Bruins power past Hurricanes in Game 3 of Stanley Cup playoffs, cut series lead in half

For the first 17 minutes of the game, the Carolina Hurricanes were in control.

Then, in a matter of seconds, they weren’t.

Jake DeBrusk of the Boston Bruins, with a quick swipe of his stick, defused a Canes power play, set up a two-on-one rush and fed Charlie Coyle for a shorthanded goal.

Just like that, it all turned — the momentum, the game, the playoff series. The Bruins were on their way to a 4-2 victory at TD Garden as goalie Jeremy Swayman made his first playoff start a winning one and had Bruins fans chanting his name.

Vincent Trocheck and Jaccob Slavin had goals for the Canes, but the first came early in the game and the second in the third period after the Bruins had built a comfortable lead.

It wasn’t a series-ending elimination game for the Bruins, but it felt like one. After losing the first two games in Raleigh, a loss on home-ice might have been too big a dagger.

But Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy turned to Swayman in net after sticking with Linus Ullmark in the first two games, when Boston was outscored 10-3. He also put Pastrnak back on the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Marchand.

The Canes again were in the lead after Trocheck tipped a Brendan Smith shot past Swayman in the first period. They were moving the puck well and keeping the pressure off rookie goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, also making his first playoff start.

It was just the kind of period the Canes wanted in their first road game of the playoffs. The TD Garden crowd was subdued.

But the Debrusk-Coyle combination on the Bruins penalty kill changed everything. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak scored in the second period — Pastrnak on a power play — as Boston moved into a 3-1 lead.

Bruins fans were excited after Marchand took advantage of a Canes turnover in the Carolina zone to score on a shot the slot. Some Bruins fans got a little too excited after Pastrnak’s shot beat Kochetkov to the short side.

Some heavy glass-banging caused a pane to break away from a stanchion and land on the head of the timeout coordinator seated in a cubicle near center ice. It took several minutes for the official to be treated and then removed on a stretcher.

Another power-goal in the third period by Taylor Hall pushed the lead to 4-1 as the Bruins dominated special teams play this night. Teuvo Teravainen hit the crossbar with a power-play attempt in the second period but the Canes got few good scoring chances with the man advantage.

Slavin got off a shot from the left point that Swayman couldn’t track at 11:30 of the third, but Swayman was a difference-maker,

Cassidy said before the game that with the last change at home, he might look for different matchups than in the first two games. While putting Pastrnak back on the line with Patrice Bergeron and Marchand, Cassidy said he might keep it away from the Jordan Staal line, which played so well for the Canes in the first two games.

But the Marchand goal came against the Staal line and Canes defensemen Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce. That gave the Bruins more energy.

Penalties against Ian Cole and then Trocheck gave the Bruins 1:31 of a 5-on-3 advantage. The Canes killed off the Cole penalty but Pastrnak scored against some tiring penalty killers.

Canes forward Jordan Martinook left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury after contact with Hall and did not return.

Chip Alexander

The News & Observer

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In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.