Bruins 3, Hurricanes 2 - OT

The Carolina Hurricanes were outplayed for long stretches and had continual trouble generating offensive zone chances, but still managed to capture a point before losing in overtime to the Boston Bruins, 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in Boston.

The Canes were outshot 14-6 in the first period and were even worse in the second, (12-4), before playing the Bruins pretty evenly in the third while Cam Ward made several top-notch saves to keep his team close.

Andrej Sekera scored the opening goal for Carolina, his third straight over the last two games, to start things off for the Canes at 5:53 into the game.  The Hurricanes are now 4-0-2 when scoring first, but it happens much too infrequently for them.

The Bruins would come roaring back and took over the game in the second part of the first period as the Canes looked gassed and ran out of steam early.  Zdeno Chara tied the game off of a rebound on a Milan Lucic shot during a powerplay with about five minutes left in the first.

The second period was almost all Boston as it took the Canes about 13 minutes into the period to generate a single shot on goal.  The home team finally took a 2-1 lead during the period as Ward was facing almost non-stop pressure.

It looked like Carolina finally was going to get a prime scoring chance when Jiri Tlusty broke away from the pack, but Chara broke Tlusty's stick  with a whack from behind that was not called and the period ended with the home team up, 2-1.  The non-call was a mystery as everyone on both sides of it admitted that there should have been some type of call on the play as it was an obvious slash.

The third period was much better and the Hurricanes were finally able to possess the puck for a bit in the Boston zone, although they could not capitalize until Patrick Dwyer broke in alone during a short-handed chance.  Dwyer made a nice move on Chad Johnson to tie the game and it stayed tied until the end of regulation.

It was the Hurricanes fourth short-handed goal in recent games.

Shortly into the overtime, Jarome Iginla made a nice move skating into the Carolina zone and fed David Krejci, who held the puck then roofed it for the game-winner. It was the only shot on goal in the extra period.

After the game, Kirk Muller said he felt his team played hard.......listen to the post game interviews at Canes PR .

Next up is Ottawa tomorrow at 5 at the PNC Arena.

Game Notes:

• The Canes were outshot for the game 38-24.  They were led by Dwyer who had four.
• The team had their worst faceoff winning percentage in a long time, 37%.  Manny Malhotra was at 35%, Jordan Staal had a team best 56%.  Elias Lindholm was 1 of 11 for 8%.
• The team was credited with 35 hits.  Tuomo Ruutu had a team high five, while Brett Bellemore, Jordan Staal, Lindholm, and Dwyer, had four each.  The Bruins had 43.
• Sekera had a team high three blocked shots.  An early block stunned him and he had to leave the game for a short time, but he returned to score his goal in the first.   The defenseman's goal ties him for the team lead, (5).  He is second now in total points with 11 points, behind only Eric Staal, (14).
• For those of you looking for positives, the Hurricanes lead the league in takeaways and won the battle again in this game, 10-2.
• Justin Faulk played a team high 26 minutes.  Sekera was next with 24:46.