In Game 1, the Bruins’ power play let them down when they had a chance to mount a comeback in the third period. In Game 2, they gave the Hurricanes nine man advantages and surrendered two power-play goals.
In Game 3, the Bruins flipped the special teams script in a big way and beat Carolina for the first time all season, coming away with a 4-2 victory. They now trail the best-of-seven series, 2-1, with Game 4 set for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at TD Garden.
After falling behind 1-0, the Bruins found themselves in danger of once again digging themselves a 2-0 hole when Erik Haula took a tripping penalty late in the first. Instead, the Boston penalty kill swung momentum the other way and tied the game.
Connor Clifton and Jake DeBrusk combined to force a turnover on an entry, and DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle then took off a shorthanded rush the other. DeBrusk feathered a perfect pass across the top of the crease that Coyle buried.
“When JD and CC made that play shorthanded to get us back in the game, it just changed our whole demeanor,” Brad Marchand said. “We’ve been kind of playing catch-up all series and it felt good to know we can come back in those situations and we can respond the way we have in the past.”
After Marchand made it 2-1 with his first 5-on-5 goal in over a month, the Bruins power play stepped up to provide all the insurance they would need.
Late in the second, Curtis Lazar and Marchand drew penalties 29 seconds apart to give the Bruins an extended 5-on-3. While they didn’t score on the 5-on-3, they did score on the 5-on-4 power play right after when David Pastrnak took a pass in the left circle, settled the puck, and sniped the top corner over Pyotr Kochetkov’s blocker.
Taylor Hall would then make it 4-1 with another power-play goal 4:08 into the third right after Tomas Nosek drew a trip on Vincent Trocheck. After Marchand made a nice pass to find Hall down low, Hall sent a pass across the net-front to Pastrnak, who then sent it right back to Hall for the tap-in.
As big as the Bruins’ power play was, the penalty kill was just as clutch. They killed off all five Carolina power plays with some great defensive play, allowing just three shots on goal total on the five kills. Derek Forbort was especially terrific. He finished with a career-high nine blocks, with six of them coming on the PK.
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