Carolina Hurricanes kill Toronto Maple Leafs playoff hopes with 3-0 shutout -NHL Update
Toronto had barely any time to say their final words before the Carolina Hurricanes killed any last playoff hopes of Maple Leafs in a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday night, March 27, 2012, at the sold-out Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Over 19,000 fans were hoping that Maple Leafs might make a miraculous comeback and optimistic when going up against another struggling team in the Eastern Conference, but could barely open their mouths throughout.
Cam Ward was playing stupendously in the Carolina net as he blocked all 30 attempts by Toronto. Maple Leafs on the other hand struggled with their goaltending, switching goalies but to no use as Jonas Gustavsson and Jussi Rynnas faced 22 shots collectively
and fell short on three.
"We got off to a good start," Ward said. "We were ready and we carried the majority of the play in the first period. It was a solid 60-minute effort by our team."
"You want to come up and stop those shots no matter what happens," Gustavsson said. "Especially in a tight game when it's nothing-nothing, or they're up one or two goals, you want to find a way to stop those."
Jussi Jokinen got the first goal of the night and his 12th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season with less than seven minutes to go in round-one.
Tim Brent widened the gap nearly five minutes later for his 12th as well, getting a strong 2-0 lead heading into the second period.
Jay Harrison made the final goal of the night 37 seconds into the second, securing the match for Carolina as Cam Ward just kept on blocking shot after shot.
Toronto just could not seem to get back into the playoff race, being bashed in the past and having won only a single game in their previous five.
"The thing is we haven't done anything good really," said forward Phil Kessel. "It's frustrating for all of us. We're all disappointed obviously. We wish we could win games.
Carolina can also be considered out of the playoff race, but not yet officially as they are down by more than 10 points from the last spot with five games remaining. Hurricanes have the next against Winnipeg Jets at home on Friday.
Toronto Maple Leafs will continue with their disappointing season against Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at home, a match which certainly does not look good for them.
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