Bruins Lead Series with Strong Play from Halak and Coyle

(Photo: Alan Sullivan)

Let’s face it, as the day started no one imagined the surprise announcement that would come from the Boston Bruins organization about their Vezina-nominated starting goaltender Tuukka Rask opting out of the Playoffs. For those on the outside looking in this looked like a last-minute decision that left the Bruins high and dry. While the official announcement was released approximately two hours before puck drop, it sounded like there had been some ongoing communication between Rask and the upper management of Don Sweeney and Cam Neely. Many uninformed comments flew around the internet with everyone who was not inside the bubble, and certainly not part of the team, offering their take.

When game time rolled around at noon, it was Jaroslav Halak in net for Boston, backstopping a team he knows well. And in front of him were veteran players who always seem to rise to the challenge regardless of what it may be.

While the game didn’t quite start out the way they drew it up—Brad Marchand was whistled for a tripping on Sebastian Aho just 12 seconds in—Halak showed he was prepared. He kept the Carolina Hurricanes from grabbing an early power play goal, allowing his team to right their ship and begin to play Bruins hockey.

Certainly, having such an early man advantage gave the Canes a bit of momentum. And they were also coming off the win on Thursday night which undoubtedly added to their confidence. While there was nothing to show on the scoreboard after the first, from the shots on goal it appeared that Carolina had been out-muscling Boston.

“I didn’t think we were poor in the first 20, we just, you know, we weren’t on top of our game, hands were a little behind, whether that’s a 12:00 o’clock start or just Carolina coming out with a little more zip. Listen, we addressed it before the game that we needed to be solid away from the puck, so I think our guys were thinking defense to let Jaro get his feet under him. It didn’t work out exactly that way, there was a lot of shots, luckily from the outside, but then we got going,” shared Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy.

The pace with which the Bruins were playing showed a determination, even if they saw nothing from it in the opening period. However, that intensity carried forward through the first intermission and came out on the ice at the start of the second period. Just 14 seconds into the middle frame, Charlie Coyle put the Bruins on the scoreboard as the Bruins were finishing a power play that carried over from the first. Coyle had been slotted into the first power play unit along with Patrice Bergeron, Marchand, David Krejci, and Torey Krug. The added responsibility appeared to suit the forward who was acquired during the trade from the Minnesota Wild in February 2019 for Ryan Donato and a 2019 conditional 5th Round Draft pick.

And Coyle wasn’t finished. At the top of the third period, the Bruins found themselves on the other side of a carryover power play. Par Lindholm was whistled for a cross-check in the final 29 seconds of the second period. Coyle found himself on a penalty killing unit with Sean Kuraly, Charlie McAvoy and Connor Clifton. With 15 seconds still remaining on the man-advantage for the Hurricanes, Coyle got the puck on his stick at Boston’s blue line and he and Kuraly were soon on their horses racing through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone with an odd-man rush. He slapped the shot on Canes’ goalie Petr Mrazek and Kuraly got his stick in place to deflect the puck past Mrazek giving Boston a little breathing room as the Hurricanes were looking to instill their game on the Bruins.

“Well we need Charlie Coyle to be an effective player for us, an impact player. He doesn’t have to dominate every night, I don’t think anybody does on our team, but you know we still need secondary scoring. He went on the first unit, we’ve moved him and Jake around there with Pasta out, we’ve got a new look with Marchy in front. We’ll have to look at it and see how much we generated. I know we got a big goal out of it, that to me is timely scoring on the power play, not always the percentage, and today it mattered. Shorthanded goal I think I understand they gave it to [Sean] Kuraly but by the same token Charlie was a big part of that. He’s added to our penalty kill. When he first got here, we didn’t give him as much responsibility there, we had other guys in the lineup, but he’s kind of pushed his way into that conversation so good for him,” said Coach Cassidy.

The extra marker would become essential at 6:30 of the third when the Bruins found themselves once again down a man. For the third time in the game Anders Bjork, who had been playing on the top line with Bergeron and Marchand, found himself back in the box. He’d been whistled for slashings in both of the earlier periods and was now sitting for a trip.

With 34 seconds remaining on the penalty kill, Halak played the puck from behind his net. With his head down, he was unaware that Nino Niederreiter was just to the right of the net. Niederreiter was able to glove the puck down, settle it on his stick and put it in Halak’s net before Halak knew what was happening. And just like that the Bruins had a slim one-goal lead and Bjork was benched.

“Mistakes, they happen. We try to make the right play out there and I saw an opening, I tried to shoot it out and you know, the guy caught it. It ended up in the net, but you know, we just – we were still up,” said Halak.

Boston was able to hold on even after Carolina’s coach Rod Brind’Amour pulled Mrazek with 2:07 remaining on the clock.

After icing the puck eight seconds later, Carolina’s Vincent Trochek won a face-off battle against Bergeron back in the Bruins’ end. Eventually the puck made its way to Dougie Hamilton’s stick. Hamilton had the game-winning bomb of a goal in Game 2. Halak denied this attempt. Bergeron put a hit on Jordan Stall. Everyone was playing for keeps.

A minute after Bergeron’s hit, Krejci stole the puck from Carolina and rushed off with Marchand in the opposite direction. With 31 seconds left in regulation, Krejci spooned it to Marchand who put it in the empty net to once again give the Bruins the two-goal lead.

The final horn sounded, and the Bruins congratulated Halak before leaving the ice. Coach Cassidy, Zdeno Chara, Coyle, Bergeron, and Halak took questions from the media after the game. Sadly, most of those questions had to do with Rask and his decision which overshadowed Coyle’s, Halak’s and the team’s accomplishments.

The Bruins had an amazing game, outshooting Carolina in the second (20-8) and third (12-7). Certainly there are still things the players can improve on, but this was the first game of the playoffs that saw the Bruins bring a strong effort in the second period.

The teams will regroup and take to the ice again on Monday for Game 4. This is not the Hurricanes of 2019 who were swept by the Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. Game 3 showed though that the Bruins can still control the play for solid chunks of time. They will continue to play to their strengths. Of course, Carolina will also be working hard to force the Bruins to bend to their will. But then, this is the Playoffs, so it wouldn’t be any other way.