’Canes gain second wind with return home to take Game 5
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are a different monster at home and a different monster with a lead.
Even with Charlie Mcavoy’s arriving at the last minute after being cleared from COVID protocols, the Bruins were overwhelmed Tuesday night.
A 5-1 loss in Game 5 at PNC Arena pushed the Bruins to the brink of elimination, after climbing out of a 2-0 hole to even the series.
Seth Jarvis scored two goals, Tony Deangelo had a goal and two assists, and Teuvo Teravainen had three assists for the Hurricanes. Antti Raanta made 34 saves and was but a late Connor Clifton goal from earning the first postseason shutout of his career.
Game 6 will be back at TD Garden on Thursday.
Despite long odds after falling behind in the series, the Bruins believed they regained some control by protecting home ice. But as the series swung back to Raleigh, instead they paid for the same mistakes that lost them the first two games.
The Hurricanes have scored first in all five games (and eight straight going back to the three regular-season meetings). Jaccob
Slavin provided the first strike. He had Andrei Svechnikov screening Jeremy Swayman in front of the net, allowing his wrist shot to slip through to give the Hurricanes the lead at 6:11.
The Bruins fell behind 2-0 when Deangelo converted on the power play.
The Hurricanes have been able to count on first-period power plays like clockwork. Six of their 22 power-play opportunities over the first four games came in the first period. A roughing penalty on Derek Forbort gave them their second man-advantage of
the period at 11:21. Deangelo one-timed a slap shot off a pass from Teravainen that whistled by Swayman (33 saves). The goal was just Carolina’s third in 24 powerplay opportunities this series
A two-goal deficit has been essentially insurmountable in these playoffs. The only team to recover from one has been the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of their series against the New York Rangers — and that took triple overtime.
Going back to the regular season, the Bruins had lost 14 straight after falling behind by two goals. Two of those losses came at the hands of the Hurricanes.
With the lead, the Hurricanes could get comfortable. They stayed out of the penalty box until 7:57 in the second, they won faceoffs, they blocked shots, and they kept the Bruins’ quiet.
The Bruins got their first power play at 7:57 in the second. David Pastrnak got the looked he wanted — a one-time slap shot from the left circle — but Raanta slid left to right to make the save.
The man advantage was cut short with 14 seconds left when Mcavoy was called for interference. The Bruins took just two shots on the power play.
The ‘Canes had the advantage once Jesperi Kotkaniemi got out of the box. The Bruins killed the penalty but gave up a goal just as the power-play expired.
The Bruins couldn’t clear the puck after Swayman stopped Sebastian Aho’s shot from the slot. Jarvis was in front of the net to swipe at the rebound, but he was wiped out by Brandon Carlo, who tried to slap the puck out of danger. Instead, the puck ricocheted off the skate of Jake Debrusk. As the puck sailed his way, Swayman flailed desperately to stop it, but couldn’t.
The goal was credited to Jarvis, who sprung up from the ice to celebrate a stroke of puck luck more than anything else. The bad bounce made an uphill battle that much steeper for the Bruins.