Ryan: How the Bruins weathered the storm down in Raleigh, and put themselves 1 win from Stanley Cup Final taken at PNC Arena (2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs)

Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Ryan: How the Bruins weathered the storm down in Raleigh, and put themselves 1 win from Stanley Cup Final

By Conor Ryan

May 15, 2019 • 4:11 am

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Bruce Cassidy had every reason to be candid as he strode up to the podium back on May 7.

The Bruins had just punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 2013 — besting the Blue Jackets on their home ice at Nationwide Arena by a score of 3-0. The victory improved Boston’s record away from TD Garden to 4-2 this postseason, with Boston negating cannon blasts, a deluge of social-media venom delivered by Maple Leafs fans and more roadblocks en route to a trip to the conference final.

The recipe for Boston’s success in enemy territory during this playoff run? Cassidy was blunt.

“I hear people saying, they come into another team’s building – well, we gotta weather the storm,” Cassidy said. “Well, we want to create the storm.”

How fitting is it then, that the club standing in Boston's way for the right to compete for Lord Stanley’s Cup preaches the same mantra when they take to the ice.

The “Storm Surge’ might be in the rearview mirror for the Hurricanes, but Carolina’s smash-mouth, fast-paced style of play remains as an omnipresent feature at PNC Arena — a venue where the parking lot resembles an SEC football tailgate, and the Hurricanes were 5-0 this postseason, entering Game 3 against Boston.

Still, for all of the bells and whistles (and sirens) that Carolina rolls out in front of a raucous home crowd, Charlie McAvoy believes that the Bruins might have had first dibs when it comes to trademarking a “storm”-centered catchphrase.

“It’s funny how ... it has the whole play on words, with them being the Hurricanes, but that’s kind of been our thing all along,” McAvoy said. “It’s nothing new for us. You never want to say, alright, let’s get out there and weather it for a bit. … You want to throw that first punch.”

Boston did indeed land the first punch on Tuesday night, with Patrice Bergeron wristing a puck on goal against Curtis McElhinney just 1:19 into the contest.

Perhaps a light jab might be the better descriptor. What Carolina countered with was a haymaker — and plenty of them, to boot. 

Stuck in an 0-2 hole in a best-of-seven series, the Hurricanes pounced early and often over the opening minutes of play — peppering Tuukka Rask with the next 11 shots on goal of the game over a span of just 3:54.

The tempest that the ‘Canes have boasted of all season long was here, and the Bruins were searching for any port in a storm.

Thankfully, they found it both in net and on a penalty-kill unit that saw 12 different skaters log shorthanded shifts.



By the end of the first 20 minutes of play, Carolina held a commanding 20-6 edge over Boston in terms of shots on goal, and a 33-10 advantage when it comes to shot attempts. But through the flurry of shots that Carolina fired in against Rask — none managed to slip past the netminder and validate the home club’s spirited push at puck drop.




“We don’t want to go out and survive, but that’s just the way it went,”
Sean Kuraly
said. “We did and credit to Tooks for being there from the drop.”








While Rask kept Boston afloat, Boston’s PK tightened up after Carolina landed five shots on goal on Boston’s first penalty — a delay of game call against
Brandon Carlo
just 55 seconds into the game.


Even when a pair of calls just six seconds apart against
Jake DeBrusk
and
David Krejci
gives Carolina an extended stretch of 4-on-3 and 5-on-3 play — Carolina could not cash in, only landing three shots on goal over the next two minutes, all from an average of 40 feet.


“I think what is fun, too, the guys that are behind us on the bench — when we make a good PK, the guys treat it just as good as scoring a goal,” Kuraly said. “You feel like you’re really helping the team push it in the right direction. It’s just a focus of ours, too — we know that’s our job, that some of our job is to kill penalties.”


During that entire span in which both DeBrusk and Krejci were in the sin bin,
Zdeno Chara
did not leave the ice — logging a full PK shift as part of a first period in which the captain recorded 4:01 of shorthanded TOI.


“He’s the reason why our penalty kill is so good,”
Brad Marchand
said of Chara. “He’s the anchor back there. He expects to play the full two minutes. He does an incredible job of killing so many plays. That’s why he’s our captain, our leader and he wants to play those important minutes and he does a good job.”


Cassidy was once again candid at the podium on Tuesday night, but this time, his words were a bit more pointed toward his own club.


“I don’t like the way we played there,” Cassidy said of the first period. “We talked about how we want to counter an assertive team, an aggressive team. … You can counter a punch, or you can sit back and try to keep everything outside. We were trying to attack and counter their aggressiveness.


“But you’ve got to be in good spots, you got to win pucks and you got to support the puck. We weren’t able to do that, but we got through it again. The moral of the story is that we got through the first period tonight.”


Having weathered the storm, Boston took control — as they’ve done all postseason — thanks to contributions across the lineup.


The opening goal for Boston? Scored by fourth liner
Chris Wagner
following a tenacious forechecking effort.


The second? Generated off the stick of the club’s leading scorer in Marchand — with his backhand shot standing as Boston’s fifth power-play tally scored against Carolina over 12 chances.


That was all that Rask needed to close out an eventual 2-1 win — and put Boston just one win away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.


It was far from smooth sailing for this Bruins club on Tuesday night, but it was enough for a victory. It’s a sobering thought for the rest of the league, knowing that the Bruins stand just five wins away from hockey’s ultimate prize — and there’s still much that this team can finetune.


I mean — Boston could very well clinch the Prince of Wales Trophy on Thursday night at PNC Arena, and
Patrice Bergeron
could still be without a 5v5 goal this postseason.


And if Boston does hit its ceiling?
Take Warning,
San Jose or St. Louis.


“
It's kind of been a cool objective for us to try and get better and better and see where we can get,” Kuraly said. “It’s not going to happen every time, there’s good teams out there. ... But we think that we can be better."

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