Playing for their lives for the second consecutive game, the Bruins put themselves in position to make history. Before 18,680 at the RBC Center, the Bruins grabbed a 4-2 win over the reeling Hurricanes to set up tomorrow night's Game 7 at TD Banknorth Garden.
The Bruins, who never have rallied from a 3-1 hole to win a playoff series, have all the momentum heading into tomorrow.
"It's pretty high," forward Byron Bitz said of the team's confidence level. "We knew it was in here all the time. It was just a matter of getting that attitude. Unfortunately, it took right until we couldn't afford to lose again for us to wake up enough to really start playing the way we should be.
"Now we're rolling along. Confidence is high. We know we need to battle every shift. It's not over yet. We need to play hard in Game 7."
The Bruins weren't as dominant last night as they were in Sunday's 4-0 win in Game 5. But two first-period goals gave them the cushion they would need. The Bruins opened the scoring when Chuck Kobasew won a puck battle in the defensive zone and chipped it off the wall to Patrice Bergeron. The center shook off Erik Cole's backcheck and slid a cross-crease pass under defenseman Anton Babchuk to Mark Recchi, who tapped it home at 2:01.
Then after some strong cycling by the Bruins, Steve Montador found the puck on his stick at the left point. Bitz gained position on Jussi Jokinen to set a screen on goalie Cam Ward, and Montador smoked a slap shot into the net at 5:04.
"We got in there and got a really good shift," Bitz said. "We were working them down and working down low. That opens up the points like we've talked about all along. I was just trying to get a good screen. Monty made a great shot that went in."
Carolina center Matt Cullen made it a 2-1 game in the second period, but the Bruins seemingly sucked the life out of the Hurricanes with a pair of goals in the middle frame. First, Milan Lucic powered his way through three Carolina sticks, then set up Marc Savard for Boston's third goal at 8:53. Then Kobasew drove to the net and batted in a Bergeron feed at 18:03.
