By: Jack Studley | Follow me on Twitter/X @jackstudley13
On Monday night, the Boston Bruins hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. It was their second meeting of the season, both of which had taken place within the month of November, and both were held at the TD Garden on Causeway Street in Downtown Boston. The Bruins entered this game looking to win their sixth straight home game on home ice, with the first of this streak coming against the Islanders on October 28. Unfortunately for the Bruins, that streak came to an end on Monday night with a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Hurricanes.
The Bruins would play Monday’s game without Charlie McAvoy and Viktor Arvidsson, both of whom sustained injuries on Saturday night’s win in Montreal. Jeffrey Viel was a healthy scratch. The Bruins called up Riley Tufte and Matej Blumel from the Providence Bruins, and both of them slotted into the lineup for the black and gold. Henri Jokiharju returned to the lineup after being a scratch on Saturday. Jeremy Swayman got the start in net for the Bruins, and he made 29 saves in the loss.
First Period
The first period, much like the last time these two met, ended scoreless. With that being said, both teams started the game early, with the Bruins having five shots on goal in the first four minutes, and Carolina taking four shots in the first four minutes. Carolina would go on to outshoot the Bruins in this period, 10-9.
The Bruins, coming into this game with the sixth-best power play in the NHL (25.4%), got a chance early in the game when K’Andre Miller tripped up David Pastrnak. On the other end, the Hurricanes entered this game with the second-worst power play (13.5%), and they got a chance after Nikita Zadorov was called for an interference call on Jordan Staal. Neither power play was successful in the first frame, and both teams’ penalty kills stepped up with solid kills.
The Bruins got their best chance of the period with 49.4 seconds left. David Pastrnak found the stick of Marat Khusnutdinov, and he found Morgan Geekie behind the net. Geekie tried to wrap it by Kochetkov, but the Russian netminder would not let that by him, sprawling out to make the save and keep the period scoreless.
Second Period
The Bruins encountered more obstacles in the second period, and unlike last time, this game featured scoring in the first 40 minutes. The second period started with a stellar glove save by Jeremy Swayman, robbing Seth Jarvis on a breakaway chance.
Carolina opened the scoring eight minutes into the frame. Joel Nystrom turned a shot on Swayman that he stopped. Jordan Staal was standing in front of the net, and with one hand on his stick, pushed the rebound right behind Jeremy Swayman to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, the Hurricanes continued to apply pressure in the offensive zone, peppering Jeremy Swayman with 12 shots in the first 13:30 of the second period. Mark Jankowski would extend the Hurricanes’ lead to two goals after he ate a shot by Taylor Hall, dropped the rebound to himself, and beat Jeremy Swayman high.
In the final minutes of the period, Jordan Martinook took a tripping penalty, and the Bruins’ power play got another chance. They were unsuccessful, but showed some life that the Bruins had been lacking throughout the second. The second period ended with the Hurricanes up by two goals, both coming off of net-front plays. Carolina’s 12 shots in 13:30 would be all they got on Jeremy Swayman in the second period; the Bruins added six shots to bring their total to 15.
Third Period
Marco Sturm had jumbled some of the line combinations, moving Fraser Minten to the first line center spot, which moved Marat Khusnutdinov to center the third line. He also paired Nikita Zadorov with Mason Lohrei and moved Henri Jokiharju to skate alongside Jonathan Aspirot on the third pair. “I felt like Mints had the best jump today in the middle, so I thought I’m gonna give him David on his wing and try to get something out of it,” Sturm said after the game.
The Bruins were unable to generate offense throughout the game; they went zero-for-three on their first three power play attempts, including an opportunity to cut the lead in half with 5:21 remaining in the third period. Shortly after that penalty kill, Taylor Hall was fed the puck on the blue line. He sped in towards Swayman and dropped a nice move that got the puck behind Swayman, giving Carolina a 3-0 lead with two and a half minutes remaining.
The Bruins demonstrated that they play until the 60:00 mark, regardless of the score. Down 3-0, with the game in its waning seconds, the puck was pinballing around Pytor Kochetkov’s net. Riley Tufte managed to get his stick on it, and on the same day as his NHL call-up, he scored his first goal as a Boston Bruin, and ended Kochetkov’s shutout. It was a power play goal for Tufte, who skated on the second power play group today.
Tufte’s goal with 9.6 seconds left was not enough for the Bruins, and they were unable to pick up two points at home. High-danger chances were at a minimum for the Bruins on Monday; the black and gold had three compared to Carolina’s 13. Shots ended in favor of Carolina, 32-28. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 12-9-0, but still remain atop the Atlantic Division.
The Bruins will pack up and head out to California for their next three games. The team flies to Anaheim tomorrow, ahead of Wednesday night’s game at 10:00 PM. The Bruins follow the Ducks game up with a contest against Marco Sturm’s old organization, the LA Kings, and end their California trip in San Jose on Sunday. If you are interested in attending these games, please check out our StubHub Ticket-affiliated link HERE for the most competitive concert and sporting event tickets in the North American region.
Leave a Reply