Hurricanes outmuscle Bruins to win Game 2, but lose goalie Antti Raanta to injury
It was a game that had bad blood and real blood, big hits and brutal hits, and there could be more to come.
The Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins engaged in a playoff game Wednesday that had all the elements of two teams that really don’t like each other. Respect each other, yes. But like? Not at all.
The Hurricanes emerged Wednesday with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of the first-round series and will take a 2-0 series lead to Boston for Games 3 and 4. They also could go into TD Garden with a rookie goalie starting and facing both a hostile Bruins crowd and Bruins team.
Sebastian Aho, who scored twice for the Canes, called the game “high-paced, very intense, physical, a lot happening.”
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour agreed, saying, “There was not a dull moment, that’s for sure. A bit of everything in that game.”
Everything changed in a flash Wednesday, the series going from heated to hated. It happened as fast as Bruins forward David Pastrnak could throw his hands into the face of Canes goalie Antti Raanta, or Andrei Svechnikov could level Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm.
Pastrnak, crashing the net in the first period, initially attempted to slow down as he approached the cage, as if to avoid Raanta. But Pastrnak hit Raanta in the mask, leaving him down and bloodied at 7:47 of the first period.
Game on. In came rookie goalie Pyotr Kochetkov. The PNC Arena crowd became fully engaged. So did the Canes, who took a 2-0 lead on goals by Jesper Fast and Aho.
The second period was a continuation of hard collisions and nasty scrums as Carolina added to the lead. Svechnikov delivered a megaton hit on Lindholm behind the Boston net — the replays shown on the scoreboard drawing as many gasps from the crowd as the hit itself, one of nine by Svechnikov in the game.
After the game, Boston coach Bruce Cassidy told the media that Lindholm was “not doing well.” Svechnikov, in turn, said, “I feel bad for that guy, that was a pretty hard hit” and hoped Lindholm was not seriously injured.
“You never want to see anybody get hurt and I don’t like seeing our goalie get taken out, either,” Brind’Amour said.
Not long after Svechnikov’s hit, Kochetkov and Marchand were going at it on the other end of the rink — a push, a whack of the stick. The rookie did not back down from the veteran forward as both were called for slashing, which did not surprise Svechnikov.
“I remember from the past playing with him in junior hockey and he was always that kind of guy,” Svechnikov said. “I told him after the second period (to) just stay calm.”
With so many players piling into the penalty boxes — Boston had 13 penalties, Carolina 9 — the Canes were able to build a 4-1 lead after two periods on power-play goals by Aho and Nino Niederreiter, who also scored twice. Niederreiter’s first goal came late in a 5-on-3 advantage after the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron had scored on a power play, popping a rebound past Kochetkov.
Bergeron scored again in the third as the Bruins tested Kochetkov with 17 shots, pulling goalie Linus Ullmark with 4:30 left in regulation for a sixth attacker and having a two-man advantage after a Canes penalty. But Niederreiter’s empty-net goal finished it off as Kochetkov finished with 30 saves.
Raanta was ruled out with an upper-body injury, that with goalie Frederik Andersen sidelined since April 16 with a lower-body injury. Jack LaFontaine, who was called up this week from Chicago of the AHL to serve as the third goalie, quickly dressed and watched from the Canes’ equipment room.
Brind’Amour had no update on Raanta’s condition but said the goalie did not enter the concussion protocol and was ‘”in good spirits” after the game.
Kochetkov spent most of the season in Russia’s KHL and then with the Wolves in the AHL before the call came from Raleigh. Kochetkov went from backup to starter when Raanta was injured on a three-game road trip, starting against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers after relieving Raanta against the Islanders.
Kochetkov was the winner in all three games. Now he has experienced the NHL playoffs for the first time, and won.
“There’s a lot of faith in our group with that goalie,” Brind’Amour said.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 10:00 PM.
