Bruins capture 2-1 win over Hurricanes

If Bruins coach Marco Sturm's decision to give Joonas Korpisalo consecutive starts for the first time in his Boston tenure was done with the goal of pushing Jeremy Swayman, then there's no denying it was message received.

Back in goal for the first time since surrendering seven goals to the Sens last Monday, Swayman returned to form Saturday, and helped power the Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Hurricanes behind a 28-of-29 performance.

After the game, Sturm called Swayman's performance "outstanding."

Even at 0-0 through 40 minutes of play, it was the Bruins who broke the ice, with a Charlie McAvoy to Casey Mittelstadt feed that put Boston on the board first. The Mittelstadt goal, which came at the 1:27 mark of the third period, was his fourth of the season, and first since Oct. 23 against Anaheim.

And the B's didn't wait long to double that lead.

Keeping the Hurricanes at bay in the defensive zone, the Bruins found an opening to jump with a soft pass out of the defensive zone, where Viktor Arvidsson won a 50-50 race to the puck and stormed towards Carolina's Frederik Anderson on a partial break and top-shelf burial for a 2-0 lead.

The goal was the perfect capper to the shift for Arvidsson, who just moments prior cut down a shooting angle for Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin on a shot that went wide of Swayman's net and out of danger for Boston.

On the backend, this was a game carried by the top pairing of Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov. McAvoy had what was undoubtedly his best and most confident-looking game of the season, jumping into the play and helping create Boston's first goal, and finished with two helpers.

Zadorov, meanwhile, finished with a team-leading six hits.

“He’s able to physically dominate guys, and that’s his superpower," McAvoy said of playing on a pairing with the 6-foot-6 Zadorov.

For the Bruins, the victory marked three straight for the club, and moved the team back to .500 thanks to a 7-7-0 record on the year.

With Elias Lindholm out, Johnny Beecher drew back into the Boston lineup for his first appearance since Oct. 25 against the Avs. The B's kept the same lineup on the backend, however, which left Mason Lohrei as the odd man out for the third straight game as the B's look to wake him up.

The Bruins will return to action Tuesday night when they visit 2025 No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer the Islanders out on Long Island. The Bruins beat the Isles by a 5-2 final when these teams linked up earlier this week.