Carolina Hurricanes Team Report

The Hurricanes fell far out of character in losing Game 5 against Boston, so they'll need to show the ability to turn it around for Tuesday night's Game 6 in Raleigh, where a standing-room only crowd showed up for last week's Game 4. The biggest concern should be that Game 5 went so far out of the norm for the Hurricanes, who hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. They've been much better than that in protecting their end of the ice. And when the play becomes free-flowing to a degree, they've upheld their end of that as well. So they'll aim to quickly establish some offense so that the Bruins have to pay attention to that end of the ice. Otherwise, goalie Cam Ward is going to be busy again and the Hurricanes can't expect him to withstand the constant pressure that he faced in Game 5. "We didn't play well enough and they had a good game," center Eric Staal said. "We need to regroup and forget it. It's one game. It's playoffs." The Hurricanes haven't lost consecutive games in the postseason this year, so they know how to recover. But what they did to Boston in Game 4 became a reversal of sorts in Game 5 and there's no telling what kind of trend could develop. The Hurricanes have counted on their playoff experience, something that extends to the 2006 championship team, to get them through postseason ruts. But that doesn't explain how they managed on four second-period shots or why they became so distracted that 11 different players took penalties. BRUINS 4, HURRICANES 0: Not only did the Hurricanes fail to come back from a two-goal, first-period deficit, they showed no signs that they would stage a rally. They produced only 19 shots and clearly seemed out of their element as they were distracted into 17 penalties in the game. After winning three games in a row in the series, the Hurricanes anticipated a spirited response from Boston. But for a team that has played well in some playoff road games, this was a disturbing performance.NOTES, QUOTESThe series is even in terms of scoring at 11-11, even though the Hurricanes lead the series by one game going to Game 6. The Hurricanes are 4-1 at home in the postseason this year and they insist they receive more than an ordinary lift playing in front of a loud home crowd. "The crowd gets going and we get going," coach Paul Maurice said.The Hurricanes were shut out in a Game 5 for the second series in a row. They lost by 1-0 in the first round at New Jersey in the fifth game, then responded to win the next two games. But the big difference is that in the New Jersey shutout loss, the Hurricanes played their style in a back-and-forth game full of chances. Such opportunities were mostly absent against Boston in Game 5.QUOTE TO NOTE: "We played two pretty good games at home (before this loss) and we have to play like that. All that matters is the next game." LW Jussi Jokinen, after the Hurricanes failed to close out the series in Game 5 against Boston. If the Hurricanes don't win Game 6 on Tuesday night, the franchise will go to a seventh game for the fourth consecutive playoff series (dating back to the last two series in 2006).ROSTER REPORT GOALTENDERS: Cam Ward, Michael Leighton. DEFENSEMEN: Tim Gleason, Dennis Seidenberg, Niclas Wallin, Joni Pitkanen, Anton Babchuk, Joe Corvo. FIRST LINE: Ray Whitney, Eric Staal, Chad LaRose. SECOND LINE: Erik Cole, Matt Cullen, Tuomu Ruutu. THIRD LINE: Sergei Samsonov, Jussi Jokinen, Patrick Eaves. FOURTH LINE: Tim Conboy, Rod Brind'Amour, Scott Walker. PLAYER NOTES:RW Scott Walker joined in on the rough stuff when Game 5 got out of hand. That's his role, to some degree, and he's more than willing to try to draw attention to himself so some of his teammates don't have to deal with the many post-whistle scrums that developed. He ended up with 17 penalty minutes, including a misconduct, in the game.D Joni Pitkanen has been one of the quiet contributors for the Hurricanes during the postseason. His ability to pinch in from the blue line has created scoring chances, even doing so in what was an otherwise dismal Game 5 performance for the Hurricanes. He accounted for two of the three shots on goal from the team's defensemen in the game.LW Jussi Jokinen had become the new playoff hero for the Hurricanes, but that was halted in Game 5 when he managed only one shot on goal. Still, for a player who appeared in only 25 regular-season games with the team, he has a rather expanded role. He takes regular shifts on power plays and in penalty killing. And it was the even-strength play that was most harmful to the Hurricanes in the latest game. MEDICAL WATCH:LW Ryan Bayda missed his second game in a row because of illness. His status is day-to-day for Tuesday night's Game 6 in Raleigh.