Bruins faceplant on home ice in 7-1 humiliation against Hurricanes
The Boston Bruins’ recent win streak came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday night. They were humiliated on their own ice, falling by a 7-1 final to the Carolina Hurricanes.
This was over early. Carolina scored five times in a span of 13:13 in the first period, all at 5-on-5 and with four different players. Teuvo Teravainen opened the scoring off a slick cross-ice pass from Jaccob Slavin, on a play that would’ve been hard for any team to stop. But it only got worse from there.
On the second goal, the Bruins defense let Jesperi Kotkaniemi behind them as Andrei Svechnikov unloaded a slap shot, and Tuukka Rask couldn’t control the rebound as Kotkaniemi cleaned it up for a point-blank score. Patrice Bergeron scored his 12th goal of the season on a power play later in the first period, but Kotkaniemi answered just 13 seconds later with his second of the game on an impressive deflection of a Slavin shot from the point.
The fourth goal may have been where the game reached calamity status. Fourth-line wing Seth Jarvis swiped the puck from Bruins defensemen Urho Vaakanainen and Connor Clifton on a botched breakout attempt, then powered straight toward Rask before shoving the puck home. The goal was an egregious breakdown, but Rask also blew an opportunity to bail out a young defenseman.
Derek Stepan added to the Bruins’ misery with the fifth goal near the end of the period, crashing the net and burying the centering feed after Carolina’s Jordan Martinook won a foot race to the puck.
The Hurricanes, who are now tied for the Eastern Conference lead in point percentage, would add two power play goals in the third period. It capped their most lopsided win of the season, and the Bruins’ most lopsided defeat. They won 7-1 despite only out-shooting the Bruins 34-32. Slavin scored and added two assists, his second three-point effort of the season.
Former Bruin Willie O’Ree had his jersey number 22 retired in a pregame ceremony Tuesday night. O’Ree famously became the NHL’s first Black player in the 1957-58 season, and played 45 games for the Bruins.
Boston entered the game having won eight of their last nine games. They’ll now look to get back to their previous winning ways on Thursday night in a tough matchup against the Washington Capitals.
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Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @mattydsays. You can also email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
