The Carolina Hurricanes were dismantled and picked apart by the Boston Bruins in Game 2 at TD Garden, losing 2-6, and ultimately 0-2 in the series. They come home to PNC Arena in Raleigh, with two necessary home games and two necessary wins. What do they need to do?
Can the Carolina Hurricanes come home to games 3 and 4 the same way they did against the Washington Capitals? The first two games of the series were not kind to the Hurricanes in either of those two series, but these last two stung worse than the first two of the playoffs.
Game 1 was an iffy game that fans from both the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins will argue bad officiating, but Game 2 was not close. The Bruins had their way with the Hurricanes almost all night other than the first ten minutes of the first period. The Hurricanes came out strong, but ran out of gas shortly after.
Matt Grzelcyk registered two goals, Charlie Coyle and Torey Krug both put up three assists, and Connor Clifton scored his first National Hockey League goal. Justin Williams and Teuvo Teravainen put up the lone Hurricane goals, to break the shutout and for something to build on for Game 3.
Something to build on. pic.twitter.com/ualsfQmIxD
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 12, 2019
The Bruins have set the tone in this series already, taking their first two home games at TD Garden. Although the Hurricanes are technically not on the brink of elimination, they will be if they do not turn the momentum shift around.
Justin Williams: "Sometimes you’ve got to eat a poop sandwich. It doesn’t taste good, but you have to chew on it for a little bit. We’ll have to do it for a couple of days and get the taste out of our mouth the next game."
— Michael Smith (@MichaelSmithNC) May 12, 2019
The Hurricanes set the tone in the first 40 minutes of ice time for this series and they let it slip away. The Hurricanes have been good at home, winning every home postseason game so far, they have to use this statistic for confidence to cut this series deficit in half. What do they need to do?