach Paul Maurice said it was like watching the opposite of Game 4, a 4-1 victory for the Hurricanes.
"We weren't very quick, which is a real big part of our game," he said. "That affects everything else that we do. It's the driving force in our game."
Maurice and his coaching staff attempted to make adjustments during the game to get the Hurricanes going but nothing worked.
On the Boston side, there was passion; if the Bruins lost, their season was over. But passion was lacking in the Canes.
"I thought there was a lot of emotion by both teams in the last game early on, especially," said Maurice. "We weren't really able to generate anything to build on so ours stayed pretty much at the same level, I think, the whole night."
When Carolina was playing New Jersey in the first round, it fell behind, one game to none, two games to one, and three games to two before rallying to win Games 6 and 7. Maurice said he's expecting that type of resilience tomorrow night.
"It's part of the learning process of the playoffs," he said. "This game wasn't a whole lot different than the last game in reverse, almost two to one in shots [40-19]; one team got rolling and the other team didn't. They did a good job coming back. They were ready to play, as we expected. We're going to have the same challenge ahead of us. We had to win our last Game 6 or else, and we had to win our last Game 7 or else, so we've been in the situation. We've got to find a place to win one more."
The Canes might be without one of their players tomorrow night. Scott Walker punched Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward in the face late in the game and might be facing a suspension. A determination from the NHL could come today.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com. 
