It didn’t take long for Monday’s strong start to turn into a sinking feeling for the Bruins.
Dodging certified 2021-22 Bruins killer Frederik Andersen in their Game 1 showdown with the Hurricanes, the Bruins hammered nine of the game’s first 10 shots on Carolina’s Antti Raanta in the veteran’s first career playoff start. It was as good a road start as the Bruins could have hoped for. But as the strong start came and went without a goal on the board for the Bruins, you couldn’t help but wonder if it was going to go down as a wasted opportunity for the B’s.
A 2:10 stretch late in the second period confirmed that it was exactly that, as the Hurricanes turned a 0-0 duel between Raanta and the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark into a 2-0 lead in the blink of an eye, and rode it all the way to a 5-1 victory in Raleigh.
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Matched up against a team that simply doesn’t give up a ton, the Bruins landed 36 shots on Raanta. The Canes allowed at least 36 shots in a game just 10 times during the regular season (or just 12 percent of the time). The Hurricanes also allowed the Bruins to land 30 five-on-five shots on goal. They let a team hit the 30-shot at five-on-five just 11 times in 2021-22.
By nearly every measure, the Bruins did exactly what they were supposed to against the Hurricanes.
Well, everything except find the back of the net.
“Their goalie made saves and there’s some pucks around the front of the net that we just couldn’t locate or take the right path to, but they were there,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said after the loss. “He’s paid to play, too, and he did a good job. He held them in the game early on, and it is a team that if you have a lead on, it’s an easier game for us.
“They play better when they have [the lead]. They’re made for that. They check well. Opens them up a little bit if they’re behind, so could it have made an impact in the game if we finish? Sure.”
We’ve hit the point of the year where I’m officially ready to say Tomas Nosek’s sticks are cursed and he needs to burn them immediately. It’s hard to imagine Nosek getting a better look than he did Monday night, and still Nosek remains on the hunt for his first goal since New Year’s Day. The Bruins had two separate instances of goal-line interventions from the Hurricanes, and Taylor Hall practically dented the post on a shot that would’ve tied things up at 2-2 early in the third period.
“I thought we controlled play the first period [and] the first real 35 minutes of the game and we weren’t able to jump out to a lead,” Hall said after the loss. “You see the crowd gets into it, they get playing and they get feeling good about it.
“That’s the way it goes.”
And while the Bruins couldn’t buy a break at one end, the Hurricanes made net-front traffic look downright easy at the other. That’s going to be the formulate in this series, too, as the those third-period snipes from Carolina’s Teuvo Teravainen and Vinny Trocheck will probably stand out as outliers by the end of this series based on how these teams play defensively.
For the Bruins, that means stealing Carolina’s hard hats and the finish that’s on the end of their blades.
“If you look at the first goal, we had the puck in the o-zone. We separated and tried to make a play into the slot, which… they’re like us that way. There’s not very many plays that are going into the slot uncontested,” Cassidy noted. “We got Hall’s goal late because we won the original battle below the goal line and we got them out from the slot. I think you gotta choose when to put pucks in there and when to funnel and get those second chances.
“We need some more action like that.”
And don’t they know it.
“They probably feel pretty good about their game going into Game 2, but it’s a long series,” Hall said. “I think it’s pretty easy to pinpoint what we need to do better in Game 2. We’re a pretty good team at making adjustments.”
Here are some other thoughts and notes from a Game 1 loss to the Hurricanes…
May 2, 2022; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta (32) stops Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) shot during the second period in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)
Bruins need some more juice from their power play
As if the Bruins’ late-season power-play issues weren’t a big enough problem, there’s no denying that the Bruins are up against it this round against a penalty kill that’s straight-up vicious. The league’s top unit during the regular season by way of a staggering 88 percent success rate on the kill, the Hurricanes are the masters of eliminating time and space on the penalty kill. It’s almost as if they gain a skater with the way they get you stuck in the mud.
But the Bruins don’t want to outright admit defeat when up a man, and need more punch from the unit, as Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy explained his team’s Game 1 loss and 0-for-3 night on the man advantage.
“We can’t rely on our power play against the No. 1 P.K. but it does have to give us some juice,” Cassidy admitted. “And I thought the first couple we did, we did get some looks.”
Craig Smith’s first-period look was one of the team’s better ones, and the Bruins were able to create some net-front chances against Raanta, though nothing beat the Finnish-born veteran for an extra-man tally. But where the B’s power play really let them down was in the third period and with the team down by two, as the Black and Gold put forth a stubborn-as-hell power play, with multiple denials right at the attacking blue line.
“The third one was disappointing,” said Cassidy. “Our entries when we did get in, we mishandled some pucks or didn’t execute once we got it back. It’s been a challenge for us the last month on the power play. Those guys have to take a little more ownership of it. Those are our top guys, so hopefully they’ll be better at it Wednesday because we do have to get some life from it. Just because they have the best PK doesn’t mean we can’t score on it.”
May 2, 2022; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) comes off the ice against the Carolina Hurricanes before the game in Game 1 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)
Bruins should stick with Linus Ullmark for Game 2
If you look at the box score, you’re likely to think that Linus Ullmark’s first career playoff start was a poor one.
Hit for four goals on 24 shots by the night’s end, Ullmark’s night was certainly better by good ol’ fashioned the eye-test metric. It took a killer deflection, a sea of humanity in front, and a two-on-one to beat Ullmark for the first three goals against. You wanna get on him the fourth goal, sure, but the game was basically decided by then, so I have a tough time thinking it’s worthy of scrapping him out of the starter’s crease for Game 2.
In fact, it’s probably the last thing I want the Bruins to do entering Wednesday’s showdown at PNC Arena.
This is all completely new for Ullmark, who never even qualified for the postseason during his time with the Sabres, and what you saw on Monday was probably 95 percent good. Ullmark was tracking pucks well, and kept a sputtering and frustrated Bruins squad in it throughout the night. His finish to the regular season (9-1-0 and a .945 save percentage over his final 12 appearances) should also afford him more than a single start.
But if there’s a time to go to Swayman, it’s in Game 3, with the B’s able to dictate the matchups a bit more with the benefit of last change, and with at least one game to officially see if the late-season shine has worn off Ullmark.
“We’ll let you know [Tuesday],” Cassidy said postgame when asked about sticking with Ullmark for Game 2. “I’m not faulting our goaltender for this.”
May 2, 2022; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Taylor Hall (71) celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period in Game 1 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)
One positive in this game: Taylor Hall
If you’re looking for an on-ice positive from a night of pure frustration (aren’t the playoffs just the best/worst for your day-to-day health and overall enjoyment of the human existence?), Taylor Hall was your guy Monday night.
I’ve said and written it before, but I think the 2021 postseason experience was an illuminating one for Hall, as he learned just how hard it is to score consistently this time of year. Hall himself has talked about this, and how it’s helped him realize how he has to elevate himself this time of year.
And his start to the 2022 postseason was his confirmation that well done is always better than well said.
Boston’s lone goal scorer in the losing effort, you saw Hall try to basically will the B’s into a tied game on his own, and he even came through with a fantastic backcheck to deny Carolina a chance the other way. Another thing Monday confirmed for me: I want to see Hall embrace that shoot-first mentality we’ve seen in recent games. The shot is too good for him to constantly defer, as good as linemate David Pastrnak can be as a shooting threat.