Carolina Hurricanes still in unfamiliar territory as Boston Bruins pile up shots
During the regular season, the Carolina Hurricanes outshot their opponents by an average of 3.9 shots on goal per game, behind only the Vegas Golden Knights in that category, a discrepancy that only widened when all shot attempts were taken into account. In this first-round series against the Boston Bruins, they have been on unfamiliar ground.
The Bruins have outshot the Hurricanes in five of the eight periods of the series and 75-54 overall, although the Hurricanes narrowed the gap in Game 2 as they tied the series 1-1 with a 3-2 win Thursday night.
Over the course of the season, the Hurricanes actually posted a better record when outshot (18-7-3) than when outshooting the opposition (19-18-2), but that’s not a trend they want to continue to test in the playoffs.
“Whenever we get to our game and get the pucks deep and get the forecheck going, we’re at our best,” Teuvo Teravainen said. “I think we started to do that a bit more last night. It feels good playing that way. It creates a lot of trouble for the other team. Whenever we do that, we feel dangerous.”
Pastrnak could possibly play Game 3
The Bruins were missing forward David Pastrnak in Game 2 and Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said Friday he’s not sure about Game 3. Pastrnak did not skate Friday, Cassidy said.
“I would say he could still possibly play (Saturday) but with a 12 o’clock game there’s no real opportunity to test it in a morning skate,” Cassidy said. “We’ll make that evaluation in the morning.”
Pastrnak tied the Caps’ Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead with 48 goals in the regular season and had a goal and assist in the double-overtime win over the Canes in Game 1. After setting up Patrice Bergeron for the winning goal, he leaped up off the ice and appeared to injure himself.
Cassidy said he was pleased with the play of Anders Bjork in replacing Pastrnak on the top line although not committing to keeping Bjork on that line.
Shuffling the deck
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour will have lineup changes to consider Saturday in Game 3, and not merely in net where past practice would indicate he’s likely to go back to Petr Mrazek despite James Reimer’s strong performance. (Both goalies would presumably play in the back-to-back in Games 5 and 6, if the latter is needed.)
Coming off the back-to-back, he has Nino Niederreiter and Jake Gardiner fresh after both were healthy scratches Wednesday night, while Joel Edmundson’s status for Saturday remains in doubt. In their place, Sami Vatanen and Justin Williams returned to the lineup, while Trevor van Riemsdyk made his playoff debut. Williams looked like he was laboring at times, and if not fully fit could be swapped out for a rested Niederreiter.
“We had a couple guys come in who hadn’t played,” Brind’Amour said. “Trevor van Riemsdyk comes to mind right away. I thought he did a good job considering he didn’t get into the action yet. Sami came back and played and had a really good game. Obviously, with Willy coming back, the leadership thing. They were all contributors.”
Williams is the fifth-oldest player to appear in a playoff game for the Hurricanes or Hartford Whalers, at 38 years and 314 days. He passed none other than Brind’Amour during the qualifying round and is now 151 days behind Ron Francis. Williams isn’t going to catch Francis, Dave Keon, Bobby Hull or Gordie Howe (52!) this postseason.
Muller gets his shot
Kirk Muller was behind the Hurricanes’ bench for 187 games over three seasons, none of them in the postseason. He got his first chance to be the head coach in a playoff game Friday after Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien was rushed to a Toronto hospital Thursday night. Julien had a minor heart procedure and is expected to recover, but the Canadiens are Muller’s team for at least the rest of this round.
“My job is to get this team to win,” said Muller, who landed back with the Canadiens as an assistant coach after the Hurricanes fired him in 2014. “I have to make those moves and those adjustments and I’ll work with my staff to make those calls. We’re not going to change much on our Xs and Os. We’re built a certain way. There are things that we do well.”
Muller went 0-for-3 in steering the Hurricanes to the postseason, but he finished with a better overall record (80-80-2) than his successor, Bill Peters (137-138-53).
Brind’Amour, who got his start as an assistant coach on Muller’s Carolina staff, expressed his own concern for Julien’s well-being Friday.
“I want to throw our best thoughts out to Claude and the Montreal Canadiens,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s something we’re all thinking about, too.
Rallying behind Rask
While Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask raised eyebrows Thursday night with comments about the games in Toronto seeming like “dull” exhibition games and not playoff games, veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara had no problems with it.
“I think we all have to realize it’s an adjustment,” Chara said Friday. “It’s something completely new and none of us have experienced it. First of all, Tuukka has his rights to express his kind of views and opinions. I don’t think he meant anything bad by it. He was just being honest. It does feel a little different from other playoff experiences we’ve had.”
And Chara’s assessment of the two games against the Canes? “It’s two good teams fighting for every inch of ice.”
Sounds like the playoffs, not exhibitions.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Carolina Hurricanes still in unfamiliar territory as Boston Bruins pile up shots."
