For a last regular season game, the fans in the Lenovo Center on Thursday got one entertaining affair. A game that saw multiple lead changes, six different Hurricanes scoring, a Boston Bruins hat trick, a goalie being replaced, and an overtime winner all equaled a 6-5 win by the Carolina Hurricanes over the Boston Bruins. Once the game hit overtime the Canes clinched the Metro Division, but the extra point now has them looking at the first seed in the East.
The first period was full of action and
a little surprise as Rod Brind’Amour trotted out most of the usual forwards and defensemen—Nicolas Deslauriers for Eric Robinson was the only swap—but the actual defensive pairings were completely switched around. That juggling may have accounted for a fair amount of loose play visible throughout the period, as Boston was able to get on the board first thanks to a bit of a misplay on the puck by starting goalie Brandon Bussi, and Hampus Lindholm was able to blast it by him.
The Canes answered, however, thanks to some determined work by Andrei Svechnikov. The assists on the play went to Alexander Nikishin and Sean Walker, but the play was all Svechnikov as he skated into the Boston zone, swept around the net, and completed a nice wraparound that banked off Bruins’ goalie Jeremy Swayman to knot the score at one.
Just 90 seconds later, Jordan Staal won a face off, got the puck to K’Andre Miller who quickly blew it past David Pastranak, making no play to stop the shot, and put the Canes on top 2-1.
Unfortunately for Carolina, Pastranak and the Bruins would get their revenge pretty quickly. In short order it was 3-2 Boston off a pair of Morgan Geekie goals. Both of them set up by Pastranak going deep into the zone, drawing the Canes’ defense, and then passing to an open Geekie who was able to get them by Bussi. On the second goal, Rod Brind’Amour tested where the standard now is on goalie interference and challenged the call. He lost, but the Canes were able to kill the resulting penalty and the first ended with Bussi taking a hit from Mark Kastelic which resulted in a power play to start the second.
The Canes wouldn’t score on that power play, but in a three minute stretch they went from one goal down to two goals up. The first came as Boston took another penalty about four minutes into the period and Brind’Amour sent out the second unit to start. That group refused to let the puck exit the zone, and eventually Taylor Hall fed Logan Stankoven to knot the score at three.
Just two minutes later, the tenacious work by the Canes in the offensive zone paid off again as Boston just couldn’t work the puck out of the zone, and the forecheck kept giving them chances. Eventually, William Carrier on a partial change with Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook was able to skate all alone on Swayman and give Carolina the lead back at 4-3.
Then just a minute later, the red hot line of Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake, and Taylor Hall denied Boston a chance and rush up the ice. Blake carried the puck in and threaded a perfect pass over to a wide open Taylor Hall to blast the puck past Swayman. It was Hall’s 301st career goal, which gave the Canes a 5-3 lead and chased Swayman from the game.
Brandon Bussi was able to build a better period than the first, making several key saves, but Boston still got one back near the end of the second as Nikita Zadorov took advantage of a pick set by Charlie McAvoy, threw a shot to the goal and Morgan Geekie completed the hat trick and put Boston back to within one 5-4.
The third period was a lot calmer, as it once again started with the Canes on the Power Play, but again they were unable to convert. That was mostly due to the stellar play of Joonas Korpisalo who came on in relief of Swayman. He made several huge saves on point black shots from the Canes that would have extended the lead. Then with about seven minutes left, a missed high stick on one end ultimately kept Boston from having to kill another penalty. That resulted in Paval Zacha scoring the tying goal when he was left all alone and Bussi again failed to make the save. Carolina later on had to kill a penalty, but was successful thanks partly to great defense and partly to Boston’s clear desire to at least secure a point from the game.
Overtime, however, was dominated by the Canes. They won the opening face off and never really let Boston have any chance with the puck. 1:13 into the extra period, K’Andre Miller slipped off and Jaccob Slavin hopped on, at the same time Svechnikov and Aho rushed the net, and then Aho feathered an unreal pass over to the other side of the goal mouth that Slavin was able to tap in.
The Slavin goal was his first of the season, it sent the home fans happy in the last regular season home game, and it dropped the Bruins to 0-2-2 on their road trip. The win also put Carolina four points up on all three Atlantic Division teams for first place in the East, with all having four games left. It will be interesting to see how hard Carolina goes to secure that top seed now that the division is clinched and the rest of the regular season will be on the road. This includes situations like Jalen Chatfield who missed the third period with an injury, and Rod Brind’Amour didn’t have an update after the game.
Next up for Carolina is Chicago in the Windy City on Thursday night.
