The Boston Bruins scored two power play goals in 28 seconds in the third period, ending the Carolina Hurricanes’ six-game win streak with a 5-2 victory in an eventful Game 1 at TD Garden.
Marcus Johansson had a goal and an assist, Patrice Bergeron, Charlie Coyle (emptynetter), Steven Kampfer and Chris Wagner all scored, with Brad Marchand registering two assists, and Tuukka Rask making 29 saves for Boston, who have won four in a row.
Marchand leads the NHL with 15 points (5g, 10a) in 14 games in the playoffs. It’s the third time in his career he’s had at least that many. Ray Bourque has the most 15-point playoffs for the Bruins (1983, 1988, 1990, 1991).
The 28 seconds between Johansson and Bergeron‘s goals saw the third fastest in the playoffs in Bruins history (seven seconds, Game 4, 1989 Adams Division Finals, and nine seconds, Game 1, 1975 preliminary round).
Sebastian Aho tied it 1-1 with a power play goal at 3:42 after deflecting Andrei Svechnikov‘s shot. Greg McKegg also scored for Carolina, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead at 9:18 of the second period. After taking a handoff from Jordan Martinook at the redline the forward gained the zone with speed and beat Rask.
Aho has a three-game goal streak, one shy of the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers postseason record (Ray Sheppard, 1999; Bates Battaglia, 2002).
Petr Mrazek, in his first game back from his Game 2 injury against the New York Islanders, made 23 saves for the Hurricanes, who went 1/3 on the power play and should have had a 4-on-4 late on when, with Hamilton heading to the box, Svechnikov was hit from behind, Sean Kuraly was not penalized.
Canes captain Justin Williams told media after the game, “this playoff, we’ve been successful holding leads, and we got kicked in the pants a little today.” He continued, “That hasn’t happened in a while, and we’ve got to get the next one.”
Since in the NHL adopted the conference format for the 1982 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the team that has won Game 1 of a conference final have a series record of 46-26.
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Canes v Bruins – Sunday, May 12 (3pm – NBC)
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