Hurricanes used to stepping up

When the Carolina Hurricanes were battling the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, they constantly were playing catch-up hockey. They trailed one game to none, two games to one, three games to two, and twice had to dig deep in elimination games.

In Game 6, they shut out the Devils, 4-0, at home and then rallied to a 4-3 win in Game 7.

They are in a different place now, given that they are still up, three games to two, against the Bruins, but a very poor outing in Game 5 - the Bruins dominated all aspects of the game in a 4-0 victory - means they need to pick up their game again.

That will require matching the Bruins in terms of passion, execution, and determination. What's interesting is that there are certain teams against whom the hate from Boston is built in: Montreal, the Rangers, the annoying Sabres. There was plenty of antagonism between the Bruins and the Hartford Whalers, but since the franchise moved to Carolina, there has been very little in the way of anger between Boston and the Hurricanes. Until now.

"I think what happens is, the final score dictates how much emotion you think your team has played with," said Carolina coach Paul Maurice. "And that's understandable, that's what this is all about and handling those emotions. We've seen that kind of hockey.

"I think the Jersey-Carolina series was very cleanly played, and even then, there was some name-calling at different points. You see it in all the series when you watch these games, there seems to be a fair amount of contact after the whistle."

When Maurice was coaching in 2002 and the team went as far as the Stanley Cup finals, only to be eliminated by Detroit in five games, the Hurricanes were very much flying under the radar. They are again this season, to a point, but the expectations, after the team won its first Stanley Cup in 2006 under coach Peter Laviolette, are different.

"We were surviving on a daily basis that year, it was all brand new to us," said Maurice, referring to 2002. "We've been under the radar here and that's after an Eastern Conference championship and a Stanley Cup championship, but that Jersey series is the first seven-game series the franchise has won. I don't think anybody watched it until it got to the final. It's a completely different set of expectations for our team. There's a whole different feel to the locker room now."

Speaking of antagonism, the Canes will have forward Scott Walker in the lineup tonight. The NHL fined him $2,500 for punching Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward in the face at 17:13 of the third period in Game 5 Sunday, but he will not be suspended. Maurice doesn't think the Walker punch is going to serve as a turning point, sparking a Bruins comeback. "I don't think so," he said. "The game is still played between the whistles, and neither team can afford to spend that much time in the penalty box in Games 6 and 7 of a series. If it's good, clean, hard hockey and lots of hitting because both teams have emotion, that's the way the game should be played. If it spills over to after whistles, then the officials will have to make a decision on how tight they want to call that and what messages they're going to send."

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.