Marchand, Boston bounce back, close series gap on Carolina

BOSTON — BOSTON -- The Bruins took their first lead of the series against the Hurricanes at 5:41 of the second period and went on to defeat Carolina, 4-2, at TD Garden Friday night to close within 2-1 in the opening round series.

The Bruins held onto the belief that the Carolina Hurricanes were a different team when they had to play from behind.

The catch was that getting a lead against them had been impossible in five meetings between the regular season and the first two games of their first-round playoff series.

They finally got a chance to test out the theory when a goal by Brad Marchand gave them a 2-1 lead at the 5:41 mark in the second period.

Marchand made his own luck on the way to his first goal of the series. He saw a wraparound pass by Brady Skjei coming and picked it off along the boards in the Bruins’ offensive zone. He found Patrice Bergeron in the slot.

Bergeron’s wrist shot was blocked by Skjei, but Marchand crashed the net and the puck found him. He lofted a wrist shot over Pyotr Kochetkov and put the Bruins ahead for the first time in 3:25:41 of hockey over five games this season.

The one thing the Bruins didn’t want to do was chase the Hurricanes for a third straight game.

They let Carolina score first in each of the first two games of the series and watched both games run away from them.

At home for a pivotal Game 3, the Bruins couldn’t stop it from happening again.

Vincent Trocheck scored his second goal of the series at 9:17 of the first period.

Brendan Smith swooped in to snag the puck at the blue line

and immediately fired it at Jeremy Swayman. The puck bounced off the skate of Trocheck, who lunged to swat it by Swayman and give the Canes a 1-0 lead.

The Canes, who haven’t trailed in the series — or in any of the three regular-season games between the teams — were able to play with a lead once again.

But the Bruins didn’t have to chase long.

The shorthanded goal Charlie Coyle scored on a breakaway with Jake Debrusk at the 17:16 mark in the first felt like a breakthrough.

The Bruins hadn’t scored in the first period all series up to that point and they kept Carolina from hijacking

momentum early.

The shorthanded goal was the Bruins’ first in a playoff game since Game 3 of their first-round series against the Hurricanes in 2020. They went into the first intermission tied at 1.

The Bruins, on the wrong end of three 5-on-3 situations in Game 2, got a 5 on 3 of their own late in the second period thanks to an interference call on Ian Cole at the 12:36 mark and a hooking call on Trocheck at 13:05.

David Pastrnak capitalized, setting up on the left dot and firing a shot shortside through traffic to beat Kochetkov and push the Bruins’ lead to 3-1.

The game was delayed for about seven minutes when a section of the glass fell on an NHL official working the penalty box.