Hurricanes dominate Bruins: Five takeaways from Carolina’s big road win over Boston
The Carolina Hurricanes have had some nightmarish games in the past against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden, where little went right.
But not Tuesday, when so much went right for the Canes.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored twice as Carolina ignited for five first-period goals, defenseman Jaccob Slavin finished with a goal and two assists and goalie Frederik Andersen picked up his 20th win of the season in a 7-1 victory.
Five takeaways from the Canes win:
▪ Slavin has to be a freak of nature. The defenseman goes on the NHL COVID list, sits out five days in quarantine and misses two games, then jumps back into practice Monday and plays a team-high 22:30 Tuesday with three blocked shots.
Slavin found Teravainen open in the right circle with a sharp cross-ice pass for the Canes’ first goal, and had the blast from the point on Kotkaniemi’s redirect. He was on the ice often against the Patrice Bergeron line and kept getting sticks on pucks, once knocking the puck away from Brad Marchand to spring Sebastian Aho for a breakaway.
Slavin, who had a plus-4 plus/minus rating in the first period, then scored in the third on the power play for a 6-1 lead while Tony DeAngelo, his defensive partner, had three assists in the game.
“He’s criminally underrated,” rookie forward Seth Jarvis said of Slavin. Added Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour: “I’ve got to come up with some new words to describe him. A special player, special person.”
▪ There have been many games when the Canes couldn’t find an answer for Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, especially in the 2019 playoffs. But with Rask making his second start of the season, the Canes crowded him. They went to the front of the net and jammed, made things hectic around the crease.
Kotkaniemi twice scored in tight, on a redirect and then stuffing in a rebound. Derek Stepan scored from the low slot off a Jordan Martinook pass from behind the net. Teuvo Teravainen showed off his quick release for the Canes’ first goal of the and Jarvis displayed his speed in scoring in the five-goal first period. All in all, it ended Rask’s night after one period and 12 shots.
“I think it’s about killing their hope,” Jarvis said. “When you play that consistent hard game throughout the game it kind of wears on them and at some point they say ‘uncle’ and that’s when you really pour it on them.”
▪ In an otherwise flawless first, the Canes did allow a power-play goal. Carolina’s streak of killing off 35 consecutive opposing power plays, one shy of the club record, came to an end in the first when a David Pastrnak shot glanced off Bergeron’s skate and past Andersen.
The Canes (26-8-2) answered -- decisively. The Canes scored 13 seconds after Bergeron’s goal for a 3-1 lead as Kotkaniemi got a piece of the Slavin point shot. Then, in the second period the Bruins had 1:08 of a two-man advantage after penalties on Aho and Ian Cole, but the Canes killed off both as Andersen stopped three shots and the Canes blocked three.
The Canes got power-play goals from Slavin and Andrei Svechnikov in the third.
▪ Canes center Vincent Trocheck seemed a bit bemused Tuesday morning when asked if his playing style was similar to Marchand’s “in an agitating kind of way.”
“Are you calling me a rat?” Trocheck asked, referring to one of Marchand’s nicknames.
That found its way to social media, to which Marchand decided to chime in. The Bruins winger used his Instagram handle to respond, “This is like comparing a Lambo to a Prius” and posted comparison career stats. He later deleted the post.
The Canes’ play in the first had some tweeters asking which team was the “Prius.”
▪ A pregame ceremony for Willie O’Ree at TD Garden was as moving as his work for the sport has been impactful. O’Ree, 86, was not able to come to Boston to see his jersey number retired but spoke remotely from his home in California, and spoke of his efforts to make hockey an inclusive sport.
“It was a special night,” Slavin said. “The ceremony was beautiful. It’s awesome for Willie to have his jersey in the rafters and huge for the league, huge for the Boston organization.”
Both teams were on the ice by their benches for the lengthy ceremony. When the puck dropped to start the game, the Canes were quicker off the mark and stayed that way, often beating the Bruins (22-12-2) in transition and making the most of their offensive chances.
“We weren’t competitive tonight and we paid the price,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told the media.
This story was originally published January 18, 2022 at 9:59 PM.
