The Carolina Hurricanes finally got what their fans were looking for and defeated the Stanley Cup Champion, Boston Bruins 3-2 on Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 16,483 at the RBC Center. It was the first win of the season for the home club who improved their record to 1-2-1.
The Bruins dropped to 1-3.
The Canes played a pretty consistent brand of hockey for all three periods and their penalty kill was perfect for the night as they killed off five penalties in the contest.
After a scoreless first period, Joni Pitkanen would get things started with a powerplay tally early in the second on a shot from the side which seemed to redirect in off of someone. Eric Staal was screening goalie Tim Thomas on the play and last year's Vezina winner did not see the puck.
Just three minutes later, the Hurricanes jumped out to a 2-0 lead when the fourth line finally cashed in after several chances. After Thomas stopped a couple of close calls, Anthony Stewart controlled a loose puck and the newly signed free agent slipped it by the Boston netminder.
It was Stewart's first goal as a Cane.
But just 25 seconds later, the Bruins answered as Tyler Seguin rifled a shot at a bad angle past Cam Ward on the short side, making the score 2-1.
The Canes would make it 3-1 at the 13:32 mark when Brandon Sutter found Jiri Tlusty open in the slot and the Czech native made no mistake.
But once again the Bruins refused to give up. Brad Marchand would make things interesting as he got a shot past Ward with just 3:25 to play.
After a frenetic last couple of minutes, the home team would hold onto the lead as Eric Staal was tripped going hard for a loose puck at the end of the game.
The Canes will fly to Buffalo Thursday afternoon in preparation for a game against the Sabres on Friday night.
Game Notes:
- It had to feel like a ton of weights fell off Tlusty's shoulders as he came so close so many times this season, but could not get the puck past the goalie. He had an excellent game on this particular night and certainly deserved the tally. Paul Maurice called him one of the team's hardest workers.
- Jamie McBain looked good considering it was his first game of the season. Maurice was also very happy with his game. Now the decision becomes harder who will be on the blueline next.
- The defense in general had a very good game. Bryan Allen had seven blocked shots while Jay Harrison had five.
- The Canes outshot the Bruins 34-28. Tlusty had a team high five shots. According to our intern stat man, the Bruins had more chances, 10-9.
- The team won 51% of their faceoffs. Staal 37%, Sutter 71%, Jokinen 43%, Brent 44%
- The fourth line is trying to make a case for themselves to get more ice time. Stewart had 6:52 of TOI while Zac Dalpe finished with a team low 5:29. Tim Brent played penalty kill which bumped his numbers up to 10:51.
- The team was credited with 15 hits led by Tim Gleason and Alexei Ponikarovsky with three each.
- If you want a negative, Carolina was called for five penalties, including two "too many men on the ice" calls. Maurice wasn't happy about it, but he said, "At least they were not lazy penalties."
Post game Interviews: