CBC-Sports

Ward 3-0 in Game 7 appearances

May 14, 2009 02:59 PM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

Marc Savard briefly participated in the morning skate and will be in the lineup tonight, according to Boston's head coach Claude Julien. Savard was not available for comment.

The Bruins' forward hurt his right knee in the third period of Game 6 when he collided with Chad LaRose.

Boston's expected lineup

Lucic-Savard-Kessel
Bitz-Krejci-Ryder
Recchi-Bergeron-Kobasew
Axelsson-Yelle-Thornton

Chara-Ward
Montador-Wideman
Stuart-Hnidy

Thomas
Fernandez

Carolina's expected lineup

The Hurricanes, losers of the last two, could get Frantisek Kaberle into the lineup in place of Anton Babchuk. It would Kaberle's series debut. The defenceman last appeared in Game 5 of the first round.

Paul Maurice declined to answer whether he'll make any lineup changes. If Kaberle goes in, here's how the Hurricanes would look:

Whitney-Staal-Cole
Samsonov-Jokinen-Ruutu
LaRose-Cullen-Walker
Bayda-Brind'Amour-Eaves

Gleason-Corvo
Pitkanen-Seidenberg
Wallin-Kaberle

Ward
Leighton

Calm before the storm

Paul Maurice didn't sound discouraged about entering tonight's Game 7 as losers of the last two matches. Instead, the Hurricanes are emphasizing that they have won three games during this round and are looking for a fourth.

"Regardless of how you got here, it's 3-3 and we earned all three of the ones we won," Maurice said. "They did on the ones they won. They were better than we were. Game 7 is not by default. We don't feel lucky to be here. We feel excited to be here."

Despite watching his team lose Games 5 and 6, Maurice said he will not be making any significant changes to his planning entering tonight's Game 7.

"You're not going to see any major style changes from either team. This is Game 7 in Round 2," said Maurice. "There's no huge departures from what we try to establish. You want your bench to feel good that it's working -- that the jump's there and the decisions we're making on the ice are the ones we want to make and feel good about it. You have a platform to build on."

Just another seventh for Ward

Tonight will be Cam Ward's fourth career playoff Game 7. Ward has won all three previous ones, including Game 7 in the 2005-06 Cup final. Ward has never lost a playoff series in his career.

"He's not only played in Game 7s but the Game 7, the ultimate Game 7, and given up one," Maurice said. "Confidence and experience go hand in hand at times. We have seen such fine play out of Cam for this whole year. The last four months of his play have been just fantastic. We feel good about having him in our net."

Ward was beaten by four Boston pucks in Game 6, but didn't have much chance at stopping any of them.

"Just the mental makeup of being a goaltender, I guess, and having some fun with it," Ward said of enjoying the high-pressure moments of series-clinching games. "This is why we play the game, to play in these opportunities, and hopefully rise to the occasion."

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