Nowadays, the Panthers and the Rangers are the two teams that seem to have the Carolina Hurricanes' number during the postseason. However, when they initially broke their postseason drought in 2019, that honor belonged to the Boston Bruins. The Bruins had eliminated the Canes from the playoffs in 2019 and 2020. In 2022, the sides met once more.
There was one big difference between this series and their previous encounters. The Canes owned the home ice advantage this time. Coming off their franchise-record 116-point campaign, the series began in Raleigh, something that hadn't happened since the sides met for the first time in 1999. Little did we know how important that would be.
While the Bruins entered the series as a Wild Card team against the Metro's champs, they were by no means lowly. It's not often that recording 107 points puts you outside of the Top 3 in your division. The season series skewed heavily in the Canes' favor. The Canes outscored the Bruins 16-1 in three meetings, including 7-1 and 6-0 wins in Boston. That wouldn't matter in May.
#22: Home ice proved massive for the Canes in this seven-game fight
It was clear early why these two teams were in the Top 4 in goals against during the regular season. Antti Raanta, the Canes' starter once Frederik Andersen was lost for the season, and Linus Ullmark were brick walls for almost 40 minutes. It was going to take something perfect to beat them. That came in the form of a beautiful tip from Seth Jarvis late in the second period, breaking the ice.
Once the first one went in, the dam broke. Nino Niederreiter added another goal over two minutes later to double the Canes' lead heading into the third. Taylor Hall, still a few stops away from Raleigh, cut the Canes' lead in half early in the frame. Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck beat Ullmark, and Andrei Svechnikov put one into the empty net to secure a series-opening 5-1 win.
Game 2 was a little testier, but the Canes continued to assert their dominance over Boston. Jesper Fast got it started when he buried a gorgeous cross-seam pass from Jordan Staal late in the first. Before the end of the period, Sebastian Aho doubled the advantage, tipping Tony DeAngelo's shot above the dots through and around several players to beat Ullmark.
Aho hammered his second goal of the game past Ullmark 1:10 into the middle frame on the power play. Boston got on the board when Patrice Bergeron broke Raanta's shutout with about five minutes left in the period, but Niederreiter got it back just about four minutes later to restore the Canes' three-goal lead. Bergeron and Niederreiter each scored again in the third as the Canes cruised to a 5-2 win.
The Canes looked like a completely different team on the road
With Ullmark allowing eight goals in two games in Raleigh, the Bruins turned their net over to rookie Jeremy Swayman, trying to get the series back on track. They'd also have to do it without defenseman Hampus Lindholm. Late in the second period of Game 2, Andrei Svechnikov caught Lindholm with his head down, laying him out and sidelining him for a few games.
Meanwhile, the Canes were battling their own injuries. Raanta exited in the first period of Game 2 after interference from David Pastrnak. Kochetkov stepped in to stop 30 shots and earn his first postseason win. Fortunately, the Canes were heading into a building that they'd played well in during the regular season. They hoped that trend would continue.
Game 3 started well enough. Trocheck scored midway through the first period as he was falling to get it rolling. However, the Bruins responded by scoring the next four against Kochetkov. Three of the four came on special teams, giving Boston a lead they wouldn't surrender. Jaccob Slavin made it look closer than it was, but the Bruins earned a 4-2 victory to show signs of life in the series.
Carolina and Boston went shot-for-shot for 40 minutes in Game 4. Brett Pesce opened the scoring. Patrice Bergeron responded two minutes later. Staal scored 33 seconds into the second. Jake DeBrusk scored on the power play late in the period. The difference was Boston running away with it in the third, scoring three times to win 5-2 against a returning Raanta to even the series.
Tied at two games each and back in Raleigh, the Canes returned to dominating. Slavin and Tony DeAngelo scored in the first, with DeAngelo's goal coming on the power play. Jarvis scored the next two, including another on the power play in the third period. Connor Clifton broke the shutout midway through the third, but Trocheck's empty-netter put the Canes a win away from advancing.
It wouldn't happen in Game 6. Boston scored twice in the second period and sandwiched three goals between two from Svechnikov in the third period to stave off elimination. The series was set for a winner-take-all seventh game. The good news is that it would be in Raleigh, and based on how this series was going, the Canes needed that to be the case.
The day Max Domi wrote his name in the Canes' history books
When it comes to Game 7s, you never know what you're going to get. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. For the Hurricanes in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, that hero was named Max Domi. The team's big addition at the trade deadline, Domi had never scored a playoff goal. On this day, he rectified that.
The Canes' second line got it started. Domi found Teravainen in front of the net for the easy tap-in late in the first period. Early in the second, it was Domi's turn. A bouncing puck found him below the goal line. Using an immense amount of skill, Domi got it from his skate to his stick on the backhand to double the Canes' lead. This goal was quickly matched by DeBrusk, cutting it back to a one-goal lead.
The turning point of the game saw Boston hitting the post on one end and Carolina scoring on the other. Trent Frederic beat everything but the iron, coming inches away from tying it. Instead, 15 seconds later, Domi buried a one-timer between the dots to restore Carolina's two-goal advantage. As ESPN's Steve Levy put it, Domi was having "the game of his career".
Pastrnak had to ruin the final moments by scoring with about 30 seconds left to cut it to a one-goal game again, but it didn't change the fact that the Canes got it done. A three-point game from Domi and 27 saves by Raanta helped Carolina finally beat the Bruins in the playoffs for the first time since 2009, pushing them into the second round.
The contributions came from the entire lineup, but it's worth pointing out that the Canes' leading scorers in this series were Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo, with both defensemen recording eight points. Slavin recorded points in six of the seven games, while DeAngelo became the first defenseman in team history with multiple three-point games in a series, doing so in Games 2 and 5.
For all of the jubilation of beating the Bruins in this series, it brought to the surface a major issue. The Canes' struggles away from home under Rod Brind'Amour were becoming a problem. They'd been thoroughly outplayed in Boston in all three games. That trend continued in the second round. The Rangers smoked them three times in New York before doing what Boston couldn't in Game 7.
While this series managed to go the distance and featured an exciting conclusion, there was little excitement in the games before it. Each of the first six games was decided by multiple goals, and Game 7 would have been too if not for Pastrnak's late goal. Everything worked out for the Canes in this series, so that has to count for something.
Add us as a preferred source on Google