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Tuesday night at TD Garden did not get off to the best start for the Bruins.
In fact, it happened on Carolina’s first shot of the evening, too.
A no-angle weird shot on goal from the Hurricanes’ Martin Necas hit Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman, floated up and disappeared into the nothingness of a goaltender’s gear, and appeared to pop into the back of the Boston net. That was the ruling on the ice, too. Much like Saturday’s game against the Panthers, the Bruins appeared set to have to work out of an early hole, with the ‘Canes on the board just 1:59 into the first period of play.
A video review confirmed that the puck never crossed the goal line, however, and Swayman and the Bruins were saved and back at 0-0.
But the Bruins failed to make that goal-line break count, as the Bruins struggled to get their engines firing at the other end in what finished as a 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes at TD Garden.
For the Bruins, this game was truly lost in the second period, as the Bruins took a step backwards after what was a strong opening frame, with just four shots for each team, and with a checking game that made you think it was late May, not early April. Calling it a step backwards was really the best and only way to describe it, too, as the Bruins’ offense stalled out, with just two shots through the halfway point of the middle period, and with Carolina’s offense finding its gear with an uptick in shots and a pair of strikes in the period.
“I loved our first,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said after the loss. “I thought we were really physical. I thought we were engaged, a couple of good scoring chances [and] they had a couple. Second period, I thought they came out and they pushed hard. They were over top of us. I thought their checking skills, were superior to ours and led to a lot of us playing in our zone. And then, obviously, they got ahead of us.”
The Bruins made it a one-goal game behind Charlie McAvoy's second-period tally, but the Bruins failed to find the equalizer in the third period (their best chance came on a David Pastrnak feed to Danton Heinen at the front of the Carolina net) before the Hurricanes pushed their lead out to three with a pair of quick strikes.
Speaking after the loss, Montgomery called the third goal from the Hurricanes one that took the air out of the balloon for Boston.
With the loss, the Bruins' four-game win streak came to an end.
Svechnikov 'Michigans' Bruins' Swayman
Carolina's first (real) goal of the evening came with a true nightmare scenario for the Bruins, too, as Andrei Svechnikov brought Michigan to Boston.
Overall, this was the third 'Michigan' style goal of Svechnikov's NHL career, with Swayman giving him credit for how effortless the Russian wing can make it look.
“He’s so good at that,” Swayman said following the loss. “It was my goal to never get ‘Michiganed,’ so that was put in the toilet today. It’s something I’ll work on in the skills practice [Wednesday]. Work on stopping that thing.”
“Well, I mean, [Svechnikov] did it so quick tonight,” Montgomery said. “[Svechnikov] beats a guy one-on-one and in the corner. We don’t get a piece of him. So now he has all day to make that play. So the goalie’s got to be aware, but that’s a tough play on the goalie and defenseman. All you can do is meet him at the post and you got to meet a stick.”
Everything else
- I think Trent Frederic summed it up best after this one. He said that the Hurricanes are a different team when they have a lead. That's really been their identity for years now (the Bruins found that out during the 2022 postseason), and it was the biggest difference between last week's game in Raleigh and Tuesday's in Boston. The Bruins got on the board early in that game at PNC Arena, and really took Carolina out of their comfort zone. Give them a lead and boy oh boy do they lock in with layers that are just downright maddening.
- The Bruins have won five of their last seven games. Over that seven-game stretch, David Pastrnak has been held off the scoresheet just twice. The Bruins have lost both those games.
- Felt like the first rough game of the Wotherspoon-Peeke pairing.
Up next: The Bruins will not have a lengthy (by this time of year standards, anyway) break and not play again until Saturday when they travel to Pittsburgh for an 8 p.m. head-to-head with the Penguins.
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