Across two days of play at TD Garden in Boston, the Boston Bruins evened the series record to 2-2 after two wins over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, May 6 and Sunday, May 8.
Despite two impressive games in Raleigh over the first half of the week, Carolina ultimately wasn’t able to net another win in Boston and will return to PNC Arena on Tuesday.
On night one in Boston, goaltender Jeremy Swayman took over for his first career playoff start. Replacing previous goalie Linus Ullmark, Swayman stopped 25 shots on goal across Friday night’s match, an impressive feat for the Alaskan rookie.
Unfortunately for the Canes, left-wing Jordan Martinook fell during the second period after a collision with Boston left-wing Taylor Hall. After limping into the tunnel, Martinook was unable to return for the rest of Friday’s game and didn’t make it onto the ice for Sunday’s match, either. It’s still unclear when he’ll return to Carolina’s lineup.
To add insult to injury, Bruins left-wing Brad Marchand gave Boston its first lead of the season over the Hurricanes. Although center Vincent Trocheck initially put Carolina up 1-0 in the first period, goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov was unable to keep up with Boston’s offense.
After center Charlie Coyle and Marchand’s initial goals in the first and second periods, Hall and right-wing David Pastrnak cemented Boston’s victory on home ice. Carolina picked up another goal from defenseman Jaccob Slavin late in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to save the team’s winning streak.
There weren’t any major injuries on either side, but one mishap sent an off-ice official to Massachusetts General Hospital on a stretcher. Following Pasternak’s goal, timeout coordinator Joe Foley was rendered unconscious from a falling pane of glass. Luckily, it seems that Foley is going to be just fine.
Luckily for the Hurricanes, goaltender Antti Raanta was back on the ice for Sunday’s match. Raanta, who was razor-sharp for game one of the playoffs, experienced a tussle with Pastrnak on Wednesday night and retreated to the locker room until Sunday’s game.
Martinook was still out from Friday night’s altercation, but so was Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm. The Sweden native clashed with Carolina right-wing Andrei Svechnikov during game two, rendering him unable to play for the immediate future.
Fellow Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy was also scratched on Sunday afternoon, citing a COVID-related illness. McAvoy and Lindholm’s absences gave Carolina some gaps to potentially take advantage of, especially with Raanta’s return.
After Friday night’s impressive performance from Boston, Carolina’s offense brought the heat across the first period. The puck largely stayed on the Bruins’ side of the ice, and a penalty early on from Boston defenseman Mike Reilly for high sticking gave Carolina its first opportunity to score on a power play.
Although Carolina was ultimately unable to score on the first — or second — power plays, defenseman Brett Pesce cracked the match wide open with a neat wrist shot 14:06 into the first period.
Two minutes and three seconds later, center Patrice Bergeron tied things up for Boston with a backhand goal against Raanta. The first period ended without much incident, but tensions remained high in TD Garden.
Less than a minute into the second period, center Jordan Staal gave the Hurricanes a little room to breathe with a bullet that soared right past Swayman. Within minutes, however, it became a 5v3 game to disadvantage Carolina — both Svechnikov and Trocheck were locked in the box, creating a stressful situation for Raanta.
Luckily, Raanta handled Boston’s two-man advantage with ease. Able to keep the puck out of the goal for 1:23, he blocked shot after shot from the likes of Pastrnak and Marchand. The Hurricanes were faltering in terms of offense across the second period, but the team’s defense was able to keep up against the Bruins’ shots on goal.
The Bruins tied up the game on a power play goal after right-wing Nino Niederreiter was sent to the box for tripping against Boston center Craig Smith. Furthermore, center Sebastian Aho caught a double minor penalty for high sticking against Bergeron, lending another two-man advantage for Boston heading into the third period.
Unfortunately, the Bruins did indeed take the lead 44 seconds into the third period. Raanta, unable to kill the 5v3 power play, let in a goal from Marchand. On top of that, officials determined there was one measly second left in Neiderreiter’s penalty — as such, Aho was forced to remain in the box for an additional 2:53.
“You just have to regroup and then get back to work,” Raanta said. “It’s obviously frustrating and I probably could have played a bit differently, but that happens. It’s hockey.”
Pastrnak cemented Boston’s solid lead against the Canes with a goal 5:41 into the third period. At this point, Carolina’s offensive and defensive success had dwindled significantly, and Raanta seemed a little off his game.
The Hurricanes’ real fall from grace over the last two games in the playoffs came thanks to the team’s inability to protect the power play kill. Although Carolina has generally done a great job of that in the regular season and during its games in Raleigh, the Hurricanes’ performance across power plays on Friday night and Sunday afternoon certainly had room for improvement.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour pulled Raanta from the net with about three minutes left of gameplay, but it only benefitted Boston’s final score — Marchand netted his second goal of the game with a little over thirty seconds left of gameplay.
The Hurricanes will face the Bruins again on Tuesday, May 10 at PNC Arena for the fifth game in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
