Hurricanes Storm Back to Upset New Jersey

The Carolina Hurricanes have made themselves the official underdogs in the Eastern Conference, managing to pull off the only upset of the first round in their conference. Jussi Jokinen scored with a little over a minute left in Game 7 to tie the game and bring the Hurricanes back from the brink of extinction. The game looked destined for overtime, but less than 50 seconds later, team scoring leader Eric Staal threw a shot on net from the right wing boards, and it managed to squeeze past Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur.

In the most back and forth series of the playoffs, the Hurricanes were the team with bigger hearts, and perhaps the most luck, as they were able to knock off the Atlantic Division champion Devils and their marquee netminder. The teams traded victories for the first four games of the series, and both teams won their individual home games in Games 5 and 6. New Jersey looked like they would continue the trend, after Brian Rolston ripped a one time slap shot over the shoulder of Canes goalie Cam Ward. The puck had come across ice on an attempted pass and bounced off the boards. Instead of corralling the puck before shooting, Rolston was able to redirect it just under the crossbar and put the Devils in the lead.

With less than 2 minutes left to play, no one really thought that the Hurricanes would be able to tie it, let alone win it. But a spectacular diving play to keep the puck alive in the offensive zone by Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason enabled his defensive partner, Joni Pitkanen, to make a beautiful pass across the entire zone to find Jokinen waiting below the faceoff dot. As the crowd still sat in shock and began to prepare for overtime, one of the weakest shots Brodeur may have ever allowed in trickled under his blocker and sent the Devils home for the summer.

The Canes will meet the top-seeded Boston Bruins in the next round, and this Game 7 was the last and final game of the first round of the 2009 postseason.