The Carolina Hurricanes solved their power-play woes, but could not find the back of the net at even strength in a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins at PNC Arena Tuesday night.
The Canes (6-5-1) got goals from forward Micheal Ferland and defenseman Dougie Hamilton, and forward Sebastian Aho extended his franchise-best season-opening point streak to 12 games against the Bruins (7-3-2).
The Canes’ much-maligned power play finished 2 for 4, but Carolina still has work to do on special teams, as Boston’s man advantage finished 2 of 5.
“I thought our penalty kill was really good; we had two or three breakaways shorthanded,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The margins are tight here. We’re right there, but it can go either way. Right now it’s going the other way. A mistake here or there is costing us the games, versus we have a play that can put us ahead and put the game maybe in our favor.”
Goalie Scott Darling was a mixed bag in his season debut. He stopped 28 of 31 shots and made some stellar saves, but also probably should have had the Bruins’ first goal.
“I felt great,” Darling said. “I’d like a second chance at the first goal, but other than that it was a close game and obviously disappointed with the outcome.”
The Bruins’ winning goal came with 14:37 to play in the game; forward Brad Marchand, who scored two goals in the game, fought off Canes forward Justin Williams and finished on a wrap-around.
The end of the second period was a wild momentum swing. The Canes took a 2-1 lead on a man advantage with 1:27 left in the middle frame; Hamilton blasted a shot home off the faceoff to make it 2-1. Hamilton was drafted by the Bruins in 2011.
“We’re working away at [the power play],” Hamilton said. “To get rewarded is nice, but too bad it came when we didn’t have any five-on-five goals. Hopefully it’ll be better next game with five-on-five and power play going in.”
The special teams battle continued from there, as with the Bruins on a late power play, forward Brad Marchand got behind the Canes’ penalty killers and snapped a shot past Darling with 18 seconds left in the period.
The goal came after Boston forward Patrice Bergeron thwarted a shorthanded chance for Canes forward Warren Foegele.
“At the end of the second we made a bad decision on a change and took a breath,” Brind’Amour said. “I give Bergeron a lot of credit in my opinion. He came back, saved a goal and then zipped it up and they get a goal. We’ve got to learn that you can’t take a breath on the ice. That’s what happens. To me, that costs us the game. If we’re up 2-1 going into the [third], I think we’re in better shape. We’ve got to learn from it and just keep moving forward.”
The Bruins got the best chance of the first period with around five minutes to play in the frame, but Darling exploded across for the glove save on Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk.
The Canes’ struggling power play found the back of the net with 2:06 to go in the first; Ferland finished off a netmouth scramble off the rebound of a point shot from Aho. The Bruins challenged the goal for goalie interference, but it was a quick review and the tally stood.
Aho’s assist on the goal gave him points in 12 straight to start this season, breaking Ron Francis’ franchise record. Earning an assist in all 12 games to start the year also ties with Wayne Gretzky and Ken Linseman for the NHL record.
Darling continued his strong play on the Canes’ next power play, sliding across to deny Bruins forward Sean Kuraly off an odd-man, shorthanded rush.
“I thought he was fine,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought he made some real big saves, especially when we had some breakdowns. They had a couple of shorthanded chances. He held us in there. We’ve just got to find ways to score two more goals.”
Boston tied the game at one with a power-play goal with 7:38 to play in the middle frame, as Bruins forward David Pastrnak bounced a shot off Darling’s pad from a sharp angle.
The Canes will hit the road and be back in action against the Arizona Coyotes Friday night.
“We’ve just got to stay positive,” Brind’Amour said. “The hard part is the guys have played pretty well. Our record doesn’t really reflect where I think the level of our play. That’s hard to sell to the guys. Keep doing what we’re doing and we’ll get some goals, goals will go in. The chances are there; you can definitely say that you’re going to score some goals. We just have to stick with it. Obviously get rid of those mistakes where we take a little breath. The mistakes are killing us.”
