Hurricanes get even with the Bruins, 3-2
Win Thursday night to tie playoff series 1-1
Toronto — This is what Dougie Hamilton was hoping for while he waited out the pandemic shutdown that put the NHL season on hold, and then waited some more after injuring himself in practice when the Hurricanes returned to the ice.
The Carolina defenseman scored the game-winner with 11:30 left in the third period on Thursday night to lead the Carolina to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins — the team that drafted him, and then gave up on him — and tie their playoff series at one game apiece.
“For seven months you’re thinking about that kind of stuff: Playing a game, scoring a goal,” said Hamilton, who missed the last 21 games of the regular season and the qualifying round series against the Rangers with separate injuries. “That’s what fuels you.”
One day after Boston won the delayed, double-overtime opener, Carolina's No. 2 goalie James Reimer stopped 33 shots to beat the Presidents' Trophy winners. Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and an assist, Teuvo Teravainen also scored, and Martin Necas had two assists for the Hurricanes.
David Krejci and Brad Marchand scored for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves. The Bruins, who swept Carolina in the Eastern Conference finals last season, pulled the goalie for an extra attacker and had a chance when Reimer lost his stick in the final 10 seconds, but couldn’t convert.
Game 3 is today.
“We weren’t expecting to walk through this series,” Marchand said. “We knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle all the way to the end. That’s the series we’re in.”
A 2011 first-round draft choice who played his first three seasons in Boston, Hamilton broke his leg in January and, after that had healed, left a return-to-play practice in July. He didn't return until Wednesday's series opener against the Bruins.
“You sink to the bottom when you’re injured. Sitting around, can’t walk, watching the guys play,” Hamilton said. “(You) wait for this moment. You don’t know if it’s ever going to come, but you’ve got to believe in yourself.”
After playing a playoff career-high 26:48 in Game 1, which Boston won 4-3 in double overtime, Hamilton led the Hurricanes with 24:20 of ice time on Thursday.
“He was special, and obviously a huge game tonight,” coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “He answered the bell on that. Pretty good performance tonight.”
The opener was supposed to be Tuesday night, but the quintuple overtime game between the Blue Jackets and Lightning kept the rink occupied.
With the games on back-to-back days, Brind’Amour opted to go with Reimer in net instead of Game 1 starter Petr Mrazek; Boston's Bruce Cassidy sent Rask back out about 16 hours after he played 81:13 in the opener.