Two goals in just over two minutes late in the second period was just the boost Carolina needed to place a seed of doubt on the way to its fourth straight win against Boston this season, outscoring its opponent 21-2 in the process.
The Hurricanes defeated the Bruins 3-0 on Oct. 28, 7-1 on Jan. 18, and 6-0 on Feb. 10.
The Bruins outshot the Hurricanes 36-25 in Game 1 but couldn't solve Antti Raanta, who won his first career Stanley Cup Playoff start. Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark made 20 saves in his playoff debut.
"Their goalie made some really good first saves but I think playoff hockey is about hanging around the net and finding a way to score," Bruins forward Taylor Hall said. "Honestly, kind of like they did their first goal on a tip, and their second on a lot of traffic. We always seem to] outshoot teams but what can kind of get away from us is getting people to the net and really making use of all those shots, creating second chances. That's going to be a focus for us."
***[RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Bruins series coverage]*
Rookie forward Seth Jarvis scored on a deflection in the right face-off circle at 16:28 of the second and veteran forward Nino Niederreiter delivered on a snap shot from the top of the left face-off circle at 18:38 to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 advantage.
"The chatter on the bench and in between the first and second (periods) was that we were playing a really solid road game against a team that plays well at home," Hall said. "It was, 'Can we create those second chances and can we hang around the net and get some bounces our way.' Unfortunately, we didn't do that, and they got their crowd into it."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy wasn't ready to name his starting goalie for Game 2 here on Wednesday when pushed on the subject after the loss.
"I am not faulting our goaltender for this," he said. "We had some opportunities we needed to finish as well like they did. Whatever goalie is in there for us, you got to fight to find pucks in this series. I thought the same at the other end early on ... Raanta was fighting to find them, there was some rebounds there, we just didn't capitalize.
"We'll have to do a better job in lanes and Linus will have to work harder to find it as well. That's just the hand he's going to be dealt because they got some big bodies that camp themselves up front so that's going to be the challenge for any goalie."
Carolina finished the regular season allowing a League-low 202 goals and 28.2 shots against per game. To their credit, the Bruins did average 33 shots in their three losses to the Hurricanes but the majority of them were not of the high-danger variety.
"Their goalie made saves, and there's some pucks around the front of the net we just couldn't locate or take the right path to, but they were there," Cassidy said Monday. "[Raanta] is paid to play too, and he did a good job and he held them in the game early on. It is a team … that if you have a lead on, it's an easier game for us but they play better when they have it. They're made for that."
