Hurricanes Beat Bruins 3-2 In OT
BOSTON -- The Carolina Hurricanes, continuing a late run at a playoff spot, pulled out a major road victory in overtime Thursday night.
Rookie Phil Di Giuseppe slid home a rebound at 1:30 of overtime after Joel Skinner was stopped on a breakaway, and the Hurricanes emerged with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
Rookie defenseman Noah Hanifin, a local product who played at Boston College and was making his pro TD Garden debut, hit Skinner with a pass that led to Carolina's second breakaway of the overtime. Tuukka Rask made the save, and Di Giuseppe swept in and got the rebound, sliding it under Boston's Patrice Bergeron, who was sitting in the crease with Rask out of position.
There was a review of the goal, checking for possible contact between Skinner and Rask, but Di Giuseppe's fifth goal of the season stood.
The Hurricanes, who came in four points out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot, opened their five-game road trip with a big win -- this one coming in their third consecutive overtime game.
The overtime loss was another blemish on Boston's sketchy home record, but the single point moved the Bruins into first place in the Atlantic Division. It was Boston's fourth straight OT game, its third in four nights. The Bruins lost the two at home, where they fell to 13-14-6, and won the two on the road in Florida.
Elias Lindholm and Nathan Gerbe also scored for Carolina (31-26-11). The Hurricanes got two assists apiece from Hanifin and Riley Nash.
Loui Eriksson and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins (38-23-8). Pastrnak tied the game on a soft goal against Cam Ward in the third period.
Ward made 30 saves, while Rask stopped 25 shots.
Pastrnak took a long pass from David Krejci but found himself in too deep to make a real play. So, he turned and calmly wristed one over the right shoulder of Ward, who had left a hole up high. Pastrnak registered his second goal in three games, his 10th of the season.
The Hurricanes came in having allowed 2.27 goals per game since Dec. 18, tops in the NHL. They held Boston under that average in the important victory.
Carolina had only five shots on goal in the first period -- all on the power play. Three of them came on one power play and the third of those went in, with Lindholm's first goal in 16 games squeezing through Rask 5:06 into the game.
The Bruins started slowly and Ward was there when an opportunity existed until Boston's second power play in a row in the second period. Bergeron hit Eriksson with a pass and the winger didn't have to get all of the shot because the net was wide open. It was his 25th goal of the season.
The goal ended a spell of eight straight Bruins power plays without a goal and was their third in their last 25 chances.
Boston's Ryan Spooner broke in alone on Ward but shot the puck wide. The Hurricanes went right down and scored, with Gerbe coming through at 8:34 of the second on Carolina's first 5-on-5 shot of the game.
NOTES: The Bruins announced that owner Jeremy Jacobs will be inducted as part of the 21st class of the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame. ... Carolina D Noah Hanifin, a local product, die-hard Bruins fan and fifth pick in the 2015 NHL Draft who played at Boston College, was allowed to lead his team onto the ice for pregame warmups -- except his teammates didn't go with him, leaving him on the ice by himself for a few laps. Hanifin said he had to buy a slew of tickets for family and friends. ... Bruins D Kevan Miller missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Coach Claude Julien said Miller could return Saturday against the New York Islanders. ... The Bruins came in as the only team in the NHL with six players at 45 points or more this season. ... Bruins G Tuukka Rask started on his 29th birthday and fell to 7-3-2 against Carolina.
