3rd Period
Things fell apart in the 3rd period. Throughout the game, the Bruins absolutely could not score on the powerplay. Mrazek stood tall, and the Hurricanes’ penalty killers played a stout, defensive game to kill most of them off.
This changed in the 3rd period. With Jordan Staal in the box for an extremely unnecessary boarding call, the Bruins finally converted on the powerplay. Marcus Johansson took advantage of an inadvertently blocked shot, and pushed the puck past Mrazek to tie the game up.
Merely 15 seconds later, Dougie Hamilton would be called for an extremely questionable roughing penalty. Meanwhile, Sean Kuraly blindsides Andrei Svechnikov with absolutely no action from the officials. 13 seconds after that, Patrice Bergeron converts on yet another Bruins’ powerplay, taking the lead back from Carolina, 3-2.
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The Bruins’ defense from this point on was absolutely miserly. Teuvo Teravainen had a solid chance with close to 6 minutes remaining in the game, but his shot from the slot went just wide of the net.
Rod Brind’amour pulled Mrazek with two and a half minutes left in the game in hopes that the Hurricanes would be able to tie it, but Bruins center Charlie Coyle had other plans. 17 seconds after Mrazek was pulled, Coyle scored the empty-netter to bring the Bruins lead to 4-2.
Then, just to add salt to the wound, Teravainen turned the puck over to Bruins forward Chris Wagner, who managed to get in behind Carolina’s defense and put one last shot past Mrazek, bringing the final score to 5-2 in favor of the Bruins.
This was a tough loss to take, Caniacs. I, for one, am still fuming about it. Having played hockey for the better part of two decades, and having officiated for almost a full decade now, I am still dumbfounded as to how quickly this game seemed to go south. The Hurricanes are a resilient bunch, however, and this is a best-of-seven series.
I have no doubt in my mind that the Hurricanes will bounce back. This loss just added fuel to an already blazing fire, and I am willing to bet Games 2, 3, 4, and 5 will be very, very different.
Question for CC Readers: Do you think officiating played a major role in the turning of the tables in Game 1?