Hurricanes’ misfiring special teams let the Bruins off the hook. It’s a series now
.JPG "Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand (63) celebrates his goal as Carolina Hurricanes’ Pyotr Kochetkov (52) and Brett Pesce (22) kneel on the ice during the second period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Friday, May 6, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)")
It was within the realm of possibility to expect special teams to decide a game in this series. Who knew it would be less of the Boston Bruins being good than the Carolina Hurricanes being garbage?
The momentum the Hurricanes brought to Boston evaporated not so much because they took a bunch of bad penalties — so often their downfall against the Bruins in the past — but because they performed so far below their own standards. When one of the NHL’s best power plays is a net negative, and when one of the NHL’s best penalty-kills gets flat-out outplayed, it’s going to be tough to beat anyone in the playoffs. On the road or anywhere.
The Hurricanes have less than 48 hours to mull the error of their ways after this 4-2 loss, a game in which they were on even terms at even strength and Pyotr Kochetkov gave them a chance, but were dramatically outplayed otherwise, both a man up and a man down.
Of all the ways this series the Hurricanes have dominated could go south up north, this seemed among the least likely. It was quite untimely — let alone odd — to see something that’s been a bedrock strength suddenly become a fatal weakness. And up 1-0 early, they were on the power play with a chance to put the game and perhaps the series away when they gave the game away instead.
The Bruins turned an ill-advised Jesperi Kotkaniemi drop pass into a short-handed goal and the Hurricanes failed to score on that power play or any of their other five opportunities. The Bruins converted twice — once just after the Hurricanes managed to kill 91 seconds of two-man advantage thanks to a Vincent Trocheck trip — and that’s how the Hurricanes found themselves trailing the Bruins for the first time this season.
“They’re a good team, but we’re not executing very well,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Second (power-play) unit’s been fine. They’re getting their chances and their looks. Top guys got to be better. Simple.”
It didn’t help that the Hurricanes didn’t find it as easy to score on new Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman as they did on his predecessor, Linus Ullmark, and if the Bruins had made that switch after Game 1, this might be a different series than it is now.
Still, the Hurricanes remain ahead in the series, and as good as they looked at home, it was always going to be difficult to translate that superiority to the road. This was kind of the worst-case scenario: Win Game 3 and lose Game 4, and the Bruins are still plying the NHL’s most uphill road, but this gave them some life.
That’s only going to make Sunday afternoon more difficult, let alone Tuesday in Raleigh and perhaps beyond.
“We lost the special teams battle,” Hurricanes defenseman Brendan Smith said. “We have to go and look at it and figure it out. That’s a lot of times how you win games in the playoffs. It comes down to that. Special teams. And the shorty’s a tough one. They got another power play (goal). We didn’t. It’s hard to win when you don’t get that. For us, we’re going to have to flush it and make sure we come back prepared. Because they’re a good squad. And they brought it. Have to tip your hat to them.”
Special teams and goaltending. Smith isn’t exaggerating: Sometimes, that’s all that matters in the playoffs, especially when teams are this evenly matched, regular season and the Hurricanes’ opening command of this series aside. Kotchetkov was fine. Swayman was fine. The Hurricanes’ special teams were drastically, uncharacteristically bad.
There was no hiding from that.
“When we go out there and play power play, it’s our job to give us more momentum and I don’t think we did a good enough job today for doing that,” Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. “We’ve got to be a little better there, but I’m 100 percent confident we will be better.”
The Bruins were never going to go quietly, but the Hurricanes had ample chances to make it harder on them than they did Friday, and it’s a missed opportunity they may very well come to regret.
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This story was originally published May 7, 2022 at 7:04 AM.
