BSJ Game Report: Hurricanes 5, Bruins 1 - Bruins' offense dries up again as Carolina pushes Boston to brink

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes in Game 5 with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Bruins post another no-show in Raleigh: If you want a perfect encapsulation of what transpired on Tuesday night, look no further than the second-period sequence in which Brandon Carlo — attempting to clear a puck on a PK shift — rifled the biscuit off of Jake DeBrusk’s skates, leading it to bounce over Jeremy Swayman for a back-breaking own goal.

It was simply that kind of evening for the Bruins, who continued their Jekyll-and-Hyde routine between home and road games in this series against Carolina en route to a disheartening 5-1 loss in Game 5 at PNC Arena.

With the loss, Boston’s third in three meetings down in Raleigh this series, the Hurricanes now hold a 3-2 series lead — and will look to end Boston’s season on Thursday night in Game 6 at TD Garden.

For the eighth time this season, the Hurricanes struck first against Boston — with Jaccob Slavin beating Jeremy Swayman 6:11 into the contest, and ushering in an extended stretch in which the B’s struggled to generate much of anything against Antti Raanta down the other end of the ice. 

At one point, the Hurricanes were outshooting Boston, 14-5, in over 15 minutes of ice time following Slavin’s goal, with Tony DeAngelo padding the Hurricanes’ lead at 12:17 into the first with a power-play snipe.

Ultimately, DeAngelo's strike was all that Carolina ultimately needed, with Raanta stopping 33 of the 34 shots that came his way. 

Add in some woefully underwhelming performances at special-teams play, the Bergeron line getting bottled up, some head-scratching calls by the officials and next to no momentum generated by Charlie McAvoy’s sudden return — and this was, all in all, a woefully frustrating night at the rink for the Bruins. 

Secondary scoring dries up: As we discussed earlier today, the play of the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line was going to be a key determinant in just how long this series was going to last. But in the likely scenario in which Rod Brind’Amour and the Canes were going to throw all of their shutdown personnel at that trio (which, sure enough, did happen), the Bruins were going to need some secondary-scoring contributions to break through. 

But, in a scenario that has plagued the B’s in many other failed Cup runs, the Bruins received next to nothing from some other key cogs up front — with middle-six regulars like Erik Haula and Craig Smith only up to a whopping two total points through five games in this series.

Boston could very well get some home cooking in Game 6 thanks to the benefit of last change, but if the Bruins have any hope of beating Carolina (especially in their own barn in a potential Game 7), they’re going to need a lot more help up front.

McAvoy returns: Despite not hitting the ice since Friday’s Game 3 victory at TD Garden, McAvoy didn’t look too worse for wear in his surprise return to Boston’s lineup on Tuesday — logging 25:14 of ice time in the loss. His conditioning did seem a bit off at times (as expected), but no major red flags in terms of McAvoy’s overall game.  

The end result is the end result, but the Bruins still have to be relieved that they have their franchise blueliner in place for however long this Cup run continues. The only remaining shoe to drop is the status of Hampus Lindholm, who skated on Monday at Warrior Ice Arena, but did not make the trek to Raleigh. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Cassidy acknowledged that the B’s were hopeful that Lindholm could be cleared ahead of Game 6.

ONE UP

Connor Clifton: Despite a pretty dangerous D-zone pass that nearly led to a Canes’ goal in the first period, Clifton has had a pretty strong stretch of play throughout this series against Carolina, and was promptly rewarded with his third-period tally. One of the very few bright spots for Boston tonight.

FOUR DOWN

Matt Grzelcyk: Just a brutal game from Grzelcyk — and frankly, an entire series so far. Along with getting outmuscled by Andrei Svechnikov at the start of an O-zone shift that led to Slavin’s goal, Grzelcyk was also whistled from a pair of stick infractions. Grzelcyk’s D partner in Carlo was also knocked for that bad bounce on Seth Jarvis’ “goal”, but if Lindholm does return on Thursday, Grzelcyk has a legitimate risk of being scratched. 

Depth scoring: I mean, there are just far too many established NHLers to roll through when it comes to identifying the culprits responsible for Boston’s dearth of secondary scoring. Be it Haula, Smith, Taylor Hall, Tomas Nosek and plenty of others, there were just far too many passengers out there tonight for Boston.

Officiating: I’ll preface this once again — I detest having to put any spotlight on officiating, especially in a game where the Bruins did have some extended stretches of poor play. That being said, Derek Forbort’s roughing penalty was a bad look in a situation where you either need to call both guys or just let them scrap for a bit. It’s playoff hockey. I will add that Boston did receive a gift later in the game off of a weak holding call against DeAngelo, but this entire series has been rather disjointed with all of these whistles. 

Special teams: After dominating play away from even-strength action in Sunday’s Game 4 win, the Bruins struggled to do much of anything on the power play or on the PK in Game 5. Along with an 0-for-3 night on the man advantage, the B’s coughed up two Carolina strikes on the man advantage.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Well, this about sums this game up. 

LOOSE PUCKS

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will look to keep their season alive on Thursday when they return to TD Garden for a potentially decisive Game 6. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.