Winners of eight of their last nine games heading into Monday night's home game against the Carolina Hurricanes, things were stacked against the Boston Bruins. Despite their recent hot streak that has vaulted them into first place in the Atlantic Division, injuries are piling up for the Black and Gold.
Center Elias Lindholm remains on injured reserve from an injury he suffered last month against the Buffalo Sabres. Casey Mittlestadt was placed on injured reserve on Monday, as was forward Viktor Arvidsson, who was injured late in Saturday night's 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Charlie McAvoy was also injured after taking a puck to the face. He'll be out for a while.
Carolina came into the TD Garden for the second time this month and got revenge for a 2-1 loss earlier this year with a win that was one of the more frustrating ones Boston has suffered.
Hurricanes two second period goals beats Bruins
The second period was a clinic by Carolina with their pressure in the offensive zone, and it paid off with a pair of goals. Jordan Staal opened the scoring when he outmuscled the Bruins in front of the net and pushed the puck by Jeremy Swayman with one-hand for a 1-0 lead. Mark Jankowski scored his first goal of the season off a rebound all alone in front, for a 2-0 lead. The Bruins were outshot 13-7 in the middle period.
For the first time in four games, the Bruins were held without a power play goal in four opportunities, and they only registered five shots on the three man-advantages. Boston had a lot of pressure in the third period on the Hurricanes, and goalie Pytor Kochetkov was up to the challenge before former Bruin Taylor Hall sealed the win with a late goal. He finished with 27 saves and only allowed a Riley Tufte power play goal with 9.6 seconds left.
The Bruins will hit the road for a four-game road trip beginning on Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks in Southern California.