"I think we came up with the game we needed," said defenseman Dennis Wideman. "Now we have to go back to Carolina, and we know what the atmosphere is there."
The atmosphere was pretty festive at the Garden last night, too, thanks to a Bruins performance that featured just about everything that had resulted in 53 regular-season wins and 116 points. The Bruins hit, the Bruins skated, and the Bruins got outstanding goaltending when needed from Tim Thomas.
"We won the puck races and we won the puck battles," said Milan Lucic, who scored the fourth goal on a blistering shot and who had his share of big hits.
They like to talk about winning the so-called one-on-one battles in this sport. On this occasion the Bruins won the one-on-one battles, the two-on-two battles, the three-on-three battles, and just about every battle, right up to the final 18-on-18 battle itself.
There was simply no question which team deserved to win this game.
Watching this game, as opposed to Games 2, 3, and 4, you can easily understand how the Bruins won all four regular-season contests with the Canes by a combined score of 18-6. This game was a complete form reversal of the last three.
"We did a better job of getting the puck in so we could put pressure on them," said Wideman. "Overall, we moved the puck better and we skated better. We moved our feet well."
And they hit. Boy, did they hit. There were three big hits in one shift - two by Zdeno Chara and one by Chuck Kobasew, prior to the third goal, the second of two Phil Kessel scores.
"We were making the hits when they were there," Wideman explained. "In the last two games we were trying to make hits that weren't there, and we were getting picked apart. Tonight we did a better job of making the hits that really were there."
It was all Bruins, all the time, right from the start. The Hurricanes didn't even have an official shot on goal until 11-plus minutes had elapsed. But it just so happened it was a big one.
It's almost a goalie's nightmare. A goalie needs a little early action just to get the juices flowing. But the Bruins were so dominant in the first eight-plus minutes, putting eight legitimate shots on Cam Ward, that Thomas was getting stale.
And then it happened.
