COMMENTARY
The timing of the Carolina Hurricanes pulling their old, green, Hartford Whalers pajamas out of storage this season, their 21st in North Carolina, is particularly delicious. Not only did it happen in a year the organization actually forged its own identity, its Storm Surge celebrations and needling of hockey’s old guard meaning it finally didn’t have to dress up as its dead uncle for attention. Carolina’s best season in a dozen years has built to a showdown with the Boston Bruins.
And a generation ago, whenever the Boston Bruins needed a victory, they could almost always count on their hapless neighbors to the southwest to supply one.