‘Guys are feeling it.’ Hurricanes regroup after collapse against smug, saucy Bruins.
Through four games of the Carolina Hurricanes’ playoff series with the Boston Bruins, it remains one of the most telling plays.
Canes center Jordan Staal and Bruins defenseman Charle McAvoy were battling along the boards. As they began to separate, McAvoy reached up and yanked Staal’s helmet off his head, rolling it across the ice.
Staal is the Canes captain. Almost 32, he has played more than a thousand regular-season and playoff games in the NHL. He has won a Stanley Cup. He’s also 6-4 and 230 pounds.
But McAvoy showed no regard or respect for any of that in Game 2, just as forward Brad Marchand showed no respect in taunting Justin Williams — then the Canes captain — in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. McAvoy ripped off Staal’s helmet and let it fly, a smug, saucy act of defiance that sums up the Bruins’ hockey chutzpah.
Nor was a penalty called. It’s hard to imagine, say, the Canes’ Haydn Fleury pulling off Patrice Bergeron’s helmet and giving it a fling and nothing being called. But McAvoy’s impudence revealed the collective mindset of these Bruins, that they can play the game their way, do the things they want to do against the Canes and not be stopped.
The Canes’ third period collapse
Much was said Monday after Game 4 about the Canes’ third-period collapse in the stinging 4-3 loss. Williams said, “We got it handed to us,” neatly summarizing everything.
It hurt that Staal left the game in the third after taking a heavy hit — from McAvoy. It hurt that two of the Canes’ more physical players, forward Andrei Svechnikov and defenseman Joel Edmundson, already were out with injuries.
Staal was able to practice on Tuesday but Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said his availability for Game 5 was still to be determined after further evaluation. The Canes will need him.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy alluded to the fact a few days ago that the playoffs are about attrition, about the grind and the hits adding up along the way and the heavier, tougher team having the better of it. He meant his team, of course.
So it has been as the Bruins, despite losing forward David Pastrnak to a first-game injury, despite goalie Tuuka Rask leaving the bubble for personal reasons, have won three of the four games and driven the Canes to the brink in Toronto. One more loss in the series for the Canes and it’s back to Raleigh, back home and to their families, back to whatever comes next in this pandemic age.
“That’s obviously a disappointing loss and nobody’s proud of what we did yesterday,” center Vincent Trocheck said Tuesday. “To give up a lead like that in the third period, up two (goals) in the playoffs, is unacceptable but at the end of the day it’s a seven-game series and we kind of had to look ourselves in the mirror last night and think to ourselves did we do enough? Kind of put it behind us now and look to the next game.”
Brind’Amour said the team tried to have “some fun” at practice and rid themselves of all the negativity, noting, “We needed to turn the page.”
The bubble’s mental challenges
A year ago, Williams said a point comes in every playoff series when one team has had enough, whether physically or mentally. This could be that breaking point for the Hurricanes, who were swept by the Bruins in the Eastern Conference finals last year.
Brind’Amour was asked before Game 4 about coping with the mental challenges of life in the NHL bubble in Toronto, the time off the ice, and its effects on the players and coaches.
“This to me is the biggest challenge,” he said. “Everybody wants to play. We’d play in the street if we had to.
“Guys are feeling it. But it’s a long road and the team that can hunker down the best and mentally channel all your positive energy to why we’re here is the team that’s probably going to be able to hoist the Cup when it’s all done.”
The Canes appear to be a team “feeling it.” The Bruins appear to be a team hunkering down the best with Pastrnak out and Rask gone, the team with more positive energy. The team treating their opponent rudely on the ice.
Game 5 is Wednesday. The Canes either win or leave. It’s that simple now.
“The desperation is going to have to be there from the start,” Brind’Amour said.
Hurricanes vs. Bruins
What: Game 5, Stanley Cup playoff series.
When: Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto.
Watch and listen: Fox Sports Carolinas, WCMC-99.9 The Fan, NBC Sports Network.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 3:01 PM.
