Heading into this year, history told us that Carolina goaltender Cam Ward isn't very good against Boston. In fact, he kinda sucked when it came to playing the Bruins. Coming into the season with a .909 save-percentage against the Bruins in 20 career contests, a season sweep of the Black-and-Gold by way of tonight's 47-save shutout has murdered the notion that the 27-year-old can't take the heat of the Garden -- or Bruins for that matter.

"It’s a fun building to play in," Ward said after winning his 19th game of the season. "It’s hard, but it’s fun at the same time because the fans generate a great atmosphere."

Surviving a 22-shot Bruins onslaught completely unscathed in the first period, matching the most shots put forth by the B's in any period this year, the Hurricanes weren't bothered by the quantity of Boston shots, but rather the quality. Or lack thereof.

"That was probably our best game all year from what I’ve seen," a pleasant Kirk Muller said after the victory. "We really more look at scoring chances. In the second period we only gave up one. That’s not easy to do in this rink."

Jumping out to a 1-0 lead when Eric Staal's 12th goal of the season found its way by Tuukka Rask, the Hurricanes would find insurance by way of Tuomo Ruutu's second period marker, and get their dagger when Brandon Sutter scored three and a half minutes into the third period.

"Tonight we were just really bad," B's captain Zdeno Chara said after the loss, the Bruins' third in their last five games. "We just didn’t play well. Just a really bad night for us."

While the Bruins would have their chances on a night that saw every Bruin skater fire at least one shot on goal, the collective effort of the Bruins was...well, not there. Despite dominating the face-off dot, and seeing Rask stop 28 shots, the Bruins were a disastrous team when it came to finding the holes within the Carolina defense.

"I don’t think we had everyone going again," Shawn Thornton said. "Seems to be the same old story – we’re not that good that we can come out and go through the motions and expect to be successful."

The Bruins are back at it on Saturday afternoon when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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