How the Hurricanes slugged the Boston Bruins with a big first-period punch
The Carolina Hurricanes hit the Boston Bruins so hard and so fast Tuesday that the Bruins never recovered.
When the first period ended at TD Garden, the Canes led 5-1 on their way to a 7-1 victory. Many Bruins fans appeared to sit in stunned silence while others let their angry feelings be known.
What happened in the first? A quick recap:
The Canes’ Teuvo Teravainen scored at 3:44 of the period with a one-timer off a Jaccob Slavin seam pass.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored the first of his two goals at 6:03, stuffing a rebound past goalie Tuukka Rask for a 2-0 lead.
It was Kotkaniemi again at 11:26, just 13 seconds after the Bruins had scored on a power play. This time, he redirected a Slavin point shot past Rask to make it 3-1.
Rookie forward Seth Jarvis, who won the “fastest lap” Saturday after the Canes’ win over Vancouver on NASCAR Day at PNC Arena, cranked up the speed again. Picking off a loose Bruins pass in the neutral zone, he bolted down the left wing to the net and scored at 16:01.
Derek Stepan finished off the first-period onslaught 56 seconds later with a quick shot in front after Jordan Martinook aggressively won a puck battle behind the Boston net on the forecheck and made a quick centering pass.
Just like that, 5-1, the first time sine April, 6, 2010, the Canes scored five first-period goals.
“There was a purpose in what we were trying to do,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Everything we did right seemed to go in the net, which was nice. We’ll take it for sure. It doesn’t happen very often.”
The Bruins, who pulled Rask after the first, would make a push in the second period but could not dent the Canes’ lead, even with a 5-on-3 power play. Power-play goals by Slavin and Andrei Svechnikov in the third closed it out for Carolina, which improved its record to 28-6-2 and took over first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Somewhere in Raleigh, Canes winger Martin Necas, who entered the NHL COVID protocol this week, had to be shaking his head. Who would want to miss all that?
“This was one of the good ones,” Stepan said. “Right from the start of the game we did a lot of things we wanted to.”
And didn’t allow the Bruins (22-12-2), who had won five straight, to do nearly any of things they wanted to. The Bruins were a step slower than the Canes much of the night and sloppy in puck management while being stymied by goalie Frederik Andersen, who had 31 saves.
“We had nothing,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said to the media after the game. “They were clearly better than us in every area. We weren’t nearly good enough and we wouldn’t have been good enough against the worst team in the league. Anybody watching the game could tell they were more competitive in every area of the ice.”
That’s what Brind’Amour wanted. After being blitzed 6-0 by Columbus last week, the Canes responded with a solidly efficient 4-1 win Saturday over the Canucks and wanted to carry that kind of play to Boston for their first road game since New Year’s Day.
“No lulls,” Brind’Amour said.
Slavin had a goal and two assists, and Stepan, Svechnikov and Teravainen each had a goal and assist while defenseman Tony DeAngelo collected three assists and has 22 this season. Kotkaniemi nearly had a hat trick and his line, with Stepan and Martinook, accounted for three goals and two assists.
The Canes must like being out of town. They ripped Columbus 7-4, scoring seven unanswered goals, in the Jan. 1 game, then put the seven-spot on the Bruins moving to 14-4-1 in road games.
The Hurricanes and New York Rangers both had 54 points after Tuesday’s games, but the Canes held the Metro lead with a higher point percentage (.750), playing three fewer games.
The Rangers (25-10-4) were to host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, then face the Canes on Friday at PNC Arena. Whether the Rangers win or lose against the Leafs, the Metro lead could again be at stake.
This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 12:01 PM.
