Despite a much better effort than in last night’s loss to Toronto, the Carolina Hurricanes fell 4-1 to the Boston Bruins at home — the team’s first back to back regulation losses since early December, as each loss further damages its playoff hopes.
Starter Cam Ward made 19 saves for the Hurricanes (28-25-10). Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask was excellent, stopping 39 of 40 Hurricanes shots, including 18 in the third period.
“We skated [well] tonight; we haven’t skated [well] our last two games,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said. “On a back-to-back with some travel, we found a way to get some energy. That was a positive, for sure.”
Tonight was not an ideal start for Ward and the Hurricanes. An error by Ward about halfway through the period proved costly, as he played the puck behind the net and put rookie defenseman Jaccob Slavin in a bad position. Slavin turned the puck over in the corner of his own zone to Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron, who roofed a shot over Ward on his backhand for a 1-0 Boston lead.
Just a few minutes later, Bruins forward Matt Beleskey beat Ward high glove with a bad angle shot to put the road team up 2-0. The Bruins did get a power play late in the period, but the Canes managed to escape to the locker room only down a pair.
Despite falling behind early, the Canes felt they had a much better start than in their last two games.
“I thought we were ready to go,” captain Eric Staal said. “We were competitive. We played hard, but we made some mistakes against a team that knows how to play. They have some guys that have been in the league a while and they capitalize on the mistakes.”
The Canes managed to tighten up a bit in the second, and while they still were a bit sloppy with the puck, avoided getting manhandled in their own end the way they did in the first. The team still was not able to put a puck past Rask, heading to the second intermission still down 2-0.
With the Canes looking for a big comeback in the third, a power play aided their cause. A point shot by defenseman Noah Hanifin bounced off the end boards and into the net to cut the deficit to 2-1 three minutes into the period.
Unfortunately for the Canes, their momentum was short lived. The Bruins forced a turnover and came up with a loose puck behind the net, sending it into the slot to Beleskey, who buried it for his second of the game.
Shortly after Beleskey’s second, the Canes got another powerplay, but despite some grade-A chances at the tail end could not lift the puck over Rask. The Hurricanes continued to mount pressure late, but Rask and the Bruins defense thwarted them again and again.
“I think we had some opportunities, but he [Rask] made some good saves,” Skinner said. “It was a good effort. It’s tough, you’re not going to score on all your chances every night, but you have to find ways to win.”
With around two and a half minutes left, the team pulled Ward for an extra attacker. Despite a few excellent chances, including one for forward Victor Rask right between the faceoff circles, the Canes still couldn’t get another goal. Bruins forward Brad Marchand scored into an empty net with 13 seconds left to seal the deal.
“We’ll keep working at it,” Peters said. “You’ve got to continue to generate the quality chances. We’ve got a chance at the 6-on-5 there, I think it was Victor [Rask], I don’t know how it didn’t go in to be honest with you. Those are the ones that we’d like to see go in for sure.”
The Canes take on the St. Louis Blues Sunday in the team’s final game before Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
