Canes rout Bruins thanks to offensive explosion

It was another night of stocking up on highlight reels as the Carolina Hurricanes man-handled the Boston Bruins for 60 minutes, beating them in every facet of the game.

Seven goals scored, ten players on the scoresheet, six players with multi-point outings and one goaltender with a 31 save performance were just some of the eyebrow raising stats from the night.

In his first game out of COVID protocol, Jaccob Slavin was by far Canes’ best player as he registered a goal and two assists in a team high 22:30 of ice time.

It’s a mystery why he wasn’t named to the NHL All-Star game and it will be even more of a mystery if he doesn’t get considerable Norris buzz later in the year as he’s such a crucial part to the Hurricanes’ overall success.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi was another standout as he continued to impress, picking up two goals tonight for ten points in his last ten games, including the game winner and the most pivotal goal of the game.

And not to be lost in the offense was Frederik Andersen, who stopped 31 shots, making seven high-danger saves according to NaturalStatTrick.com and saving 1.71 goals above expected according to MoneyPuck.com.

So now that the highlights have been hit, let’s take a quick look through all eight goals of action from the game.

Teuvo Teravainen got the game going early — just 3:44 into the game — as he one-timed an excellent feed from Jaccob Slavin past Tuuka Rask.

Then it was Jesperi Kotkaniemi parked in front and cleaning up the rebound after he had maintained puck possession with a strong solo effort while the Hurricanes got a line change.

The Bruins would cut the lead in half as Patrice Bergeron had the puck deflect off of his left skate and in on the power play — snapping the Canes’ streak of 35 straight kills— but just 13 seconds after that, Kotkaniemi picked up his second of the night with a tip in front off a Slavin shot.

It was that quick response goal that left the Bruins deflated and set up the Hurricanes to runaway with the game.

Seth Jarvis joined in on the fun as he used his speed to blow past a Bruin’s defender, took it to the net and then chipped the puck against the grain past a sliding Rask.

And then the electric first period was capped off by a Derek Stepan goal from the slot as he slammed home a behind-the-net feed from Jordan Martinook.

Five goals in twenty minutes for the Hurricanes. Game set match.

But the team did have to play 40 more minutes as the Bruins did not just concede.

The second period saw a stalemate period, with Boston pushing a bit harder, but Andersen showed why he’s an All-Star this year.

Then third period saw two more goals added to the total for the Canes, both on the power play. One by Slavin on a snipe top corner and the next by Andrei Svechnikov cleaning up a loose puck near the net.

The Hurricanes will now return home to PNC Arena to host division rival, New York Rangers, Friday at 7 p.m.