Despite overcoming their power play woes at TD Garden, the Carolina Hurricanes (10-6-5) suffered their fifth loss in a row to the Boston Bruins (18-3-0) on Friday, Nov. 25.
The Hurricanes’ power play ranked 30th in the NHL prior to Friday’s game, but managed two power play goals in the first frame. Although Boston eventually made a comeback in the back half of regulation, Carolina played with more vigor than it had in a few weeks.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour partly credited Boston’s win to the sheer amount of time the Hurricanes spent in the penalty box, allowing the Bruins’ experienced offensive line to advance past Carolina.
“Can’t take penalties at the end,” Brind’Amour said. “Especially when it’s 4-on-3s and 5-on-3s. We did a hell of a job, we worked our butts off tonight. Killed most of the penalties — we got a weird one in there to tie it up. Flip of the coin on the calls, I guess.”
Although most sports fans undoubtedly tuned in to USA’s World Cup match against England over regular season hockey — both games got going at 1 p.m. — diehard Caniacs saw plenty of action on the ice. Right wing Stefan Noesen notched his third goal of the season to put Carolina on the board, catching a slick rebound from Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark.
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In what surely lifted a huge weight off of the Finn’s back, center Jesperi Kotkaniemi gave the Canes a 2-0 lead late in the first frame. Admittedly underperforming in recent weeks, Kotkaniemi needed a goal like today’s to bring him back up to speed. If the five-loss streak didn’t tell you as much, Carolina’s offensive lines and typically top-scoring stars have languished since their 7-2 win over Edmonton on Nov. 10.
“I think [for] five-on-five, we were doing a really good job,” Kotkaniemi said. “Started really good tonight, and just couldn’t keep that up. … We’re struggling — struggling pretty bad right now, but, like I said, five-on-five is kind of working pretty good.”
Ullmark left the ice with an upper-body injury in the third period, leaving the remaining 13:03 up to Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman. Canes fans were hopeful to see Carolina break the tie after Swayman took over for a rattled Ullmark, but the Alaskan held off the Hurricanes’ advances.
On the other side of the ice, goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov proved his four-year contract extension wasn’t a fluke. The 23-year-old saved 38 of 41 shots on goal, and an overturned call for goalie interference against Boston crushed Carolina’s dreams of handing the Bruins their seventh loss of the season.
The Hurricanes played a tough game against Boston — much tougher than in several weeks — but a loss is still a loss. Carolina will look to break their losing streak at home on Saturday, Nov. 26 against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m.
