The Boston Bruins took the ice this afternoon for an important game four against the Carolina Hurricanes. Boston looked good Friday night in game three, so the same success was expected for the team today. The news of Charlie McAvoy testing positive for Covid broke shortly before puck drop. Although his absence was noticed early, the Bruins were able to go on without him and rally to victory.
For the fourth time this series, Carolina struck first with a goal from Brett Pesce with just under six minutes left in the first period. Patrice Bergeron would tie the game up two minutes later.
Jordan Staal scored 33 seconds into the second period to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead. That was all the noise Carolina made. Jake Debrusk scored on a power-play with just over minute remaining in the second period to tie the game for the Bruins.
Brad Marchand opened the third period with another power-play goal. David Pastrnak scored a crucial goal with about 14 minutes left in the game that put the Bruins up two. Brad Marchand put one in the back of an empty net to secure the 5-2 win for Boston.
The biggest contributing factor to the Bruins success in game four was being successful on the power play. They scored two power-play goals on nine opportunities. There is still a lot of room for improvement on the power play, as the other seven attempts were not pretty. They also only spent 10 minutes in the penalty box, opposed to Carolina’s 18.
The Bruins also had 37 hits, Carolina had 29. Finding a way to be more physical yet less penalized really helped them come out as a winner today.
Despite missing Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, the Bruins defense did a phenomenal job. Brandon Carlo, Connor Clifton and Derek Forbort all had a positive plus/minus and did a great job of limiting scoring chances for Carolina. Jeremy Swayman had another great day. He will likely be in net for Boston in game five.
Game five will be played in Raleigh on Tuesday night at 7:00 ET on ESPN. It will be a crucial game in the series and whoever wins will likely advance to the second round.