Canes blow by B’s
Fall into 0-2 hole as Lindholm leaves with injury
RALEIGH, N.C. >> With five games’ worth of data now available, there can be only one conclusion drawn regarding the Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes.
The B’s are no match for them.
In the latest installment of the season-long Black and Gold horror show, the B’s were pummeled 5-2 in a nasty, physical Game 2 at PNC Arena on Wednesday to fall behind in the series 2-0. But the loss was more costly than that. While the Canes are now down to their thirdstring goalie after Antti Raanta got hurt, the B’s will most likely be without defenseman Hampus Lindholm for the immediate future after he had to exit the game late in the second period after he absorbed a hellacious hit.
Is it possible that the B’s can change the vibe of this series when it shifts to Boston for Game 3 on Friday? Sure. But they’ll have to come up with a much better performance than they’ve been able to muster in their first five games, in which they are 0-5 and have been outscored 26-4. They have yet to hold a lead in five games.
“We need a timely save. There’s no doubt about it,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “We were closer to scoring, we got a couple and the young kid (Pyotr Kochetkov) did a real good job. We could have had more than two. And to me, it’s not too little too late. You’re not on to the next city. It’s the same series, so once you start getting confidence and realizing you can score, the other team realizes that, too. But we’re certainly going to need some timely saves when the tide gets shifted, like they did early on and early on the other night. We finished better than we did the other night and that’s got to continue as well.”
With the temperature high after the Raanta injury and then the Lindholm injury, the B’s took 13 minors, which produced three different 5-on-3s, one of which the Canes scored on.
“It comes down to discipline. We were in the box a lot tonight. We have to look at it and see what was warranted and what wasn’t, but that can’t continue, either,” said Cassidy.
Late in the second period, Lindholm was blasted by Andrei Svechnikov and he was clearly dazed. There was no definitive update, but it didn’t look good at the time or sound good afterward.
“He’s not doing well,” said Cassidy, who wasn’t wild about the hit. “It looked high to me. That’s why he left the game, he has an upper body injury. It was on time, certainly, but it looked high. But they didn’t see it that way. Sometimes those get reviewed, sometimes they don’t. I don’t know if this one will.”
This one fell apart quickly. For the second straight game, the B’s started well, hemming the Canes in their zone for the first several shifts and they earned a quick power play when Nino Niederreitter tripped Brandon Carlo. And again, they got a couple of chances on Raanta that they could not put away.
Then shortly after Niederreitter was freed, Tony DeAngelo took a bad interference penalty on Erik Haula. But before they could get going on that power play, the game changed drastically. The B’s tried the PP play on which the puck is fired off the end boards and
David Pastrnak beats the icing. Pastrnak did indeed beat the icing, but Raanta got to the puck and tried to clear. Pastrnak crashed into the goalie, injuring Raanta, who did not return because of an upper body injury. The play was reviewed for a major penalty but it was ruled a minor.
Cassidy shot down the notion that Pastrnak ran Raanta.
“It’s David Pastrnak. We’re on the power play. He’s trying to chase down the puck. You think his intention is to (run him)? That’s why they changed it from a five to a two. His foot caught his pad. He’s trying to block the clear but get out of the way. I don’t think there was any intent there at all,” said Cassidy.
With No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen already hurt and now Raanta out, the Canes turned to the rookie Kochetkov, who had all of three games of NHL experience. That set of circumstances caused the Canes to wake up much earlier than they did on Monday and they dominated the rest of the period, taking a 2-0 lead before the period was out.
For the fifth time in as many games against the B’s this year, the Canes scored the first goal. Jesper Fast turned back Haula at the Boston blue line and kept the play alive. Fast moved down to the bottom of the left circle, from where he onetimed a Jordan Staal pass past Linus Ullmark and, at 13:03, the B’s hopes of playing with a lead were dashed.
And exactly two minutes later, the B’s found themselves down by a deuce. Jaccob Slavin slipped a weak Pastrnak check attempt along the left boards and took the puck behind the net. He sent the puck out high to DeAngelo and Sebastian Aho tipped DeAngelo’s shot past Ullmark.
Meanwhile, the Canes did not let the B’s lay a glove on Kochetkov, who barely saw any action in his end in the final 12:13 of the period.
It got worse. Late in the period, Patrice Bergeron took a slashing penalty with 1:06 left. Then, after Charlie Coyle and Niederreiter were sent off for matching roughings, there was a dust-up after the horn. It looked like both teams gave as good as they got, but somehow the B’s got nailed with two minors, to Haula and Brandon Carlo, to the Canes’ one, Seth Jarvis.
That gave the Canes a 54-second 5-on-3 to start the second. The B’s killed the two-man portion, but on the 5-on-4, Aho whistled a slapper that beat Ullmark shortside at 1:10.
Times were officially desperate. Coach Bruce Cassidy reunited Pastrnak with Bergeron and Brad Marchand but, by then, the Canes were in their defensive rocking chair, sealing off any oxygen in the slot and the B’s could not get anything to the net.
But later in the period, Svechnikov held Taylor Hall to put the B’s on the power play. This time, the B’s capitalized, with Bergeron banging home a rebound at 14:57.
Not long after that, however, the B’s chances on the night — and in the series — became very bleak. After taking a short pass from Brandon Carlo, Lindholm was wheeling behind the net when Svechnikov absolutely smoked him with a hard clean check. As the B’s converged on Svechnikov, it was clear that Lindholm did not have his wits about him. He would eventually need assistance to get off the ice. Carlo earned an extra roughing penalty, putting the Canes back on the power play. Lindholm did not have enough time to react after the Carlo pass.
“That’s a decision (Carlo) would like to have back. Get your feet moving and bypass but nothing you can do about that now,” said Cassidy.
On the kill, Connor Clifton stepped up to deliver a big hit on Jarvis, but that allowed Aho an opportunity that Derek Forbort could only thwart by holding him, giving the Canes another 5-on-3. Niederreiter regained the three-goal advantage when Ullmark could not get a hold of a loose puck and Niederreiter tapped it in with 1:08 left in the period.
Another Bergeron goal got the B’s back to within a goal in the third, but Niederreiter finished it off with an empty netter.