After a 5-2 victory on May 12, the Boston Bruins have forced a game seven against the Carolina Hurricanes. Although Canes fans hoped to come away with a series victory at TD Garden in Boston, Carolina will return to Raleigh on Saturday to play once more against the Bruins.
“We got down, and instead of sticking with it, we tried to do too much — with a team like that, you’re gonna pay if you make those kinds of mistakes,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “You never know what can happen, you just don’t know. Even tonight, it was bounce here, bounce there early in the game. That’s hockey.”
Across a scoreless first period, only one player was sent to the penalty box: superstar center Sebastian Aho, who was called for hooking against Boston left-wing Tomas Nosek. Luckily, Carolina exercised the power play kill — something the Hurricanes have somewhat struggled with across the past two away games.
Before, during and after the first power play of the game, goaltender Antti Raanta was very sharp. Although Canes fans watched with bated breath every time the puck bounced out of Raanta’s gloves — which was fairly often — he prevented a Boston lead for the first 20 minutes of gameplay, at least.
Aho himself took a bit of controversial hit about halfway the first period, after Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy slammed into Aho’s midsection. It was a tad surprising no penalty was called on his behalf, but Aho rebounded very quickly and was back on the ice in no time.
Fourty-six seconds into the second period, Boston left-wing Brad Marchand broke the ice to score the first goal of the game — something the Bruins haven’t been able to do until this point in the series. Carolina soon had its first opportunity to score on a power play after Boston defenseman Connor Clifton was sent to the penalty box for holding, but was unable to convert.
The Hurricanes also weren’t able to take advantage of 54 seconds of a two-man advantage thanks to penalties from McAvoy and Boston center Trent Frederic. There were some good shots on goal, but Carolina’s offensive play looked pretty sloppy compared to the team’s performance on Tuesday evening.
The next 20 minutes of gameplay quickly became the period of failed power plays. Time after time, pass after pass, the Hurricanes seemed nearly incapable of getting the puck past Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Adding insult to injury, the Bruins raised their lead to 2-0 on a power play goal from center Charlie Coyle.
Carolina finally scored about three and a half minutes into the third period, reducing the point differential to a mere one goal, but the team’s short-lived momentum was lost after Boston left-wing Erik Haula gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead with 13 minutes left of gameplay.
From that point on, it was over for the Hurricanes. Boston scored two more goals, one from defenseman Derek Forbort and another from center Curtis Lazar on an empty net. Right-wing Andrei Svechnikov locked in Carolina’s only other goal, scoring on a double minor power play after Marchand was sent to the box for spearing.
Despite a disappointing 60 minutes of gameplay in Boston, one of the few bright spots was Raanta’s determination and grit. Despite what the score suggests, Raanta was the star on the ice for the majority of the game — he picked up his teammates’ slack and remained steady in the face of the Bruins’ ruthless offense.
The Hurricanes will face the Bruins one last time on Saturday, May 14 at PNC Arena in Raleigh for the seventh game in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
