Jake DeBrusk had a pair of goals as the Boston Bruins scored four goals in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and win, 4-3, in Game 4 of their 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday.
For the 11th time in franchise history, the Bruins rallied from a multi-goal deficit in the final period of a playoff game and won as Jaroslav Halak (2-1-0 in three games, 2.73 goals against average, .897 save percentage this postseason) made 16 saves on 19 shots (.842 SV%) in the win.
Hurricanes goaltender, James Reimer (2-1 in three games, 2.34 GAA, .934 SV% this postseason) stopped 29 out of 33 shots faced for an .879 SV% in the loss.
Once again, David Pastrnak (unfit to play) was out of the lineup for Boston ahead of Game 4 and missed his third game this postseason due to injury.
Carolina forward, Andrei Svechnikov (unfit to play), missed his first game of the series after sustaining a lower body injury in the third period of Game 3 last Saturday and is likely out for the rest of the First Round series.
Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Saturday’s, 3-1, win in Game 3 to Monday night’s Game 4.
Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, re-inserted Jake Gardiner on the defense in place of Trevor van Riemsdyk, while Ryan Dzingel was dressed in place of Svechnikov.
Brind’Amour opted for Jordan Martinook on the left side of Sebastian Aho with Teuvo Teravainen in his usual right wing role, while Dzingel fit in on the second line with Vincent Trocheck at center and Justin Williams on the right side.
On the third line, Brind’Amour began the night with Jordan Staal at center– flanked by Warren Foegele at left wing and Brock McGinn at right wing.
Meanwhile, Nino Niederreiter, Morgan Geekie and Martin Necas comprised the fourth line for the Canes.
On defense, Jaccob Slavin was paired with Dougie Hamilton on the first pairing, Brady Skjei suited up alongside Sami Vatanen and Gardiner was flanked by Haydn Fleury.
Boston’s list of scratches for Game 4 included Zach Senyshyn, Nick Ritchie, John Moore, Maxime Lagacé, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon, Trent Frederic, Karson Kuhlman and Pastrnak.
The Canes were without the services of Joel Edmundson, Jake Bean, Max McCormick, Svechnikov, Roland McKeown, van Riemsdyk, Clark Bishop, Steven Lorentz, Anton Forsberg and Alex Nedeljkovic.
Dzingel caught Connor Clifton with a high stick and presented the B’s with the first power play opportunity of the night at 1:38 of the first period.
Boston wasn’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however, and found themselves on the penalty kill shortly after the Hurricanes killed off Dzingel’s minor.
Jack Studnicka cut a rut to the penalty box after slashing Skjei’s stick out of his hands and gave Carolina their first power play of the night at 4:55.
The Canes did not score on the resulting advantage, however.
Almost midway through the opening frame, Williams (1) fired a shot that had eyes through bodies from both teams in front of the net and clunked its way through Halak to give the Hurricanes the game’s first lead, 1-0.
Trocheck (2) and Gardiner (1) tallied the assists on Williams’ goal at 9:17.
Carolina took the, 1-0, lead all the way into the dressing room for the first intermission as neither team found its way onto the event sheet in goals or penalties after Williams opened the scoring.
The Hurricanes led in shots on goal (7-6), takeaways (4-0), hits (15-14) and faceoff win percentage (71-29) after 20 minutes of play, while the Bruins led in blocked shots (4-2) and giveaways (5-3).
Both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.
Teravainen hooked Studnicka and was sent to the box at 9:31 of the second period for the middle frame’s first action on the event sheet, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the power play.
Less than a minute after Carolina killed off Teravainen’s minor infraction, Martinook (2) snapped a shot past Halak’s glove side on what otherwise looked like a preventable outcome.
Aho (8) had the only assist on Martinook’s goal as the Hurricanes extended their lead to, 2-0, at 12:08 of the second period.
Moments later, Martinook thought he had scored again when he deflected the rubber biscuit into the back of the twine, but his stick was well above the crossbar and immediately negated what would’ve been a three-goal lead for the Hurricanes.
Late in the period, Hamilton was guilty of holding Studnicka and cut a run to the sin bin for a pair of minutes that would extend into the third period at 19:37.
After 40 minutes of action Monday night, the Canes led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and shots on goal were even at 17 aside– despite Boston’s, 11-10, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.
Carolina led in blocked shots (12-11), takeaways (9-2), hits (27-23) and faceoff win% (62-38) after two periods, while both teams had eight giveaways each.
The Hurricanes finished 0/1 and the Bruins went 0/3 on the power play entering the second intermission, as there were no penalties called in the third period.
Almost midway through the third period, DeBrusk chased after a puck in the offensive zone while Reimer came out of his net to also make an attempt at the loose puck in the high slot before DeBrusk (2) scored a goal while falling in avoidance from a major collision with Reimer as Fleury also bumped into his own goaltender.
Ondrej Kase (3) and Clifton (1) had the assists on DeBrusk’s first goal of the game and the Bruins cut Carolina’s lead in half, 2-1, at 7:26 of the third period.
It was the first five-on-five goal for Boston in a little more than eight periods dating back to Game 2.
With about ten minutes left in regulation, Charlie McAvoy made a huge, clean hit on Staal that forced Staal down the tunnel and out of the game.
Seconds later, Clifton (1) rocketed a one-timer from inside the faceoff dot to Reimer’s left off of a setup by Joakim Nordstrom from behind the goal line to tie the game, 2-2.
Clifton’s shot sailed over Reimer’s blocker, while Nordstrom (2) and Chris Wagner (1) notched the assists on the goal at 10:10 of the third period– marking two goals for the Bruins in a span of 1:44.
Upon giving up two quick goals like that, Brind’Amour used his timeout to ease his team’s nerves and draw up a plan to take the lead back and defender it, but nothing went according to plan for the Canes in the final frame.
Shortly after returning to play, Torey Krug sent Brad Marchand (3) in on a breakaway, whereby No. 63 in black and gold stickhandled the puck as he strolled in, made Reimer open the five-hole and slipped the rubber biscuit through the gaping five-hole to put Boston in command for the first time in the game.
Krug (3) had the only assist and the Bruins led, 3-2, at 11:40.
Less than a few minutes later, DeBrusk (3) scored his second goal of the night from point blank thanks to a great setup from Kase to make it, 4-2, for the Bruins.
Kase (4) and David Krejci (5) had the primary and secondary assists, respectively, as Boston pulled ahead by two goals at 14:17 of the third period– having scored four unanswered goals in a span of 6:51.
With about 1:37 remaining in the game, Brind’Amour pulled Reimer for an extra attacker.
Seconds later, Teravainen (3) scored on a shot that looked like it might have intended to be a pass, but broke through a screen in front of Halak and slid right through the Bruins goaltender’s five-hole on the first shot of the third period for the Canes.
Skjei (2) and Hamilton (1) had the assists on Teravainen’s goal and Carolina pulled to within one, 4-3, at 18:33.
Despite pulling their goaltender again for an extra skater with about 1:10 remaining, the Hurricanes could not force overtime.
At the final horn the Bruins had won, 4-3, and taken a, 3-1, series lead as a result.
Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 33-19, and had a, 16-2, advantage in the third period alone.
Meanwhile, Carolina finished the night leading in blocked shots (18-15), giveaways (14-11), hits (37-36) and faceoff win% (53-48).
Boston improved to 27-2 all time in a postseason game when Marchand scores a goal, while Clifton earned his first career multi-point playoff game.
The Bruins have the chance to eliminate the Hurricanes and advance to the Second Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 5, which is set for Wednesday afternoon with puck drop set for a little after 4 p.m. ET.
Fans in the United States can catch the game on NBCSN, NESN or FOX Sports Carolinas, while those in Canada can tune to Sportsnet (SN) or TVA Sports (TVAS) for the action.
Down the Frozen River 
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