The road will not get any easier for the Bruins.
Down one game in their first-round series with the Hurricanes entering Wednesday’s Game 2 at PNC Arena, the Bruins once again started strong but found themselves down two in the blink of an eye, as two goals in 2:27 jumpstarted the Carolina on the way to a 5-2 victory and 2-0 series lead over the Bruins.
Down by a pair through 20 minute of play, the Bruins began the second period down two skaters, and the Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho made it 3-0 at the 1:10 mark of the period.
A Patrice Bergeron power-play goal brought the Bruins back within two late in the period, but yet another Carolina power-play opportunity came and push Carolina’s lead back to three with a trickler over the line credited to Nino Niederreiter.
Yet another goal from Bergeron made it a two-goal game in the third, but the Bruins failed to make things interesting with a late-game 6-on-4 advantage, and a Niederreiter empty-net tally sealed the deal on the Game 2 victory for the Canes.
Penalties were an issue for the B’s in this game, as they were whistled for 28 minutes in penalties in all by the night’s end, and had to kill off nine power-play opportunities granted to the Hurricanes.
Linus Ullmark finished with 29 saves on 33 shots thrown on goal in the losing effort, while the Hurricanes were forced to turn to rookie Pyotr Kochetkov after Antti Raanta suffered an upper-body injury in a first-period collision with David Pastrnak. Kochetkov stopped 30-of-32 shots faced in relief of Raanta.
And on top of the result, the Bruins suffered another devastating loss in this contest with Hampus Lindholm knocked out of action on a heavy hit from Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov.
Unable to get off the ice under his own power, the Bruins quickly ruled Lindholm out with an upper-body injury.
Game 3 is set for Friday night in Boston. This will be the first time that the Bruins have come back to Boston for a Game 3 down 2-0 in a series since the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
PHOTOS: Bruins take on Hurricanes in Game 2 of 2022 playoff series
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