The Boston Bruins hold a special place in Carolina Hurricanes history. Frankly, it predates the move from Hartford to North Carolina, with the Bruins and the Whalers sharing a less-than-savory relationship during their time together in the Northeast. We've already established that the Canes' worst series came against Boston in 2019. One year later, these two were right back at it.
The 2019-20 season was a bit of an anomaly. What started as a normal season was thrown into disarray with the emergence of COVID-19, bringing the campaign to a standstill in early March 2020. Months later, the league returned with a plan to still award the Stanley Cup, splitting the conferences into bubbles and letting 12 teams duke it out in Toronto and Edmonton for a chance to hoist the Cup.
When play paused, the Bruins had the league's best record, earning their way into a Round Robin with the Top 4 in the East. The Canes were in a playoff spot, sending them into a best-of-three qualifying round. Boston lost all three of its games, while Carolina won its trio, setting them up for an Eastern Conference Finals rematch in Toronto.
#30: While closer than in 2019, the Bruins still had the Canes' number
It was clear that this series was doomed from the start. Play was supposed to begin on August 11, 2020. However, Game 1 between Tampa Bay and Columbus required five overtimes, pushing the game to the following morning to stay on schedule. When it finally began, Carolina and Boston wanted to play a long game of their own, needing extra time to settle their opener.
Each period during regulation featured a goal for each team, with Joel Edmundson, Brock McGinn short-handed, and Haydn Fleury providing Carolina's offense. Tied at three after four periods, the Perfection Line burned the Canes again. Early in double overtime, Patrice Bergeron finished the game by sneaking a shot through Petr Mrazek to help Boston draw first blood.
Game 2 was just as tight. While Boston got on the board first, the Canes' big guns made themselves heard. Teuvo Teravainen scored on the power play, and Andrei Svechnikov added another almost 90 seconds later. However, instead of going into the third up by a goal, Brad Marchand scored with under five seconds left in the second period to tie it once more.
Overtime wouldn't be required this time. One of the players who benefited from the long layoff more than anyone else was Dougie Hamilton. His season appeared to be over in January after breaking his leg against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The delayed return allowed him to get back into action in Game 1. In Game 2, he'd score the game-winner in the third, evening the series at a game apiece.
Rask's exit from the bubble gave way to Halak taking over for Boston
Before the start of Game 3, all attention turned to Tuukka Rask and the Bruins when it was announced that the Boston netminder was leaving the Toronto bubble. He had played okay in the first two games, but the decision to exit was a no-brainer for him. During the offseason, it was revealed that his daughter needed medical attention, and Rask made the painstaking choice to leave Toronto.
In his absence, Jaroslav Halak was elevated into the starting role. While Mrazek was good in Game 3 (36 saves on 38 shots), Halak was better. Boston got goals on the power play and short-handed to take a 2-0 lead early in the third. Nino Niederreiter was gifted the shutout-breaking goal on the power play, but Marchand scored into the empty net, pushing Boston ahead in the series.
The Canes had a chance to even the series in Game 4, and they appeared poised to do so when Justin Williams and Jordan Martinook scored the only goals after 40 minutes. However, Boston came out in the third on a mission. Four goals in under seven minutes, including two from Jake DeBrusk, put them ahead by two, and the Canes failed to recover, seeing their season pushed to the brink.
The Canes scored first again in Game 5. Fleury's second goal of the series came halfway through the opening frame. However, Boston's power play scored twice in the second period, which proved to be the Canes' downfall. The series-winning goal was especially rough. Patrice Bergeron scored from below the goal line by banking the puck in. When the final horn sounded, the Canes were done.
The Perfection Line during the 2019 and 2020 runs did enough to cause the Caniacs nightmares. Marchand finished the series with seven points, Bergeron had five, and David Pastrnak, who missed Games 2 through 4, still recorded multi-point games in the series opener and clincher. Add an eight-point series from David Krejci, and it was more than enough for the Bruins.
After taking over in the net for Boston, Halak was excellent, posting a .930 save percentage and allowing just six goals to the Canes' offense, which was a big reason for Carolina's loss. Mrazek and James Reimer put forth a respectable .919 save percentage in the series. However, the Canes generated and sustained little offense.
Truthfully, this was a hard series to rank. There are a few series losses ranked higher than this that feature far more egregious mistakes and efforts than we saw from the Canes in this series. The fact that it took place in August adds to its enigmatic status. Still, I'd be willing to bet that not many people remember anything about this series to begin with, which might be even more of a justification.
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