2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog - Conference Semifinals

Neither Boston or Carolina practiced today. The Hurricanes huddled at the RBC Center for meetings and media availability. The Bruins stayed at their hotel.

"We're not in trouble," Claude Julien said at the team hotel. "We're in a series, a hard-fought series. What we have to do is get our game going in the right direction, which means a commitment to outworking the other team and a commitment to making better decisions.

"Again, it's a mindset. We've struggled the last couple games, but there's ups and downs to a season. You win a game, you're Stanley Cup contenders. You lose one, you're in trouble. That's what you have to face every day. We just have to keep our focus on what we have to do, believe in ourselves, and go out and do it. We're very capable of doing that."

Carolina, up 2-1 in the series, has thoroughly outplayed Boston in the last two matches. Paul Maurice credited the Hurricanes' need to scrap for a playoff spot as good preparation for the postseason.

"We're a team that has to fight very hard to make the playoffs," Maurice said. "It doesn't mean we're not a very good team. It just means we're going to play a lot of tight, pressure-filled games.

"We've been talking about making the playoffs here since January of this year. All those games and all that pressure, when you get to the playoffs, they've lived through it. They've experienced it."

No weaknesses in Boston’s game

While being up 2-1 in the series, Maurice sounded like a coach who knows how dangerous the Bruins can be, despite scoring only two goals in the last two games.

“They were very good all year,” Maurice said. “There’s two numbers: their offence and their defence. Their ability to score goals and defend so well means that there’s not a hole there. We’re not exploiting any weakness in the Bruins’ game. They don’t really have any.

"They have a great goaltender. Their back end is big and strong. They’ve got some great transition forwards up front. I don’t sense in this series that we would ever look beyond a game and say, ‘Hey, now we’ve got them where we want them.’ “

Nothing but pluses from Jokinen

On Feb. 27, the Hurricanes acquired Jussi Jokinen from Tampa Bay for Wade Brookbank, Josef Melichar, and a 2009-fourth round pick. It didn't take long for Maurice to see that Jokinen, who scored the overtime winner in Game 3, was going to be an asset for his new club.

"We were in Phoenix and we were a little bit beat up," Maurice recalled. "He got word that he had been traded. The obvious thing would have been to have him fly in from Tampa and join us.

"He got there five or 10 minutes before the game started. When Jim [Rutherford] said, 'What do you want to do?' He says, 'I want to play. I want to be there.' So he got on a plane, flew out to Phoenix, missed the warm-up, went out and played a great game. That desire and want to be part of the group is the first thing you notice. We used him in a bunch of different roles, and he excelled in all of them."

Jokinen tapped home the rebound of a Sergei Samsonov backhand shot to beat Tim Thomas in OT Thursday.

No update on Ference, Wheeler

Julien declined to disclose whether Andrew Ference or Blake Wheeler will be available tomorrow.

Ference looked like he aggravated a lower-body injury in the second period when he was checked into the boards by Scott Walker. Ference skated only three shifts in the second period and didn't play in the third period or overtime.

Wheeler was hurt while blocking a shot in the second period. Wheeler underwent X-rays after the game... Julien said the flu-like symptoms that held Chuck Kobasew out of practice on Tuesday have not spread throughout the dressing room...Last week, Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron were under the weather but didn't miss any time.