Pastrnak, Bruins defeat Hurricanes in OT to set NHL record

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins set the NHL record for consecutive home victories to start a season when they won their 12th straight at TD Garden, 3-2 in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

David Pastrnak scored a power-play goal at 3:19 of overtime when he one-timed a pass from Brad Marchand.
"This is [an] Original Six (team), so any record you make as a team is special, just because it's such a long history," Pastrnak said. "We were obviously aware of it, and this group is great. We took it over in the third period because we were playing [the] right way, I think 5-on-5 in the first two periods, so I think we tired them [out] a little bit."

David Krejci scored twice for Boston (18-3-0) and Pastrnak extended his point streak to nine games with a goal and assist (13 points; six goals, seven assists). Linus Ullmark made 28 saves in 46:57 before leaving in the third period with an upper-body injury. Jeremy Swayman made six saves in relief for the win.
"I liked the way we started," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "Then we got on our heels there in the last 10 minutes of the first. … Then we got to our offensive game in the offensive zone, and I thought that territorially -- I don't know it for sure -- but it seemed like we were in their end the whole last 30 minutes."
Stefan Noesen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 38 saves for Carolina (10-6-5), which has lost five in a row (0-1-4).
Carolina was called for too many men at 2:56 of overtime, which set up Pastrnak's goal.
"We can't take penalties at the end," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Especially when it's 4-on-3 and 5-on-3. We did a [heck] of a job, worked our butts off tonight, killed most of the penalties (4 of 6)."

The Bruins trailed 2-0 after the first period before Krejci made it 2-1 at 19:29 of the second, beating Kochetkov high off a centering pass from Pastrnak.
"It's never fun being down going into the third," Krejci said. "We're sitting in here trying to figure it out, but yeah, when [Montgomery mentioned the record], you kind of want to come out there and do the job. Something special on the line. It's hard to win in this league and get 12 in a row at home, that's pretty special."
Krejci scored a power-play goal at 10:27 of the third to tie the game at 2-2. The goal was initially waved off for goaltender interference on Nick Foligno, but Boston used a coach's challenge and the call on the ice was overturned.
"The video coaches do a great job," Montgomery said. "They study a lot of that in the offseason, of what is goalie interference and what isn't, and we were very confident that would be overturned because Foligno started outside of the blue paint, then got pushed into the goal."

Noesen gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 6:34 of the first, tapping in a rebound off a Sebastian Aho redirect on the power play.
"It gives guys confidence when you're killing penalties or you're getting power-play goals," Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. "It builds momentum too through other parts of the game."
Kotkaniemi made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:55 of the first, corralling a Seth Jarvis wrister that bounced off the end boards and stuffing it past Ullmark with a backhander.
"We're struggling pretty bad right now," Kotkaniemi said. "But the 5-on-5 is kind of working pretty good, so we just need to stick with that and hopefully find the net."
Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin had a breakaway at 12:30 of the second period, but Ullmark skated out to his own blue line to break up the opportunity.
"We stuck to the game plan," Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron said. "We adjusted a few things, and you know, [Carolina's] a good team. We know them well. We know they play hard and play fast, and it's always a good challenge, so we knew we had our hands full, and it was a great game."
NOTES: Montgomery said Ullmark and forward Craig Smith (upper body) are each day to day, but need to be evaluated further. Ullmark exited at 6:57 of the third after sprawling to take a shot off his glove. Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton fell on top of Ullmark's head when blocking another shot. Smith was injured in the second period and did not return. … Boston is 19-0-0 on home ice since April 16, including the Sanley Cup Playoffs, to mark the sixth instance in NHL history of a team winning as many consecutive home games (regular season or playoffs, spanning seasons or otherwise). … Aho had an assist on Carolina's first goal for his 16th road point of the season, tied with Connor McDavid, Clayton Keller and Sidney Crosby for the League lead. … Each of Noesen's past four goals have come on the power play (dating to March 5, 2020 with the San Jose Sharks), accounting for the only power-play goals of his NHL career. … Pastrnak has a point streak of nine-plus games for the sixth time in his career. Each of the other instances were double-digits, including a personal best 13-game stretch in 2019-20.