Midway through the first, Justin Williams gets Carolina on the board with a shot through a little bit of traffic, one that Jaroslav Halak probably should have saved. 1-0 Hurricanes.
Willy gets us going! pic.twitter.com/rmyV6tWCDc
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 18, 2020
In keeping with the theme from the first goal, Jordan Martinook beats Halak with another one he probably should have stopped to make it 2-0 Hurricanes.
Always bringing the energy! pic.twitter.com/3oTO3eNJzS
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 18, 2020
That was about as good as it got for Carolina. Early in the third, James Reimer gambled and lost, leading to a Jake DeBrusk goal that made it 2-1 Hurricanes.
Jake DeBrusk gets Boston on the board.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) August 18, 2020
Sheesh.
2-1 game. pic.twitter.com/NpMPmz3loo
With a goal on the board, Charlie McAvoy helped the Bruins put Carolina further back on their heels with this monster hit on Jordan Staal.
Charlie McAvoy on Jordan Staal yeeeeeeeesh pic.twitter.com/YASbYg5nZR
— P-Word Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) August 18, 2020
A few minutes later, Connor Clifton completes a monster shift with a wicked one-timer to make it a 2-2 tie.
Cliffy Hockey is a beautiful thing.@connorcliff28 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/wiwKu5cYrM
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) August 18, 2020
About 90 seconds later, Torey Krug catches the Carolina defense sleeping, and Brad Marchand doesn’t miss. 3-2 Bruins.
The train was rolling.@Bmarch63 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/pssODMNPSQ
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) August 18, 2020
And then about three minutes after that, DeBrusk decided two goals are better than one, making it 4-2 Bruins.
#CELLYSZN takes control.#NHLBruins | @Xfinity pic.twitter.com/E3tk6yIGBc
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) August 18, 2020
Teuvo Teravainen would add a third for Carolina off of a weird bounce in the last two minutes, but the B’s shut the door to earn a 4-3 win.
Game notes
- From a Carolina perspective...yikes. That train started coming down the tracks, and the Canes got absolutely steamrolled. DeBrusk’s first goal made it interesting, but after the Clifton goal, Carolina got completely run over. Clifton, Marchand, and DeBrusk scored a goal apiece in a matter of 3:07, sending this from a 2-1 Carolina lead to a 4-2 Bruins lead.
- Jaroslav Halak wasn’t good tonight. Many of you will disagree just to disagree, but those first two Carolina goals were clean shots without deflections. He needs to make those saves. The third goal wasn’t his fault at all, but those first two are the kind of goals that light up social media if the Bruins don’t come back in the third.
- Tough to see Staal get hit that hard by McAvoy. The hit looked clean, but you never want to see a guy who has suffered concussions in the past get rocked like that.
- Hindsight is 20/20, but you have to think James Reimer would make a different decision on that first DeBrusk goal if he could have a do-over. You understand (to a degree) what he was trying to do, but man...that’s a risky play to make when your team is up two goals in the third period, especially considering how frustrated the Bruins looked. He gambled, lost, and things snowballed from there.
- I’m still not convinced Anders Bjork on the first line makes any sense for the Bruins. We’ll play the same game of “hopefully David Pastrnak is ready Wednesday,” but if not, it might be worth it to try someone else up there from the start.
- Joakim Nordstrom has been one of the most consistent Bruins in this series. He won’t get headlines, but he’s been good in all three zones, and his assist on the Clifton goal helped turn things around.
- Speaking of that Clifton goal, what a shift from the kid. The play started with a Clifton dump-in that also featured him standing up a Carolina checker, and ended with him following the play and hammering home one of the more satisfying one-timers you’ll see.
- While he didn’t score, I thought Ondrej Kase looked good again tonight. He makes a lot of small, smart plays that may not lead to goals, but certainly lead to chances or positive play from his line.
Game 5 is Wednesday afternoon!