How the Carolina Hurricanes smothered Boston Bruins in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Playoffs
A few weeks ago, Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes was asked what the Stanley Cup playoffs might be like for him. After all, he is a rookie.
“I don’t know,” Jarvis said. “You tell me, dude.”
It went like this Monday for Jarvis and the Canes:
The Hurricanes took on the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their first-round series, winning 5-1 behind the 35 saves of goaltender Antti Raanta, some stout penalty killing and more than enough scoring.
Before the game, the parking lots were filled with tailgaters thoroughly enjoying themselves. Once inside PNC Arena, they were at full throat and waving white towels.
“To see the fans, that building is insane,” Jarvis said. “Everyone was saying it’s going to be crazy but you can only believe so much. But that was awesome. That building was electric.”
When the puck went down, the hitting and checking began. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said there would be animosity in the series, and it crept into it early.
And wouldn’t you know it, it was the rookie, Jarvis, who had the first goal of the series.
There would be more. Nino Niederreiter quickly pushed the Canes lead to 2-0 in the second, and Teuvo Teravainen made it 3-1 in the third after the Bruins had broken through against Raanta on a Taylor Hall goal.
When Vincent Trocheck backhanded the puck past goalie Linus Ullmark, it was 4-1 and Andrei Svechnikov’s late empty-netter made it 5-1. Trocheck and Jarvis each finished with a goal and assist.
The Bruins outshot the Canes 36-25, making for an active night for Raanta, who was making his first career playoff start and was named the game’s first star. Raanta had Canes fans gasping on some of his scrambling stops and chanting his name after others.
“He was really good,” Jarvis said. “We expect that from him. What more can you ask from him?”
The Canes will need more from him with goalie Frederik Andersen injured and sidelined. Game 2 is Wednesday and Raanta again should be in net.
The Bruins, in beating the Canes in the 2019 and 2020 playoffs, were relentlessly good on the power play. But Carolina killed off an early penalty by defenseman Brady Skjei, then penalties in the second and third periods, clearing the puck, winning draws in their zone, making the right plays.
Canes score in bunches
The two teams had gone at it for more than 36 minutes, through a scoreless first period and into the second before Jarvis’ goal. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin got off a shot from the point. Jarvis tipped the puck down and through Ullmark’s pads and the place was very loud.
Then, it got louder. After some smart puck movement by the Canes, Niederreiter ripped off a shot from the top of the left circle with Jordan Staal and Martin Necas screening Ullmark. Make it two goals in two minutes and 10 seconds.
“They were good at the start and we weren’t as good,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the Bruins. “(Raanta) played really well and made some big saves and we got our game going a little bit.”
The Bruins used some hard work behind the Canes net to score early in the third, Erik Haula getting the puck out to Hall for a shot from the slot.
But the Canes struck on a rush into the Bruins zone. Trocheck and Teravainen had a two-on-one rush and Teravainen beat Ullmark with a top-shelf bullet.
“Huge. That Teravainen goal was really big,” Brind’Amour said. “We didn’t have much action going on and they were kind of coming. We had a couple of opportunities and were able to cash in.”
Staal’s line does its job
A game within the game was the work of Staal’s line against the Bruins’ top line centered by Patrice Bergeron. While Bergeron had five shots, winger Brad Marchand was limited to two and had a minus-3 rating for the game.
“That line was good but everybody played hard, for both teams,” Brind’Amour said. “Nobody left anything out there and I’m sure you’re going to see more of that.”
▪ Game 2: Carolina vs Boston, 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN)
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 9:49 PM.
