New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Bruins beat ’Canes to force a Game 7
BOSTON — Brad Marchand scored one goal and assisted on another, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots to lead the Boston Bruins past the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 on Thursday night and send their first-round playoff series to a decisive seventh game.
The home team has won all six games in the series so far — an edge for Carolina, which will host Game 7 on Saturday. The winner will play either the Penguins or Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals; Pittsburgh leads that series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday night.
Two days after losing 5-1 at Carolina — their third blowout loss on the road — the Bruins returned to the TD Garden for what could be the last home game for future Hall of Famer Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins captain has declined to talk about his future during the season.
Andrei Svechnikov scored twice and Antti Raanta made 29 saves for the Hurricanes, who have won three games by a combined score of 15-4 and lost three by a total of 14-6.
Charlie Coyle also scored for Boston, and Erik Haula and Derek Forbort added third-period goals before Curtis Lazar backhanded the puck into the empty net with 4:17 to play.
Marchand broke a scoreless tie 46 seconds into the second period, taking a long cross-ice pass from Connor Clifton and skating to the right circle before wristing it over Raanta’s glove.
Coyle gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead in the last two minutes of the period, poking in the trickling rebound of David Pastrnak’s onetimer. Svechnikov made it a one-goal game early in the third before Haula and Forbort gave Boston back its cushion.
Svechnikov’s second goal came with 2:30 left during a power play for a double minor to Marchand for spearing.
In an 18-year career, all of it with Boston, Bergeron has scored 400 goals with 582 assists and won the Selke Award as the best two-way forward four times. He won the Stanley
Cup in 2011 and went to the Final two other times.
The 36-year-old Canadian is unsigned for next season.
CROSBY’S STATUS STILL UNCERTAIN
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby made his way down the tunnel and out of sight. Any sense of security the Pittsburgh Penguins had in their first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers disappeared right along with their captain.
The superstar’s status for Friday night’s Game 6 is uncertain after Crosby absorbed a high but — in the eyes of the officials — legal hit from Jacob Trouba late in the second period of Game 5 on Wednesday night. He didn’t play the final 26 minutes and was nowhere near the bench as a two-goal lead turned into a 5-3 loss that sent the series back to Pittsburgh.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan offered scant details on Thursday other than to say Crosby would continue to be evaluated. Sullivan declined to get into specifics about whether the three-time Stanley Cup champion was dealing with another concussion, saying only Crosby has an upperbody injury.
While Sullivan stressed his group has what it takes to win regardless of who is in the lineup, the reality is the Penguins are not the same when Crosby’s familiar No. 87 isn’t doing the little things — and the big ones too — that have made him a singular force for the better part of two decades.
It was evident in the immediate scramble after Crosby’s departure. Pittsburgh allowed three goals in less than three minutes and struggled to generate any consistent pressure on New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin after the Rangers took the lead for good in the third period.
Crosby spent two years grappling with post-concussion issues a decade ago, cutting right into the middle of his prime. He’s been largely healthy since 2013, though he did miss a second-round game against Washington in 2017 after taking a cross-check to the head from Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen.