Will the real Boston Bruins please stand up?

Call it a hangover from the first round cakewalk or simply two straight dogshit efforts, whatever the case the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Boston Bruins, 3-2 last night in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

After a piss poor display in Game 2, you had to figure that the B's would bounce back at the RBC Center. Not so much. Carolina outshot them 41-23 and Boston was frankly lucky just to get it to overtime.

Milan Lucic put the Bruins up 1-0 in the first period with assists to Dennis Wideman and Marc Savard.

Carolina answered in a big way with two goals late in the second period.

With 3:11 left in the period, Eric Staal scored an unassisted power play goal after stripping the puck from Boston defenseman Steve Montador behind the Bruins' net.

1:09 later, old friend Sergei Samsonov one-timed a nice pass home from Scott Walker (Jussi Jokinen started the sequence).

At 9:03 in the third period, Mark Recchi tied it at two with a deflection of a Chuck Kobasew shot. Montador also assisted.

The Hurricanes buzzed the Boston end for most of the game but Bruins goalie Tim Thomas (38 saves) played great as he kept his team in it.

Boston actually had a few prime chances at the beginning of overtime but Cam Ward (21 saves) shut them down. Just 2:48 into overtime, Jokinen scored by poking home a rebound of a Samsonov shot. Tuomo Ruutu also had an assist.

To see Boston play not one but two consecutive terrible games in a row, at this time in the season, is surprising to say the least but it happens. Detroit (the best team in the West) also faces a 2-1 deficit on the road against the Ducks tonight.

The B's have to find their game in a hurry tomorrow night or else they'll be going back to the Garden, down 3-1 to a very solid club.

Cam Ward and his Conn Smythe trophy say hi

A funny thing happened on the way to winning the 2009 Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins. Somebody decided to give them a game.

Dreams of a 16-0 streak to the Cup were erased last night as Carolina thoroughly outplayed Boston when it mattered and came away with a 3-0 win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Garden.

Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward was the story as he stopped all 36 shots in recording his fourth career shutout. It's easy to forget but he was the playoff MVP when Carolina came out of nowhere to win the Cup in 2006.

After a scoreless first period, the second period was when the game was lost for the B's.

At 2:30 Carolina defenseman Joe Corvo blasted a slap shot past a screened Tim Thomas (22 saves). Erik Cole and Eric Staal assisted on the goal.

Just over five minutes later, Matt Cullen scored a short-handed goal for the Hurricanes. Zdeno Chara's bad pass in the offensive zone was the catalyst for an odd-man rush which eventually resulted in the tally. Chad LaRose followed his shot behind the net and then found Cullen alone out front.

LaRose seemed to score again with 0.2 seconds left in the second when he flipped a shot over Thomas' shoulder that hit the post then spun on the goal line. On the ice initially it was called no goal. It took forever to review it (and it looked like a goal on second-tenth viewing) and the refs did not overturn it. This could have been a huge break for Boston but they really didn't do anything about it.

The Bruins outshot the Hurricanes 16-3 in the third and Ward made a couple dandy saves, including a left leg pad save on Michael Ryder during a power play.

Staal scored an empty-netter with 28 seconds remaining.

Game 3 and 4 shifts back to Carolina starting Wednesday night. It's the first real adversity Boston has faced this postseason so time only time will tell how they deal with it.