Bruins sparked by shorthanded goal, special teams in Game 3 win

Charlie Coyle slipped his way into the slot, as he and Jake DeBrusk converged on the Carolina Hurricanes goal. One pass from DeBrusk, coming down the left side, and Coyle tapped the puck in for a shorthanded goal. The score was tied. TD Garden erupted.

The Boston Bruins, finally, had life.
"Just changed our whole demeanor," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said.
It calmed them down. It allowed them to regroup.
For the first time in their Eastern Conference First Round series -- and perhaps the first time all season -- the Bruins gained traction against the Hurricanes, eventually prevailing 4-2 in Game 3 on Friday. They trail the best-of-7 series 2-1 with Game 4 here Sunday.
"The shorthanded goal, that changed the dynamic of the game," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "They have the chance to extend [their lead] on the power play. It gives us life."
The Bruins could have let this one get away from them, as they had so many times this season against the Hurricanes, who had won all five games between the two teams, including three in the regular season, by a 26-4 margin. It looked, in fact, like they might after Vincent Trocheck gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 9:17 of the first period.
Instead, Coyle tied it at 17:16, allowing Boston to go into the intermission tied.
With a chance.
Marchand gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 5:41 of the second period, on a goal that was pure hustle from him. It was the first lead the Bruins had earned against the Hurricanes all season.
"That's a big lift for us. We've got a lead now for the first time against this team since … what, 2020 or something?" Cassidy said. "It's been a while."
(Cassidy was correct: It was Aug. 19, 2020, in Game 5 of the first round, when the Bruins won the series.)
And it was after they took that lead that the special teams took over, with the Bruins power play -- which had gone through an 0-for-39 stretch from April 4-28 -- scoring twice to seal the win, first on a goal by David Pastrnak at 14:53 of the second, and then one by Taylor Hall at 4:08 of the third.
The Pastrnak goal was especially galling for the Hurricanes. Trocheck's hooking penalty gave the Bruins a two-man advantage 29 seconds into an Ian Cole interference penalty. Carolina had successfully killed the 5-on-3, had successfully gotten it back to 5-on-4, when Pastrnak converted.
"We did a heck of a job killing the 5-on-3," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "You give too many looks to these top guys, they're going to make you pay eventually. That's what happened."
The game marked a significant improvement for the Bruins, right on through. From goalie Jeremy Swayman, who replaced Game 1 and 2 starter Linus Ullmark and won his first Stanley Cup Playoff start with 25 saves, to defenseman Derek Forbort, who blocked nine shots, to Curtis Lazar, who was buzzing all night on the fourth line, the Bruins got all they needed from a number of different corners.
But it was the special teams, including the penalty kill that was 5-for-5, that especially came through.
"The specialty team battle is what cost us the game," Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin put it, bluntly.
The Hurricanes had the best penalty kill in the NHL during the regular season, at 88.0 percent. The Bruins tied the Buffalo Sabres for 15th on the power play, at 21.2 percent, but with a top unit that can get hot.
Perhaps that has started, with Boston's performance in Game 3.
"They're a pretty good penalty kill, but at the same time, our PP wasn't great, so it was getting a little bit in our head," Pastrnak said. "I think we were causing our own problems within ourselves, not them making it any harder for us.
"Good that we got one. It took a while, a lot of patience. It was a big one. Hopefully we can take over now."
On the power play and, they hope, in the series.
Against an excellent defensive team, the Bruins were able to score four goals. They were able to score three special teams goals. They were able to get their big names going and get momentum and get a lead. They were able to find the right effort level and mental state, to find a way to win against a team that had bedeviled them all season.
It was a step for the Bruins, away from the end of their season. But there is still much more to do.
"I think the importance of the situation we were in, I think it hit us all," Marchand said. "Guys just seemed like they were prepared when they got to the rink tonight. But that's the desperation that they've been playing with from Game 1 and that's what we need to play with every day moving forward."