Bruins end trip by beating Carolina
Three-goal first includes No. 400 for Marchand
RALEIGH, N.C. — After avoiding tornado threats across Tennessee and North Carolina the last two days, the Bruins caused quite a storm of their own Thursday night, quelling the surging Hurricanes, 4-1, at PNC Arena.
Boston wrapped up its six-game road trip — one that included a pair of stormy Southern sojourns — at 4-2 and improved to 45-17-15 to maintain their 4-point lead over the Panthers in the Atlantic Division.
At the center of the tempest was the cyclone that is Brad Marchand, who scored the first of Boston’s three first-period goals.
It just happened to be the 400th of the captain’s career.
Collecting a breakaway pass from new liney Morgan Geekie, Marchand barreled in on Frederik Andersen, who made the initial save. The goalie’s momentum, however, took him right into Marchand’s fly-by path and the puck broke free and trickled in the net at 2:12.
Marchand’s 14th career goal against the Hurricanes was his 28th of the season and broke a 10game drought.
“Lately, I’ve been trying not to think about it, but obviously it was kind of an elephant,” Marchand said of his milestone moment. “It was nice to get it and I don’t have to worry about it anymore, but it’s nice that we had a really good game to follow it up and a big road trip, so it’s a good night.”
Marchand was reluctant to talk about personal achievements — “There’s much larger goals and hopefully there’s still plenty more so I’ll reminisce at the end,” he said — but others were happy to gush for him.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment to get 400 goals in this league. It speaks about longevity; it speaks about your ability to make a tremendous amount of plays over the course of your career,”
said coach Jim MontgomeryI rboI. “And there’s a guy that has been doubted his whole life and all he keeps doing is putting out any of the doubts in anyone’s mind of how great an athlete he is and great a hockey player and Bruin he is.”
Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 28 shots en route to his 25th win — and third on this trip — marvels at Marchand.
“To see him and what he does every day on and off the ice, being a true leader, and he’s one of those guys that doesn’t have to preach, you do whatever he does and you’re going to be OK,” said Swayman. “So, extremely happy for him and grateful that he’s on our team and I’m not playing against him every night.”
David Pastrnak struck next, and the winger’s 47th of the season may just have been his slickest.
Working in the corner to Andersen’s right, Pastrnak sidestepped Seth Jarvis and Brent Burns, both of whom inexplicably backed off the Bruins’ leading scorer and let him charge to the net unabated. Pastrnak’s stickhandling seemed to freeze Andersen, who stood helplessly as Pastrnak roofed it for the 2-0 lead 7:42.
“Honestly, I was looking at what’s open and just, I was going toward the net and there was an open lane,” said Pastrnak. “So, I tried to make a quick move to the forehand to put it under Andersen’s far side and it worked out perfectly.”
A little more than three minutes later, Pastrnak was back to his terrorizing self.
After fanning on a shot from just inside the blue line, he pulled the puck back and sent a seed across the slot, where a streaking Danton Heinen one-touched a snapper past Andersen for a 3-0 lead.
It was a sweet No. 16 for Heinen, who continues to thrive with Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha on Boston’s top line.
“I think that’s just executing our breakouts with a lot of speed and with a lot of purpose and our forwards were running good routes to get to the areas where we thought the pucks would be available,” said Montgomery.
At that point, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour was seething behind the bench, and he was looking for a spark.
Jack Drury tried to provide it, challenging Johnny Beecher to a bout. The two young’uns went at it, with Beecher landing a few overhand rights, before Drury finished with a flurry, tagging the Boston rookie with a couple of good shots.
Carolina may have won the fight, but Boston responded with a couple of effective shifts, keeping the Hurricanes pinned in their zone.
“Johnny did an incredible job. He answered the bell and did a great job,” said Marchand. “It obviously energized the entire building, but we fed off that as well, and that’s one of those things that can be a momentum-changer and we didn’t let it affect us.”
Carolina finally broke through on the scoreboard thanks to a five-on-three power play courtesy of minors to Brandon Carlo (slashing) and Hampus Lindholm (cross-checking).
With two of their best killers in the box, the Bruins were forced to send out one unit that featured two forwards (Marchand and Zacha) and one defenseman (Andrew Peeke).
It was during that stretch when Jake Guentzel beat Swayman to cut it to 3-1. On first look, it appeared Stefan Noesen may have interfered with Swayman, but upon further review, Noesen had been nudged into the crease by Peeke.
The Hurricanes, coming off a stretch of four straight days off, found their legs in the third, but the Bruins forechecked effectively and Swayman was solid.
With the postseason on the horizon, this trip was a good precursor.
“You have to be able to win on the road and especially against all these teams that we’re playing right now,” said Marchand. “They’re tough and they’re playoff ready and playoff bound, so they’re a great challenge every night, and it’s the way you want to play. You want to play these tough games going down the stretch and get prepared.”