Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Tying up the Series in Game Two

Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images

By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand – Bergeron – Bjork

DeBrusk – Krejci – Kase

Kuraly – Coyle – Studnicka

Nordstrom – Lindholm – Wagner

Defense

Grzelcyk – McAvoy

Chara – Clifton

Krug – Carlo

Goalies

Halak

Vladar

Carolina’s Lineup

Forwards

Niederreiter – Aho – Teravainen

Svechnikov – Trocheck – Necas

McGinn – Staal – Williams

Foegele – Geekie – Martinook

Defense

Slavin – Hamilton

Skjei – Vatanen

Fleury – van Riemsdyk

Goalies

Mrazek

Reimer

First Period

Things got off to a rough start early as Brad Marchand took a tripping penalty just 12 seconds into the game. The Canes put together a solid two minutes and even rang the post once, but the Bruins luckily avoided an early-game crisis. The first penalty for the Canes came in the form of a slashing call on Vincent Trocheck at the 15:33 mark, and they killed it off with ease.

Anders Bjork took a slashing penalty at the 4:32 mark. The Bruins penalty killers did a great job of not letting the Canes get anything going in the first 45 seconds of the power play. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron nearly capitalized in shorthanded fashion in the dying seconds of the Canes power play, but Bergeron’s shot went just wide.

Trevor van Riemsdyk went off for a high sticking double minor at the 2:02 mark. Bergeron had a golden netfront chance with just under 20 seconds remaining in the period, but Petr Mrazek was equal to the task. The Bruins were outshot 15 to 7 in the first 20 minutes, but the game remained scoreless.

Score: 0-0

Second Period

Much like the first period with the penalty, things got going early in the second period, just 14 seconds in this time. Charlie Coyle batted one past Mrazek to give the Bruins the lead on the power play. Coyle’s second of the playoffs was assisted by Marchand (4) and Krejci (3).

At the 11:33 mark, Dougie Hamilton went off for tripping. The Canes killed the penalty. Bjork went off for slashing at the 6:57 mark, taking his second penalty of the game. Brandon Carlo and Joakim Nordstrom connected for a shorthanded breakaway chance, but Nordstrom sent it just wide. The Bruins killed the penalty.

Haydn Fleury took down Ondrej Kase in front of the net and went off for interference at the 4:11 mark. The Canes killed the penalty. Par Lindholm took a cross-checking penalty at the 28-second mark. No dice for either team on multiple power plays in the second period. Despite outshooting the Canes 20 to 8 in the period, the Bruins only scored once. 27 to 23 in favor of the Bruins were the total shots on goal through 40 minutes. Jaroslav Halak was rock solid, stopping all 23 shots.

Score: 1-0 Boston

Third Period

The trend of early period action continued yet again, this time in the form of a Sean Kuraly tip on a feed from Coyle a minute and 16 seconds into the period. Kuraly’s first was assisted by Coyle (1) and McAvoy (3).

Bjork took his third penalty of the game, this time for tripping at the 15-minute mark. Nino Niederreiter made it hurt this time, capitalizing on a blunder from Halak playing the puck from behind the net, and burying it in the open cage. Niederreiter’s goal cut the Bruins lead to one with 13:30 remaining in the period.

Andrei Svechnikov suffered an injury late in the third in a netfront battle with Zdeno Chara, putting the Canes down one of their top forwards.

The Canes took a timeout and pulled Mrazek for an extra attacker with 2:07 remaining. Eventually, Krejci flipped the puck out of the zone to Marchand who buried the empty netter to seal the deal with 31 seconds to go. The Bruins outshot the Canes 12 to 7 in the third, bringing the game total to 39 to 30 in their favor. Halak made 29 saves in his first start and win of the first round. Game four lies ahead at 8:00 PM ET on Monday. The Bruins now lead the series two games to one.

Final Score: 3-1 Boston