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Blah. That's a pretty simple word to describe Carolina tonight, I suppose. NJ outskated, outshot, outhit, and pretty much out-everythinged the Canes over three periods. Aside from that brief blip of hope (and it was the definition of a "blip") when Whitney knocked in the goal to make it 3-1, Carolina was pretty lifeless for most of the game and deserved to get their butts whipped for it. The only consolation I can draw is that Ward seemed to be generally unaffected by the Buffalo game or the time off since then as it was pretty much his efforts alone that prevented this game from being an utter embarrassment. Even so, it isn't going to matter what he does if the Canes can't figure out how to match the ramped-up intensity New Jersey showed.
I think this series will come down to Game 2. If NJ wins, then Carolina's recent run of excellent play will be pretty well forgotten and everyone will say that they peaked too soon. It'll put a heavy amount of pressure on Carolina to sweep their two games at home because I don't think they'd want to go back to Newark down 3-1. A Carolina win, however, gets the ship righted in time for hopefully a loud crowd to make a difference in games three and four.
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