Domi-nated in Game 7
B’s offense fizzles on road again as season ends
RALEIGH >> The Bruins were an excellent road team in the regular season, winning 25 games, just one fewer than they won at the Garden.
But they were just not the same team once the playoffs started, and their season is over because of it.
Carolina Hurricanes’ deadline acquisition Max Domi, little more than an afterthought through the first six games of the series, scored two goals and assisted on another to finally put the B’s to sleep for the summer, capturing Game 7 for the Canes at PNC Arena on Saturday, 3-2.
The Canes nursed a 3-1 lead from the midway point of the second period before David Pastrnak scored with 21.7 seconds left to pull the Bruins within a goal, but that did not leave enough time. Patrice Bergeron had one last shot, but it did not get through to Antti Raanta.
Whether that was Bergeron’s last shot of his Hall of Fame career is anyone’s guess at this point. But as both he and his longtime linemate Brad Marchand fought off their emotions some 45 minutes after the game was over, it’s clear that that’s a distinct possibility.
“That’s why this one probably hurts more, the unknown for next year with him,” said Marchand, who has spent nearly his entire NHL career as Bergeron’s wing man. “He’s done so much for this group and sacrificed so much that it would have been nice to make a good run for him. So it’s disappointing.”
While the Bruins pushed the Canes to the limit by winning all three games in Boston, they just could not finish their chances in Carolina, losing all four games and failing to score more than two goals in any of the games, registering just six goals total.
In the final game, the B’s had their chances both early and late but could never gain an advantage on the scoreboard.
Maddeningly, Game 7 followed a similar script as the Games 1, 2 and 5 here. The B’s got some early opportunities and carried some of the play, but wound up with not only a 1-0 deficit. And they were in deep trouble to start the second.
First off, the B’s second line had a glorious chance to take the lead when the second line broke in on an odd-man rush. Erik Haula made a beautiful backhand pass to Taylor Hall, but he was stoned by Raanta on a spectacular pad save. It was the save of the series by any goaltender.
Then, with 1:24 left in the period, the Hurricanes made the B’s pay for their missed chance with a pretty play of their own that they finished off.
Jaccob Slavin made a perfect pass down to Domi at the left side of the net, who dished it to Teuvo Teravainen at the top of the crease for a tap-in past Jeremy Swayman.
“It’s a common theme,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “We find ourself in all alone early to get the first goal, and a big timely save by Raanta. Again, if we bury that 2-on-1, things might change in a game like today when it’s hard to score.”
As frustrating as the lack of scoring was, defensive miscues rankled Cassidy as much if not more. The B’s third line was victimized by two pretty plays in which the Canes were able to wheel the puck into the slot for opportunities that they didn’t miss.
“We pride ourselves in Dzone coverage, stuff we’ve done very well all year,” said Cassidy. “Two breakdowns that, yeah, they make plays, but it was more on us not to get the job done defensively, be in the right spots with good sticks. That’s probably where I’m most disappointed, that that’s how it ends up. That we give up goals, it’s Game 89 and we pride ourselves in that.”
To make matters worse, Hall took a bad high-sticking penalty in the offensive zone on Tony DeAngelo in front of the Carolina net with 57 seconds left in the period, earning a double minor.
Thanks to an overly deliberate approach on the lengthy power play, the B’s were able to kill off the double minor, but just 11 seconds after Hall stepped back on the ice, the Canes scored a backbreaking goal at 3:14.
Brady Skjei flipped a puck toward the slot that bounced off of Jordan Staal in front and dribbled to the right of Swayman, who had come out to play the original shot. Domi sneaked in behind him to pop the rebound in.
But the B’s did get one back quickly at 5:04. Bergeron won a puck along the left wall and fired it into the slot, where Charlie McAvoy deflected it to Jake DeBrusk, who beat Raanta with a one-timer.
Then midway through the period, the Bruins nearly tied it, then fell back down by two in a matter of seconds.
First, Trent Frederic beat Raanta with a wrist shot but he clanged the post and the Hurricanes came right back down and scored. Teravainen got a feed through Frederic for Domi in the slot for a one-timer goal at 10:33 and the B’s were right back in dire straights. Charlie Coyle was on the ice for all three Carolina goals while his linemates Frederic and Craig Smith were on for the two goals Cassidy was bemoaning. Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton were also on for what turned out to be the game-winner.
With the times desperate, coach Bruce Cassidy tried loading up by reuniting David Pastrnak with Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Frederic also found himself on the pine.
But after the line changes did not pay immediate dividends, Cassidy then dropped Pastrnak back down with Hall and Haula.
The B’s then had 20 minutes to score twice on one of the best defensive teams in the league to score two goals. Pastrnak’s goal gave them some brief life late and they did manage to get in the offensive zone in the waning seconds but could not even it up.
It is the first time the B’s have been eliminated in the first round since 2017, but Marchand felt that if they could have gotten over the Carolina hump, they would have been playing hockey into the summer.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full with this team,” said Marchand. “They’ve been great all year long, very well coached, very well disciplined in their system. They have a lot of depth. So we knew it was going to be a tough battle. But we also knew that if we got through this team, we would make a deep run. I think this is probably the toughest group to come out of the East. Obviously we were hoping to beat them. It always hurts. It always will. You only get a few opportunities of these throughout your career where you have a legit chance of going far, and we thought we had that this year. So, yeah, it hurts.”