Heading into the third period of Thursday's Eastern Conference Finals Game 1, the Bruins trailed the Hurricanes 2-1 and desperately needed a spark. By the end of it, the Bruins had not only tied the game, but they had taken the lead and then pulled away en route to a 5-2 win and 1-0 series lead.
The Bruins opened the scoring in the most unexpected of ways.
Under three minutes into the game, Marcus Johansson poked the puck away from Justin Faulk, skated up with it, stopped and dished a beautiful pass to Steven Kampfer, who shot home the first goal of the game.
--GOAL--Don't know whether to be more impressed with Kampfer or Mojo!#NHLBruins- 1#TakeWarning- 0 pic.twitter.com/2v5oeiqU4n
— Boston Bruins on CLNS (@BruinsCLNS)
May 10, 2019 But the lead wouldn't even last a minute. After Sean Kuraly went to the box, Sebastian Aho tipped an Andrei Svechnikov wrist shot past Tuukka Rask for a power play goal to make it 1-1.
Rask can't do much about this Aho goal#NHLBruins- 1#TakeWarning- 1 pic.twitter.com/8MNDlvGHG6
— Boston Bruins on CLNS (@BruinsCLNS)
May 10, 2019 In the second period, the Hurricanes came out flying. In the first eight minutes, the Canes outshot the B's 8-1.
Nine minutes into the second period, Greg McKegg drove the net and put the puck past Rask. However, McKegg ran over Rask on the net drive.
McKegg scores on, runs over Rask pic.twitter.com/dNCuL3jkp4
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn)
May 10, 2019 Then the third period happened.
Jordan Staal drilled Chris Wagner from behind in the Boston end, leading to a Bruins power play. Marcus Johansson cashed in on the man-advantage to tie things up 2-2.
Marcus Johansson PPG ties it up 2-2 #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/0cmEBvY84u
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar)
May 10, 2019 Just a few seconds after the Johansson goal, ex-Bruins d-man Dougie Hamilton was sent to the box for an elbow and again, the Bruins power play capitalized. This time it was Patrice Bergeron.
And then Chris Wagner made it 5-2 with a late breakaway.
PUT CHRIS WAGNER ON THE HANDS TEAM!!! 5-2 #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/dwqPrb7ZTT
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar)
May 10, 2019 As far as shots were concerned, the Hurricanes came out ahead, topping the Bruins 31-28.
Tuukka Rask was once again strong in net, stopping 29 of 31 shots. Petr Mrazek let in four 30 shots.
Game 2 is Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
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