Bobcats/Canes report

Charlotte-
After three frustrating losses in which they squandered sizeable margins, the Charlotte Bobcats put all that aside to come together to post an impressive 115-99 win over New Jersey. From the opening tip everything seemed to fall into place for Charlotte as they built an eight-point lead in the first quarter. The Bobcats didn’t let up as Jason Richardson scored seven points to spark a 23-10 Charlotte run that gave the Bobcats a 21-point advantage. The Bobcats had no trouble scoring as they shot 61.5 percent from the field in the first half.

“It was a big game for us because we got it going early,” said Richardson(he finished with a team-leading 25 points). “We know we’ve been struggling toward the end of games. We bonded as a team and we finally got a win after playing well the first three quarters.”

Even with the big lead, the Bobcats knew the Nets would make a run. Tuesday night though Charlotte stood firm, responding with their own push each time New Jersey made a move.
After the Nets cut it to nine on a Bostjan Nachbar three-pointer, Matt Carroll answered with a jump shot to push the lead back to double-digits. With the Bobcats leading 90-80 with 9:41 to go Gerald Wallace hit a 12-foot bank shot to propel the Bobcats on a 10-3 run that pushed their lead back to 17.

BOSTON (AP) – Cam Ward stopped 19 shots for his third shutout of the season and Eric Staal scored the only goal to lead the Carolina Hurricanes over the Bruins.

The win was just the third in eight games for Carolina, which played its second straight 1-0 game after losing in St. Louis on Saturday. It was the Hurricanes’ first 1-0 victory of the season.

Tim Thomas made 27 saves for Boston. It was the Bruins’ first home shutout since Colorado beat them 2-0 last March.
*****from bobcats.com and nhl.com*****