Most people thought that Carolina was the better team going into the series, but Boston had the experience and the skill to beat them in a series. For most, it was a 50/50 split. Coming into Game 5, there was plenty of optimism after taking both games at home. Unfortunately, more of the same happened on the road this evening. Boston had no answers for the Hurricane’s forecheck and depth.
The Hurricanes started off the scoring with a goal from Slavin, who came down the sideboard unopposed for an easy goal. While up 1-0 and on the powerplay, Tony DeAngelo scored from the point while several players were cluttered in the slot making it 2-0 Carolina. PNC was alive and rocking, and everything was going right for the Hurricanes. Things were not looking good for Boston. On the third goal of the contest, Jeremy Swayman gets a complete pass on. It was something unimaginable. and the rest was history.
The Bruins defensive structure struggled all evening, and the matchups were clearly getting the best of Boston. At every turn, Jordan Staal was deployed against the Bruins top line, which snuffed out their production. To no avail, Bruce Cassidy tried double shifting David Pastrnak with the first and second lines.
We should also not miss the point of Anti Raanta having a fantastic performance in net for the Hurricanes. Coming up with 33 of 34 saves on the evening and had to make some impressive stops on the Bruins top line to keep Boston at bay. Raanta was definitely the number one star of the night.
Lastly, it was noticed and has been discussed on social media the lack of ice time for Tomas Nosek and fans being upset with his play and assuming he got benched. There is also the possibility of an injury. Nosek was involved in a knee-on-knee collision. I am sure we will get an update on an injury or a benching tomorrow at the morning skate.
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