Seventh Heaven
After being down and out with the three games to one deficit the Carolina Hurricanes have managed to claw their way back into the series and have put themselves in an opportunity to win in game 7. The Hurricanes came out flying to open the game and caught the Pittsburgh Penguins off guard as veteran Scott Mellanby opened the scoring 47 seconds into the game. Hurricanes momentum quickly deflated as Pens defenseman Adam Foote took a run at Hurricanes start goaltender David Aebischer by elbowing after the whistle had gone. After the melee Foote was ejected from the game and the ‘Canes netminder was sent to Pittsburgh General Hospital because of what is being reported as a upper head injury. Craig Anderson replaced the injured Aebischer and took on the responsibility of holding back the threatening Penguins.
No scoring till the start of the 3rd as Martin Straka added his second of the series and pulled the Penguins to a 1-1 tie, but it didn’t last long as David Legwand scored to re-establish the Hurricane lead. Jason Spaz tipped in a shot from Brian Rafalski and once again the game was tied. Very much like what happened throughout the game, whenever the Penguins found a way to gain some momentum the Hurricanes were very quick to respond and true to this just after the Spaz tied the game up then lumbering defencman Hal Gill scored what could be his biggest goal of his career put the Hurricanes in the lead midway through the 3rd period. Unlike the previous two leads the ‘Canes had in the game three times was a charm as the Hurricanes rode out the game to a 3-2 victory and tieing the series at three games apiece.
The Carolina Hurricanes fly home to Raleigh for Game 7. although there hasn’t been a report to the seriousness of David Aebischer’s injury due to the importance of the next game it’s expected that David will be suiting up and starting for the Hurricanes.
Gretz Round 1 Game 6 Scores
