3 Stars: A dreadful night in Carolina extends B’s slide

The Hurricanes are a handful as is, but when they’re rested and you’re huffing for air? Forget it.

Jim Montgomery and the Bruins learned that the hard way Sunday night, as the Hurricanes took advantage of a winded Bruins team playing their third game in four nights by turning their mistakes into goals on the board and at points running the Bruins out of the building.

For the Bruins, it was enough to bully the B’s into their third straight loss, giving the team their first three-game losing streak of the season, and just their fourth losing streak of at least three games since the start of the 2019-20 season.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from a loss in Raleigh…

• No. 3 Star: Frederik Andersen

  

  Jan 29, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) watches Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) with the puck during the second period at PNC Arena. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)

• I don’t really think the Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen had to do too, too much in this game, to be honest.

  In fact, according to NaturalStatTrick, this was Boston’s second-lowest ‘expected goals’ performance of the season, with a woeful 0.81 expected goals for at five-on-five play in this contest, trailing only a 0.72 in the team’s Nov. 5 loss to the Maple Leafs. The Bruins also managed to hit double-digit shot totals in just one of the three periods in this contest, with a 10-shot third period standing out as Boston’s best on that front.

  Blitzed, Andersen was not.

  But Andersen still made the saves when he needed to in what finished as a 24-of-25 outing in the Carolina goal. Andersen’s biggest save came in the third period, too, with a net-front stop on Brad Marchand with the Bruins on the power play and looking to cut their deficit to just two. The Hurricanes almost immediately rewarded Andersen with the open-net marker that ended this contest and made it a 4-1 final for the home team.

  By the way, Taylor Hall’s goal in the third period of this contest ended what was a 152-minute and change shutout streak over the Bruins for Andersen dating back to last season.

• No. 2 Star: Linus Ullmark

  

  Jan 29, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) stops Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) shot during the second period at PNC Arena. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)

• Might seem weird to put the losing goaltender so high on this list, but if you saw this game, you know it’s deserved. I mean, this was about as close to a shooting gallery as it’s been on Linus Ullmark at any point this season.

  It started off the bat, too, with Ullmark tagged for 15 shots in the opening 20 minutes of play, and with the Bruins pinned in their zone for prolonged stretches throughout that 20-minute fever.

• Linus Ullmark the lone reason this isn't a multi-goal deficit for Boston after 20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/vSvfS0bGSy

  — Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) January 29, 2023

• Still, it took a David Pastrnak turnover for a Sebastian Aho breakaway, a weird bounce right to Paul Stastny’s stick, and Seth Jarvis outworking Brandon Carlo for a breakaway of his own for the Hurricanes to beat Ullmark in this game.

  This has been a theme of sorts for Ullmark in his losses this year. It’s rarely, if ever, been his fault. Using even more passive language, it’s been hard to watch Ullmark’s losses and even think, “Oh, he could’ve given you more.”

  In his five losses this year (four regulation losses and one overtime loss), Ullmark has stopped all but 12 of the 158 shots thrown his way, which is good for a .924 save percentage.

• No. 1 Star: Sebastian Aho

  

  Jan 29, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) celebrates his goal past Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) during the first period at PNC Arena. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)

• Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho is certainly feeling it of late.

  On Sunday, it was the Bruins’ turn to pay for that, too, as Aho opened the game’s scoring and was an absolute matchup nightmare for the Bruins. Beyond the goal, Aho was credited with four shots on goal (and it felt like every single one of them was of the high-danger variety) and finished with a game-high four takeaways.

  Aho also drew a penalty on the Bruins’ Brad Marchand with the Bruins already down a man, which left the Bruins without Marchand and Derek Forbort (two of their most important killers), and set the stage for the Paul Stastny goal that made it 2-0 and held as the game-winning goal in the loss.

• Sebastian Aho is ON ONE right now pic.twitter.com/ivW0FePr6k

  — Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 29, 2023