Ladies and gentlemen, defenseman Tim Gleason. While the Caps beat the Rangers 2-1 in their game 7 and assured the playoffs will have another round of Ovie after there was some concern, the Whole Gales of Carolina snatched victory from defeat in the swamps of Jersey. Trailing 3-2 with less than 2 minutes in the 3rd period, Carolina launched a furious rally that started with Gleason keeping the puck in the zone with 1:24 left. Gleason dove to his knees to prevent the puck from crossing the blue line and it found its way to Jussi Jokinen, who scored the game-winner in game 4 with .2 seconds left, and he put it in with 1:20 to go.
Not only did Gleason keep the puck in the zone and help get it around to Jokinen, but it also left enough time for Carolina to get the goal that put them ahead thanks to the handywork of Eric Staal.
There were so many great players and both teams gave great efforts in the series that it would be foolish to label one player as the definite MVP, but without Gleason's save, it is doubtful that Carolina would have been able to score one let alone two goals in the final 1:20.
While Carolina celebrates and now must face the 1 seed Boston Bruins and their anti-jerseytucking bear, the Devils are left to swallow sadness.
Wednesday, April 29
Your Carolina MVP Of The Series
Wednesday, April 22
Carolina is Short On Flags
Far be it from me take away from what was an incredible playoff game last night, but I have a slight problem with the Carolina Hurricanes alternate logo. First off, the Canes won last night 4-3 on a goal by Jussi Jokinen's deflection off a shot by Dennis Seidenberg with .2 seconds left. Martin Brodeur was not happy with the goal as he thoguht he was interfered with but the replay pretty much shows Jokinen was outside the crease and the goal was legit. Carolina evened the series at 2-2 in what has been an entertaining contest between these two teams.
That brings me to my bone to pick with the Canes. Having cheered many years for a team named the Hurricanes myself, the alternate logo for Carolina which they are using more and more and is emblazened on their shoulders looks like this:
Looks appropo right? The flag is bent by the breeze and the team colors match the warning flag colors. However, the correct flag signal for a hurricane is two flags not one. Observe:
The local FSN channel where the game was shown had many shots of fans tailgaiting outside the RBC Center in Raleigh and many were waving a single flag instead of the double. Either they should add a second flag or change their name to the Carolina Tropical Storms. Hey, Tropical Storms are nothing to mess with, they can drop copius amounts of rainfall and cause inland flooding. Assuming they want to keep the Hurricane name, the flags should start looking like this:
I guess that is what happens when you name your franchise for a meteorological event that strikes coastlines when you are situated over 100 miles from the coast.
Brodeur furious, then calm, after goal with :00.2 left [NHL.com]
