Charlie Coyle hit a home run and had an assist in the, 3-1, Game 3 victory for the Boston Bruins over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Yes, you read that right. Coyle had a home run. He batted the puck out of mid-air for the game’s first goal and was named the 2020 Boston Red Sox MVP.
Anyway, back to hockey, Jaroslav Halak (1-1 in two games, 2.59 goals against average and a .915 save percentage this postseason) made 29 saves on 30 shots against for a .967 SV% in the win for the B’s.
Canes goaltender, Petr Mrazek (2-2 in four games, 2.08 GAA, .930 SV% this postseason) stopped 36 out of 38 shots faced in the loss.
With the win, the Bruins take a, 2-1, series lead into Game 4 on Monday.
David Pastrnak (unfit to play) missed his second-straight game of the postseason, while Par Lindholm, Jack Studnicka and Connor Clifton made their series debuts for Boston– replacing Nick Ritchie, Karson Kuhlman and Jeremy Lauzon in the lineup.
But none of those lineup changes were the biggest story heading into Saturday afternoon’s matchup between the Bruins and Hurricanes as Boston’s regular starting goaltender, Tuukka Rask, announced he was opting out of the rest of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs to be with his family.
“I want to be with my teammates competing, but at this moment there are things more important than hockey in my life, and that is being with my family.
“I want to thank the Bruins and my teammates for their support and wish them success.”
Statement from Tuukka Rask
Entering Saturday’s game, Halak was 6-6-1 in his career vs. Carolina with a .921 SV% and a 2.61 GAA, as well as two shutouts in that span. He was the goaltender for Boston in their, 2-0, shutout against the Hurricanes on Dec. 3rd and recorded 24 saves that night.
Bruce Cassidy moved Sean Kuraly to the left side of the third line with Coyle at center and Studnicka on the right side, while inserting Lindholm in Kuraly’s usual spot as the fourth line center– flanked by Joakim Nordstrom at left wing and Chris Wagner at right wing.
On defense, Clifton went in for Lauzon as Matt Grzelcyk’s partner on the third pairing.
With Rask heading home to be with his family, Dan Vladar served as Halak’s backup on the bench.
Meanwhile, Boston’s list of scratches for Saturday’s matinee included Zach Senyshyn, Ritchie, John Moore, Maxime Lagacé, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Lauzon, Trent Frederic, Kuhlman and Pastrnak.
Just 12 seconds into the opening frame, Brad Marchand tripped Sebastian Aho and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction, but Carolina did not score on the ensuing power play opportunity– the first of the afternoon for either team.
Vincent Trocheck was penalized for slashing Clifton at 4:27 of the first period and presented Boston with their first skater advantage of the game, but the Bruins did not capitalize on the power play.
Late in the first period, Anders Bjork took the first of three minor penalties on the afternoon with a slashing infraction against Teuvo Teravainen at 15:28.
Once more, however, the Hurricanes weren’t able to beat Halak and Boston’s penalty kill while on the power play.
With a little over two minutes later in the first period, the Canes thought they might have scored when the an errant puck trickled off the post and appeared to have just barely crossed the goal line after Halak covered it with his glove, but there was no goal called on the ice.
After reviewing multiple camera angles for a definitive look at whether or not the puck had indeed gone in, there was “no conclusive evidence to support that [it had] completely crossed the Boston goal line before the Referee blew his whistle to stop play,” according to the League’s situation room.
The score remained tied, 0-0, while Trevor van Riemsdyk caught former teammate, Joakim Nordstrom, with a high stick and drew blood at 17:58.
The B’s had a four-minute power play as a result of van Riemsdyk’s double-minor.
Entering the first intermission, Boston and Carolina were even, 0-0, on the scoreboard, but the Hurricanes led in shots on goal (15-7), blocked shots (8-2), takeaways (4-2), giveaways (7-2) and hits (13-10).
Meanwhile, the Bruins held the advantage in the faceoff dot with a, 58-42, faceoff winning percentage through one period.
The Hurricanes were 0/2 and the B’s were 0/3 on the power play entering the middle frame.
Coyle (2) found the back of the twine 14 seconds into the second period after Marchand made the initial shot that rebounded off of Mrazek and out in the slot where Coyle batted the rubber biscuit out of the air while keeping his stick under the crossbar for the goal.
Marchand (4) and David Krejci (3) recorded the assists on Coyle’s power-play goal and the Bruins led, 1-0.
Almost midway through the middle frame, Dougie Hamilton tripped Lindholm at 8:27 and presented the B’s with another power play.
This time, however, Boston would not convert on the skater advantage.
Moments after resuming even strength, it was the Bruins who found themselves guilty of the next penalty as Bjork slashed Nino Niederreiter and took his second trip to the sin bin that afternoon at 13:03 of the second period.
Carolina’s power play came to an end without any results to show on the scoreboard and was quickly met with some additional work for the penalty killing unit as Haydn Fleury bumped into Ondrej Kase without the puck at 15:49 and was guilty of interference.
Boston’s power play once more couldn’t score, though.
With 29 seconds left before the end of the period, Lindholm cross checked Brock McGinn and was assessed a minor penalty and a free vacation for a two minutes in the penalty box officially at 19:31 of the middle frame.
Carolina’s power play would extend into the third period, but it went unsuccessful nonetheless.
Through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins led the Canes, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 27-23, in shots on goal– including a, 20-8, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.
The Hurricanes led in blocked shots (14-7), takeaways (10-3) and giveaways (12-4), however, while Boston led in hits (28-24) and faceoff win% (59-42) after two periods.
Carolina was 0/4 and Boston was 1/5 on the power play heading into the final frame of Saturday’s game.
While shorthanded, Kuraly (1) redirected an intentional shot pass from Coyle past Mrazek to give Boston a two-goal lead.
Coyle (1) and Charlie McAvoy (3) notched the assists on Kuraly’s goal and the Bruins led, 2-0, at 1:16 of the third period.
Moments later, Bjork cut his third rut to the penalty box for tripping Teravainen at 5:00, and presented the Canes with yet another power play.
This time, however, proved successful for Carolina at making things interesting after Halak misplayed the puck behind his own net while trying to clear it out of his own zone and errantly lobbing an aerial pass that was intercepted by Niederreiter (1) with his glove before pocketing the puck in the empty twine.
Niederreiter’s power-play goal cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1, and was unassisted at 6:30 of the third period.
With 4:38 remaining in the game, Jaccob Slavin took a shot that Halak might have gotten a piece of before the vulcanized rubber caught referee, Kevin Pollock, and forced him out of the game.
Standby official, Trevor Hanson, entered the action, but not before Andrei Svechnikov was also tended to after a net front battle with Zdeno Chara resulted in Svechnikov toe-picking the ice with his skate and awkwardly falling before clutching around his knee.
No update was provided on Svechnikov’s injury status immediately after the game when Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, spoke with media members.
After a stoppage with 2:07 remaining, Brind’Amour used his timeout to rally his players and pull his goaltender for an extra attacker, but at 19:29 of the third period, Marchand (2) buried the puck in the empty net after receiving a flip pass from Krejci through the neutral zone to make it, 3-1, for Boston.
Krejci (4) had the only assist on Marchand’s empty net goal.
At the final horn, the Bruins had won, 3-1, and taken a, 2-1, series lead while finishing the afternoon with the advantage in shots on goal (39-30)– including a, 12-7, advantage in the third period alone.
Boston also finished the game leading in faceoff win%, 57-43, while Carolina finished Saturday’s effort leading in blocked shots (19-9), giveaways (13-7) and hits (35-33).
Both clubs went 1/5 on the power play in Game 3’s action.
Meanwhile, Marchand and Krejci each had two points in Saturday’s game, surpassing Cam Neely and Wayne Cashman for eight place (Marchand), as well as Patrice Bergeron (Krejci) for second place on Boston’s all-time postseason points list.
Marchand has 89 points as a Bruin, while Krejci has 109 points in a B’s sweater in their playoff careers.
Game 4 is scheduled for Monday night at 8 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena in the Toronto bubble. Viewers in the United States can tune to NBCSN, NESN or FOX Sports Carolinas, while those in Canada can catch the action on CBC, Sportsnet (SN) or TVA Sports (TVAS).
Down the Frozen River 
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