The Boston Bruins came back from 5-3 down to salvage a point Tuesday night in Raleigh, but ultimately fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 6-5 in overtime on Jaccob Slavin's winner.
The Bruins finished their four-game road trip without a win, going 0-2-2, but they do at least continue to inch closer to clinching a playoff spot by getting a point in each of the last two games.
"Tough road trip, obviously," David Pastrnak said postgame. "I'm very frustrated. Gonna have to look at it. At the end of the day, it's a big point in the standings. We can go home, we are still in this amazing spot that nobody thought about us. We have to recognize that, also. It's just tough losses in overtime back-to-back."
The Bruins now return home, where they'll get a rare three-day break from game action before hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday afternoon.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night:
Geekie ends slump with hat trick
The best development for the Bruins on Tuesday, without question, was Morgan Geekie not only ending his goal-scoring slump, but doing so with a hat trick.
Geekie tied the game at 2-2 midway through the first when he found a soft spot in front and buried a feed from Pastrnak, ending his 17-game goalless drought in the process.
He scored again four minutes later to give Boston the lead, going to the net again, and finishing off a nice setup from Pastrnak again. Geekie completed the hat trick late in the second period, tipping in a Nikita Zadorov shot to make it a 5-4 game heading to the third.
Putting Geekie back with Pastrnak felt like Marco Sturm giving them one final chance before the playoffs to recapture their past magic and get Geekie going. It didn't happen right away over the weekend, but it certainly did Tuesday night.
Given the Bruins' recent offensive dip, it would be a massive development if this connection can find some late-season momentum to carry into the playoffs.
Pulling Swayman pays off
This was not Jeremy Swayman's best night. He got pulled midway through the second period after giving up five goals on 23 shots, including three goals in a 3:16 stretch in the second as the Bruins watched a 3-2 lead flip to a 5-3 deficit.
It wasn't all on him. The Bruins played some awfully sloppy defense for the first half of the game, including bad turnovers from Mark Kastelic and Geekie in the build-up to the third and fourth goals, respectively. But Swayman could and probably should have had two or three of the goals, and really struggled to track pucks through traffic.
Going to Joonas Korpisalo for the rest of the game is arguably the biggest reason the Bruins salvaged a point. He was excellent the rest of the way, stopping all 16 shots he faced in regulation before finally getting beat on a backdoor tap-in in overtime. Several of those saves were of the grade-A variety, including a point-blank robbery on Sebastian Aho with under five minutes to go in a 5-5 game.
Swayman has been a top-three goalie in the NHL this season, and arguably the best since the Olympic break, but his last three periods have been rough. On Saturday, he gave up the go-ahead goal in the third period in Tampa on a long wrister that he just completely misjudged. Korpisalo, for what it's worth, has now been very good in two straight appearances, starting Sunday in Philadelphia.
It's not enough to start a goalie controversy or anything crazy, but it's notable. Mainly, the Bruins just need to make sure Swayman gets back on track before the playoffs.
Playoff preview?
Speaking of the playoffs, Tuesday was a potential first-round preview. The Hurricanes now have a four-point lead at the top of the conference and seem to be heading for the No. 1 seed, although it remains possible that at least one of Tampa Bay, Buffalo or Montreal could catch them. The Bruins remain in the first wild card spot, although the Senators did gain on them Tuesday. Ottawa is now four points behind with a game in hand.
So, the Bruins and Hurricanes would not be meeting if the playoffs started today, but that could still change. And if they do end up meeting, then Tuesday may have served as a wakeup call for what they'll be up against.
"It's playoff hockey, and I think we didn't really understand how to play in those kinds of games and situations and periods," Sturm told NESN after the game. "I think the message after the second period was to go back to our foundation and how we have to play as a team, as our identity moving forward. I think the guys responded really well in the third."
The Hurricanes are the best possession team in the NHL (league-leading 60.1% Corsi), and that was on full display Tuesday night as they strung together one lengthy offensive-zone cycle shift after another and nearly doubled up the Bruins in shots (40-21). Some poor puck management from Boston only made matters worse, which you just can't do against a team like Carolina.
The Hurricanes aren't without flaws, though. Their goaltending, for starters, has been straight-up bad in the second half of the season (third-worst team save percentage since Jan. 1). They don't always translate all their possession into goals thanks to a sixth-worst team shooting percentage at 5-on-5. And, they can be prone to getting caught up ice and giving up odd-man rushes again.
For the Bruins to have a chance in a series against Carolina, it would have to start with better puck management and better goaltending than what they showed in the first half of Tuesday's game.
Clinching scenarios
Despite the loss, getting one point was enough for the Bruins' playoff chances to tick up to 99%. They're now six points ahead of the ninth-place Blue Jackets, and seven ahead of the Red Wings and Islanders. All of those teams have a game in hand on Boston.
The Bruins could now clinch a playoff spot as early as Thursday night, if all three of those teams lose in regulation on Thursday while the Bruins are off. Otherwise, they could take care of business themselves on Saturday against Tampa with a win of any kind.
After Saturday, the Bruins' final two games are Sunday in Columbus and Tuesday at home against New Jersey.
Hagens time?
Perhaps the biggest question going into these final three games is, will we see James Hagens? If the Bruins are thinking about calling up their top prospect, this week provides a nice window to do so.
The Bruins will be off Wednesday, but are then expected to hold full practices on Thursday and Friday ahead of a Saturday matinee. Getting in a couple practices before his NHL debut, and then a few games before the playoffs sounds like a pretty ideal situation for Hagens.
That's if the Bruins want to bring him up, of course. They may still be reluctant to do so, for several reasons. One, they might just think Hagens isn't ready. He has been good in Providence, but not dominant. Of his four points in six games, only one has come at 5-on-5. He has had some really good, play-driving type of shifts, but also some quieter ones where he's just been a bit too on the periphery of play.
Two, they might believe Hagens could get more out of a potentially deep AHL playoff run (Providence is one of the best teams in the league) than a potentially short NHL playoff run. Hagens would not be eligible to return to the AHL this season if/when he signs his entry-level contract with Boston.
Three, they might not want to burn the first year of his entry-level contract – although I believe this is far less of a consideration than the first two items.
The one argument you can't really make, though, is that the Bruins have a lineup they don't want to mess with. That might have been the case a week and a half ago when Lukas Reichel was playing well and seemingly taking steps towards securing a top-nine role.
But since then, Reichel's play has dipped and Sturm has reopened the revolving door at third-line wing. Mikey Eyssimont played Saturday for the first time since March 17, but then came right back out for Reichel on Sunday. Reichel didn't do much, so he got replaced by Alex Steeves, playing his first game since March 16, on Tuesday. Steeves had one shot and a minus-1 rating, and only got two shifts in the third period.
My own opinion: It's time to call up Hagens. He's learned the basics of what he needed to learn in Providence. The Bruins owe it to themselves to see if he can be an upgrade over Reichel, Steeves and Eyssimont. No one should expect Hagens to be a savior, but he could solidify a lineup that isn't solidified with three games left in the regular season, and he could potentially help a power play that has struggled since the Olympic break.
And even if it ultimately turns out that Hagens isn't ready to do that, the experience of being around the Bruins for however long their postseason lasts could be every bit as valuable as whatever he might get from a playoff run in Providence.
