Hurricanes close out Bruins in Game 7
Hurricanes 3, Bruins 2: Max Domi scored twice in the second period while Antti Raanta had 27 saves to help host Carolina beat Boston on Saturday to win the deciding Game 7 of their firstround playoff series.
Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Hurricanes, who finally put away a Bruins team that had ousted them from the playoffs in two of the past three postseasons. That ended a series in which neither team could manage a road win, with the Hurricanes eventually getting the final word backed by yet another rowdy and loud home crowd.
Carolina advanced to the second round to face the winner of Sunday’s Game 7 between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Domi was an unlikely star in this one. Carolina acquired him ahead of the March trade deadline, and he rewarded them by scoring the first postseason goals of his career. He also assisted on Teravainen’s goal with a perfect pass to the top of the crease for the first-period putaway.
Raanta, who had never started a postseason game before this series, was again steady in net.
He had probably his best stop on a full-split save to deny Taylor Hall near the left post in the first period of a scoreless game.
Jake DeBrusk scored a second-period goal for the Bruins, while David Pastrnak had one with 21.7 seconds left with Boston having pulled Jeremy Swayman for the extra attacker.
Lightning 2, Maple Leafs 1: Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and Tampa Bay beat host Toronto in Game 7 to win their first-round playoff series.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
Morgan Rielly scored for Toronto, which hasn’t reached the second round since 2004 and is now 0-9 in elimination games over the last five postseasons after also losing 4-3 in Game 6 at Tampa, Florida, two nights earlier. Jack Campbell had 23 saves.
The Maple Leafs were once again unable to push through and finally flip a long, ugly narrative of playoff failures for a franchise that has now lost its last seven series, including six straight dating back to 2017.
Toronto is now 7-3 all-time at home in Game 7s.
Down 1-0 after 20 minutes in this one, the Maple Leafs appeared to tie the score at 11:28 of the second when John Tavares roofed a shot on Vasilevskiy, but the goal was waved off after Toronto defenseman Justin Holl was whistled for interference.
Campbell had to make a couple of desperation stops on the ensuing penalty kill to set the stage for Rielly’s equalizer off a setup from Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews to score his third of the playoffs at 6:35 to send the crowd of 19,316 into a chaotic frenzy.