Categories
NHL Nick's Net

No quiet offseason in the “C of Red”

Well, you wanted a rebuild.

The Calgary Flames restructured their core this offseason after a disappointing Second Round series loss to the Edmonton Oilers in five games left General Manager, Brad Treliving, with a few options— stay the course, blow things up or swing for the fences.

Stanley Cup contenders aren’t built in a day, but they are improved upon over the course of an offseason or an entire year.

No General Manager in the National Hockey League walks into their office on their first day with the organization looking at the roster assembled before them saying “yep, this team is going to win it all this season”.

There was a reason why the last GM was fired or not extended, after all.

Even Julien BriseBois didn’t walk into his role as General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sept. 11, 2018, completely convinced the team he inherited from Steve Yzerman could get it done after Yzerman resigned.

BriseBois made two acquisitions during the 2018-19 season with a minor move involving the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 18th in which the Lightning gave the Ducks future considerations for a minor league prospect that never made it to the NHL, then a somewhat major tweak to the eventual 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup champion Bolts rosters by sending Slater Koekkoek and a 2019 5th round pick (151st overall, later flipped to Arizona via Pittsburgh) to Chicago for defender, Jan Rutta, and a 2019 7th round pick (198th overall, Mikhail Shalagin) on Jan. 11th.

After the Columbus Blue Jackets shocked the hockey world and swept the regular season record tying 62-win, Presidents’ Trophy clinching Lightning in the 2019 First Round, BriseBois sent goaltending prospect, Connor Ingram, to the Nashville Predators for a 2021 7th round pick (211st overall, Robert Flinton) on June 14th and later acquired Marek Mazanec, a 2019 3rd round pick (71st overall, Hugo Alnefelt) and a conditional 2020 1st round pick (20th overall) from the Vancouver Canucks for J.T. Miller on June 22nd.

Vancouver’s 2020 1st round pick came in handy when Tampa later added leading up to the 2020 trade deadline by flipping the pick as well as left wing, Nolan Foote, to the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 16th for Blake Coleman.

At the 2020 trade deadline itself on Feb. 24th, BriseBois sent the San Jose Sharks Tampa’s own 2020 1st round pick (31st overall, Ozzy Wiesblatt) and Anthony Greco for Barclay Goodrow and a 2020 3rd round pick (originally belonging to Philadelphia, 85th overall, Maxim Groshev).

And thus, the 2020 Stanley Cup champion Lightning were fully assembled.

The following season, BriseBois kept most of the band together— trading Braydon Coburn, Cédric Paquette and a 2022 2nd round pick (64th overall, Filip Nordberg) to the Ottawa Senators to clear cap space by acquiring the contracts of Marián Gáborik and Anders Nilsson that were destined for the long term injured reserve upon training camp.

BriseBois’ biggest move occurred in the buildup to the 2021 trade deadline on April 10th, when the Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings helped piece together a three-team trade that saw Columbus acquire a 2021 1st round pick (32nd overall, later flipped to Chicago) and a 2022 3rd round pick (96th overall, Jordan Dumais) from the Lightning, while the Red Wings brokered even more salary cap retention on David Savard’s contract and added a 2021 4th round pick (128th overall, later flipped to Vegas).

Tampa, meanwhile, acquired Savard and Brian Lashoff from Detroit in the deal.

Savard was a pending-unrestricted free agent with a significant cap hit that was made manageable for the Lightning to add after the Blue Jackets retained 50% of Savard’s salary in the deal with Detroit before the Red Wings retained an additional 50% of Savard’s new cap hit with Detroit before sending him to Tampa.

In simple terms Savard had a $4.250 million cap hit with Columbus, which became a $2.125 million cap hit with Detroit and finally landed on a $1.0625 million cap hit for the Lightning.

And thus, the 2021 Stanley Cup champion roster for Tampa was fully assembled.

Prior to the 2021-22 season, BriseBois lost Coleman via free agency to the Flames, traded the rights to Goodrow to the New York Rangers for a 2022 7th round pick (223rd overall, Dyllan Gill), flipped Tyler Johnson to Chicago with a 2023 2nd round pick for Brent Seabrook’s LTIR-destined contract, sent Mitchell Stephens to the Red Wings for a 2022 6th round pick (169th overall, later flipped to Los Angeles) and more to keep the Lightning cap compliant and able to re-sign Brayden Point to a massive eight-year contract extension worth $9.500 million per season— thereby continuing Tampa’s Cup-winning core into the future.

As it is, Erik Cernak, Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev all received eight-year extensions this summer that don’t even go into effect until next season (2023-24).

Of course, the Lightning went on to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final where they lost in six games to the Colorado Avalanche after acquiring Brandon Hagel from Chicago on March 18, 2022, for Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, a conditional 2023 1st round pick and a conditional 2024 1st round pick and adding Nick Paul from the Ottawa Senators two days later for Mathieu Joseph and a 2024 4th round pick.

BriseBois also acquired Riley Nash from the Arizona Coyotes for future considerations and made one more minor move at the 2022 trade deadline itself on March 21st.

The Lightning have made the Stanley Cup Final in the last three seasons, while the Avalanche are the current defending Stanley Cup champions.

The NHL is a copycat league and if you don’t think other playoff teams are clamoring for pieces of the Tampa and Colorado rosters from 2020-present or equivalent players then you must be part of a rebuilding organization that’s focusing on other endeavors like tanking for Connor Bedard right now.

We haven’t even touched on what BriseBois added in free agency during Tampa’s recent success and we aren’t even talking about the masterclass Joe Sakic put on as General Manager of the Avs prior to winning it all this year and being promoted to President of Hockey Operations, while Chris MacFarland takes the reins as General Manager.

But in way more words that you probably wanted to read, Treliving is well aware of how to make a playoff team turn into a Cup contender.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Treliving signed Coleman to a six-year deal worth $4.900 million per season and Trevor Lewis to a one-year, $800,000 on July 28, 2021— the same day he acquired the rights to Nikita Zadorov from Chicago for a 2022 3rd round pick (originally belonging to Toronto, 90th overall, Aidan Thompson) and Dan Vladar from the Boston Bruins for a 2022 3rd round pick (91st overall, later flipped to Seattle).

Coleman is quite literally one of the former pieces to Tampa’s back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021, while Lewis brought his two-time Stanley Cup champion winning experience with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014, to Calgary’s bottom-six forwards.

Both Lewis and Zadorov were re-signed this summer with Lewis signing up for another season and Zadorov earning a two-year deal (both players were signed at the same cap hit they had in 2021-22).

Last season, Treliving added a major component to his roster well in advance of the 2022 trade deadline when he acquired Tyler Toffoli from the Montréal Canadiens in exchange for Tyler Pitlick, Emil Heineman, a conditional 2022 1st round pick (26th overall, Filip Mesar), a 2023 5th round pick and a conditional 2024 4th round pick (the condition was not met).

For added depth, Calgary acquired Calle Järnkrok from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a 2022 2nd round pick (originally belonging to Florida, 61st overall, David Goyette), a 2023 3rd round pick and a 2024 7th round pick on March 16th and added Ryan Carpenter from Chicago for a 2024 5th round pick at the deadline on March 21st.

Järnkrok and Carpenter were rental pieces that were not re-signed this offseason with the former ending up in Toronto and the latter joining the New York Rangers.

The additions of Coleman (2020 and 2021 with Tampa), Lewis (2012 and 2014 with Los Angeles) and Toffoli (2014 with Los Angeles) brought in more of a Cup-winning pedigree to the Flames locker room while Milan Lucic (2011 with Boston) and head coach, Darryl Sutter (2012 and 2014 with Los Angeles), already have experience in what it takes to win it all and can provide a touch of wisdom for the rest of the team.

Sometimes it takes a shift in the faces of the franchise to stabilize the foundation of a legitimate Cup contender.

Flames fans have been through it all this offseason with the departure of Johnny Gaudreau in free agency to the Blue Jackets and subsequent aftermath in the NHL’s first ever sign and trade event whereby Matthew Tkachuk inked an eight-year extension with Calgary before immediately being dealt to the Florida Panthers.

Gaudreau left on a seven-year deal with the Blue Jackets worth less than what Calgary was offering— agreeing to a $9.750 million cap hit with Columbus through 2028-29.

Erik Gudbranson would leave the Flames for the Blue Jackets via free agency as well on a four-year contract worth $4.000 million per season— well above the cool $1.950 million cap hit he carried with Calgary last season and matching his career-high $4.000 million cap hit that he once had on a three-year extension that he originally signed with the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 20, 2018.

Tkachuk, meanwhile, was packaged with a conditional 2025 4th round pick to Florida in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a conditional 2025 1st round pick.

Losing Gaudreau after a career season in goals (40), assists (75) and points (115) hurts, but replacing him with Huberdeau— who also set career-highs in assists (85) and points (115) while matching his previous high in goals (30)— certainly takes the sting of watching a fan favorite leave for nothing.

Adding Weegar on the heels of a career-year in goals (eight), assists (36) and points (44) as a bonus for trading Tkachuk to the Panthers is the icing on the cake (with the conditional 2025 1st round pick being like its own “baker’s dozen” bonus 13th doughnut from Tim Horton’s or something).

Gudbranson, who, despite reaching highs in all three scoring categories with 6-11—17 totals had *checks notes* 27 points fewer than the versatile Weegar.

As for Tkachuk, the 24-year-old broke into the league in 2016-17 with 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists) in 76 games with the Flames after being drafted 6th overall in 2016.

Injuries kept him to 49 points in 68 games in 2017-18, and if it weren’t for Mark Giordano’s existence, Brian Burke, then President of Hockey Operations for Calgary (who would leave upon season’s end) while Treliving was in his fourth full season as General Manager, was ready to name Tkachuk captain based on his work ethic alone.

In 2018-19, he had 77 points in 80 games, then he dipped to 61 points in 69 games followed by 43 points in 56 games in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. Both seasons were altered due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Last season, he exploded for career-highs in goals (42), assists (62) and points (104) in 82 games, but will he hit it off with Aleksander Barkov like how Florida’s captain used to play with Huberdeau?

There’s no question Tkachuk will be a prominent NHL player, but he didn’t want to stay in Calgary forever and that’s fine.

Treliving maximized the return— and then some— in what he got for Tkachuk like how the Bruins fleeced Burke for a 2010 1st round pick (2nd overall, Tyler Seguin), a 2010 2nd round pick (32nd overall, Jared Knight) and a 2011 1st round pick (9th overall, Dougie Hamilton) in the Phil Kessel trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs back on Sept. 18, 2009.

It pays to learn lessons from Mr. Burke.

Don’t ask what Boston did with all three players afterwards. They still won the Cup (with Seguin) in 2011, at least.

But that’s not all that Treliving got done this summer as he notably signed Huberdeau to an eight-year extension already worth $10.500 million per season that’ll begin in 2023-24, making Huberdeau the highest paid player in Flames history in the salary cap era in the process.

Gaudreau could’ve been a member of Calgary for most (if not all) of his career and at 29-years-old he had every right to seek a change of scenery and make it easier on him and the family that he is planning for to hop on a flight back to New Jersey or invite his friends and relatives out to Columbus to see a game.

Huberdeau is also 29, so there’s no loss in maximizing the potential considering both players are already within their prime years.

In 671 career games with the Panthers, Huberdeau had 198-415—613 totals or about .914 points per game, while Gaudreau recorded 210-399—609 totals (1.01 points per game) in 602 games with the Flames.

There’s a slight offensive advantage for Gaudreau, but Huberdeau has been more of a two-way player in his career and could receive more Selke Trophy attention in the years to come as five-time Selke winner, Patrice Bergeron, enters the twilight years of his storied NHL career with the Bruins.

Huberdeau’s playing style could benefit Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane if Sutter wanted to create a “super” line to overpower his opponent in a particular shift.

Though Gaudreau had ten more goals than Huberdeau last season, Huberdeau had ten more assists than Gaudreau and you know that either type of point (a goal or an assist) counts as a goal for someone on your team, right?

Huberdeau’s playmaking ability might keep Lindholm’s 42 goals in 2021-22 from being a one-off fluke and Mangiapane’s 35 goals last season as just the beginning.

Lindholm is 27, while Mangiapane is 26. Both players are part of the core moving forward with the former under contract through 2023-24, and the latter signed through 2024-25. They should each remain a priority long-term.

If Treliving stopped there, he would’ve made his point clear— that the Flames aren’t going to rebuild anytime soon under his watch— but then he signed Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $49 million ($7.000 million per season) deal on Thursday.

Kadri brings one more Cup ring to the dressing room, having won with Colorado in June.

In 739 career NHL games with the Maple Leafs and Avalanche, he has 219-293—512 totals as a two-time 30-goal scorer and one of the better second line centers in the league.

He solidifies Calgary’s lineup down the middle, had a career-high 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists) last season and adds a significant chunk to the Flames’ payroll since he’ll carry the highest cap hit on the roster for 2022-23, but at 31-years-old, he’s in his prime and will help beg the question that remains to be answered— can you win another one?

To afford Kadri, Treliving made what is perhaps his only bad trade of the summer by sending Sean Monahan and a conditional 2025 1st round pick to the Canadiens on Thursday.

Injuries limited Monahan to 8-15—23 totals in 65 games last season after recording 28 points in 50 games in the 56-game 2020-21 season, as well as 48 points in 70 games in the pandemic shortened 2019-20 season.

His production peaked in 2018-19, when he set career-highs in all scoring categories including goals (34), assists (48) and points (82) in 78 games, but now at 27-years-old there’s a chance his ceiling potential has been lowered despite being healthy for the first time in a while.

With one-year remaining on his current contract and a $6.375 million cap hit, Monahan gets the chance to have a fresh start in Montréal and can either stick around for the emergence of something new and exciting within the Canadiens organization or skip out on a rebuild.

In any case, he’ll get his best chance to prove himself given Montréal had an opening for a second line center.

At worst, he’ll be the next Mike Cammalleri and spend parts of a few seasons in a Canadiens jersey while sputtering out into a bottom-six/third line forward role.

The addition of Kadri and subtraction of Monahan leaves the Flames with about $2.137 million in cap space that they’ll surely want to try to add a little more wiggle room to.

Despite Lucic’s veteran presence and experience having won a Cup before 11 years ago, his $5.250 million cap hit on an expiring contract at season’s end could be used to bait a team in taking him while upgrading Calgary’s fourth line.

Perhaps this is where a reunion with the Bruins comes into play if the Flames are a destination on, say, Nick Foligno’s modified no-trade clause?

Lucic’s size would bolster Boston’s fourth line with some added size and bring more to the table than Foligno’s offensive output last season (Lucic had 10-11—21 totals in 82 games to Foligno’s 2-11—13 totals in 64 games).

Of course, Lucic would have to approve of a trade in compliance with his modified no-trade clause as well, but it’s well known that he still has a place in his heart for Boston.

Both players are 34-years-old and Lucic— though he may want to win another Cup— has already won it before. He wouldn’t be going back to the Bruins just for a reunion with fellow 2011 Stanley Cup champions in Bergeron, David Krejčí and Brad Marchand, but he would join a team that’s in a fight of their own to reclaim some former glory.

Lucic has also evolved since the days of his, at times, undisciplined style.

Foligno, on the other hand, has yet to even appear in a Stanley Cup Final since making his league debut in the 2007-08 season.

Every good Cup contender has that one veteran that has never sniffed an appearance in the Final and Foligno could be very well be someone to rally around in the “C of Red”.

So, after a few years of staying the course while developing along the way and experiencing crushing heartbreak after heartbreak from one season to the next, Treliving made a choice.

He’s going all in and his actions are clear to his players— are you ready and willing to go all in too?

Calgary’s average age might be nearing 30, but many veterans on the roster have already won at least one Cup ring. What would you be willing to do to win another?

Entering the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Flames were one of the hottest teams in the NHL all season long (both in name and given their stature as not only the regular season Pacific Division winners, but the leaders of the entire Western Conference with a 50-25-7 record and 107 points on the season).

Calgary thumped Colorado in a, 4-0, shutout on home ice for Game 1 of their 2019 First Round matchup.

Then the Flames lost four straight games and were handed an embarrassing five-game series exit.

They took the lessons they learned and made it through the Qualifying Round in 2020, defeating the Winnipeg Jets in a best-of-five series 3-1 before losing to the Dallas Stars in the 2020 First Round in six games.

After missing the playoffs in 2020-21, the Flames and Stars had a rematch in the 2022 First Round— only this time, Gaudreau sent Calgary onto the Second Round where they were crushed by their Alberta rival, the Edmonton Oilers in five soul-sucking games.

They have not been back to the Western Conference Final since 2004— the same year they went on to the Stanley Cup Final and lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games.

Currently, only Lewis and Lucic were alive the last time Calgary won the Cup in 1989. Lewis was 2, while Lucic was 1.

Surely the Avalanche are going to be as dominant as they were on their way to the Cup. They’ll likely have to face the Flames at one point or another in the 2023 postseason.

What better chance to go for it all then to sign the guy that was playing center on the second line of the defending champions (Kadri) that once made a mockery of your rise to power in the Western Conference (2019) than by throwing them off the top of the mountain in the process?

Categories
Free Agency NHL Nick's Net

2022 NHL Free Agency Signings Quick Recap

If you went to bed at a decent hour Tuesday night, you were likely under the impression that 35-year-old National Hockey League superstar, Evgeni Malkin, and 28-year-old large adult son (as some on hockey Twitter have referred to him), Johnny Gaudreau, were destined to become unrestricted free agents by the time the NHL’s free agency period began Wednesday at 12:01 p.m. ET.

You probably thought that between Malkin, Gaudreau, Nazem Kadri, Claude Giroux, Ondrej Palat, Vincent Trocheck, John Klingberg, Ben Chiarot, Nikita Zadorov and other skaters in addition to goaltenders like Jack Campbell and Darcy Kuemper– surely at least one of them would be overpaid on Wednesday by some general manager in the NHL.

If you went to bed early Tuesday, you missed out on Malkin’s late-night extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins on a new four-year deal worth $6.100 million per season.

Pittsburgh’s going to ride or die with Sidney Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang until the end of time.

If you’ve been under a rock for the last few days– at least– you’d also be surprised to learn that Campbell is likely heading to the Edmonton Oilers on a five-year contract with a $5.000 million cap hit (as reported early Wednesday morning by ESPN‘s Kevin Weekes) and Kuemper is likely the next starting goaltender with the Washington Capitals– despite the fact that the league got rid of the talking period prior to the official start of free agency just a few seasons ago after toying with the idea.

But no, there’s no tampering or anything.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans may once again be irked by Oilers General Manager, Ken Holland, seemingly poaching another player from the Leafs’ roster before free agency technically begins for the second year in a row.

At the very least, Toronto’s General Manager, Kyle Dubas, has secured at least one new goaltender for the 2022-23 season, having acquired Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators on Monday, but today isn’t about trades.

It’s all about free agents of the unrestricted and restricted variety and we’re here to help you keep track of all of the July 13th signings at a quick glance.

Maybe we’ll even throw in a few words of analysis for free!

Reported free agent signings

These are reported agreements in place that are yet to be confirmed and/or announced by a playing club.

Announced free agent signings

These are confirmed/announced signings by playing clubs.

F Robert Thomas signed an eight-year extension worth $8.125 million per season with the St. Louis Blues that begins next season (2023-24).

F Nicolas Aubé-Kubel signed a one-year, $1.000 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The St. Louis Blues signed D Nick Leddy to a four-year extension worth $4.000 million per season.

F Ilya Mikheyev signed a four-year contract worth $4.750 million per season with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Arizona Coyotes signed F Nick Bjugstad to a one-year contract worth $900,000.

F Vladislav Namestnikov signed a one-year deal worth $2.500 million with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed F Adam Gaudette to a one-year contract worth $750,000.

D Mikhail Sergachev signed an eight-year extension worth $8.500 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning that goes into effect next season (2023-24).

G Dustin Tokarski signed a one-year contract worth $775,000 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

F Andrew Copp signed a five-year deal worth $5.625 million per season with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Florida Panthers signed D Nathan Staios to a three-year, entry-level contract with a $950,000 cap hit.

F Anthony Cirelli signed an eight-year extension worth $6.250 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning that goes into effect next season (2023-24).

D Erik Cernak signed an eight-year extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning that goes into effect next season (2023-24) and carries a $5.200 million cap hit.

D Josh Brown has agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes worth $1.275 million per season.

G Jack Campbell agreed to a five-year contract worth $5.000 million per season with the Edmonton Oilers.

F Claude Giroux agreed to a three-year deal worth $6.500 million per season with the Ottawa Senators.

The Los Angeles Kings re-signed F Brendan Lemieux on a one-year deal worth $1.350 million.

D Troy Stecher came to terms on a one-year contract worth $1.200 million with the Arizona Coyotes.

The New Jersey Devils signed D Brendan Smith to a two-year contract worth $1.100 million per season.

G Darcy Kuemper has agreed to terms on a five-year contract worth $5.250 million per season with the Washington Capitals.

D Dennis Gilbert signed a two-year, $1.525 million ($762,500 cap hit) deal with the Calgary Flames.

The Vancouver Canucks signed F Dakota Joshua to a two-year deal worth $825,000 per season.

F Charles Hudon signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Colorado Avalanche.

D Wyatt Kalnyuk signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

D Andreas Englund signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Colorado Avalanche worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

G Charlie Lindgren signed a three-year deal worth $1.100 million per season with the Washington Capitals.

D Ian Cole signed a one-year, $3.000 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

F Marco Kasper signed a three-year entry-level deal worth $950,000 per season with the Detroit Red Wings.

G Eric Comrie signed a two-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres carrying a $1.800 million cap hit.

The St. Louis Blues signed G Thomas Greiss to a one-year deal worth $1.250 million.

F Noel Acciari signed a one-year, $1.250 million contract with the St. Louis Blues.

The Tampa Bay Lightning signed F Félix Robert to a two-year, entry-level contract.

G Louis Domingue signed a two-year contract worth $775,000 per season with the New York Rangers.

D Jan Rutta signed a three-year contract worth $8.250 million ($2.750 million cap hit) with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Vancouver Canucks signed G Collin Delia to a one-year deal.

2022 1st overall pick, F Juraj Slafkovsky signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Montréal Canadiens.

F Oskar Lindblom signed a two-year contract with the San Jose Sharks with a $2.500 million cap hit.

2022 4th overall pick, F Shane Wright, signed a three-year entry-level contract carrying a cap hit of $950,000 per season with the Seattle Kraken.

F Artturi Lehkonen signed a five-year extension worth $4.500 million per season with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Winnipeg Jets signed G David Rittich to a one-year, $900,000 contract.

F Dominik Kubalik signed a two-year contract worth $2.500 million per season with the Detroit Red Wings.

F David Perron signed a two-year deal worth $4.750 million per season with the Detroit Red Wings.

D Marc Staal signed a one-year, $750,000 deal with the Florida Panthers.

Florida also signed F Eric Staal to a player training operative (PTO)/professional tryout agreement.

F Greg McKegg signed a two-year, two-way contract ($762,500 cap hit at the NHL level) with the Edmonton Oilers.

D Justin Braun signed a one-year, $1.750 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers.

F Nicolas Deslauriers agreed to a four-year deal worth $1.750 million per season with the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Vegas Golden Knights signed F Sakari Manninen to a contract.

D Ben Chiarot agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth $4.750 million per season with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Seattle Kraken signed F Andre Burakovsky to a five-year contract with a $5.500 million cap hit.

D Josh Manson signed a four-year extension worth $4.500 million with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Colorado Avalanche signed F Darren Helm to a one-year, $1.250 million extension.

F Victor Olofsson signed a two-year extension with the Buffalo Sabres worth $4.750 million per season.

The Seattle Kraken signed G Martin Jones to a one-year, $2.000 million contract.

G Ilya Samsonov signed a one-year, $1.800 million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

D Justin Schultz signed a two-year deal worth $3.000 million per season with the Seattle Kraken.

F Andrei Kuzmenko signed a one-year, entry-level deal worth $950,000 with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Columbus Blue Jackets signed their 2022 1st round picks, D David Jiricek and D Denton Mateychuk to matching three-year, entry-level contracts– each carrying $950,000 cap hits.

F Curtis Lazar has agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $1.000 million per season with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Calgary Flames signed F Kevin Rooney to a two-year deal worth $1.300 million per season.

D Xavier Ouellet signed a two-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

F Laurent Dauphin signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Arizona Coyotes worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

The New York Rangers signed F Vincent Trocheck to a seven-year contract worth $5.625 million per season.

Chicago signed F Andreas Athanasiou to a one-year deal worth $3.000 million.

F Max Domi agreed to a one-year, $3.000 million contract with Chicago.

The Buffalo Sabres signed D Ilya Lyubushkin to a two-year contract worth $2.750 million per season.

The Detroit Red Wings signed D Olli Määttä to a one-year deal worth $2.250 million.

F Colin White signed a one-year, $1.200 million contract with the Florida Panthers.

The Boston Bruins signed F A.J. Greer to a two-year deal worth $762,500 per season.

G Jaroslav Halák is reportedly signing a one-year, $1.550 million deal with the New York Rangers.

D Nicolas Meloche reportedly signed a one-year, $950,000 a contract with the Calgary Flames.

F Frank Vatrano signed a three-year deal worth $3.650 million per season with the Anaheim Ducks.

D Brett Kulak re-signed with the Edmonton Oilers, agreeing to a four-year contract with a $2.750 million cap hit.

D Tobie Paquette-Bisson signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Kings worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

F Mason Marchment signed a four-year contract with the Dallas Stars carrying a $4.500 million cap hit.

The San Jose Sharks signed F Andrew Aggozino to a contract.

D Erik Gudbranson signed a four-year deal carrying a $4.000 million cap hit with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

F Colin Blackwell signed a two-year contract with Chicago that carries a $1.200 million cap hit.

The Montréal Canadiens signed F Anthony Richard to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

F Nick Cousins signed a two-year deal with the Florida Panthers that carries a $1.100 million cap hit.

Chicago signed G Alex Stalock to a one-year, $750,000 contract.

The Seattle Kraken and F Andrew Poturalski agreed to terms on a two-year contract worth $762,500 per season.

The Montréal Canadiens signed D Madison Bowey to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

D Erik Gustafsson agreed to terms on a one-year, $800,000 contract with the Washington Capitals.

F Will Bitten signed a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 per season with the St. Louis Blues.

G Jonas Johansson and the Colorado Avalanche agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

G Pheonix Copley signed a one-year deal worth $825,000 with the Los Angeles Kings.

D Anthony Bitetto signed a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Florida Panthers.

F Steven Fogarty signed a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 per season with the Minnesota Wild.

The Minnesota Wild also signed D Andrej Sustr and F Brandon Baddock to matching one-year, two-way contracts worth $750,000 each.

F Nic Petan joined the Minnesota Wild on a two-year, two-way deal worth $1.525 million ($762,500 cap hit).

F Vinni Lettieri signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Boston Bruins.

Chicago signed F Brett Seney and F Luke Philip to one-year, two-way deals worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

G Calvin Pickard reached an agreement with the Edmonton Oilers on a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 at the NHL level.

G Magnus Hellberg, D Brogan Rafferty, and F Jesper Frödén signed one-year, two-way contracts worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Seattle Kraken.

G Oscar Dansk signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 with the Calgary Flames.

The Ottawa Senators came to terms with F Scott Sabourin, F Jacob Lucchini and D Kristians Rubins on one-year, two-way contracts worth $750,000 each at the NHL level.

D Jeremy Davies signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Buffalo Sabres.

F Kevin Stenlund and the Winnipeg Jets came to terms on a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

The Calgary Flames signed F Trevor Lewis to a one-year, $800,000 extension.

Calgary also signed F Clark Bishop and D Colton Poolman to matching one-year, two-way contracts worth $750,000 at the NHL level and D Nick DeSimone to a two-year, two-way deal worth $762,500 per season at the NHL level.

The Dallas Stars signed D Colin Miller to a two-year contract worth $1.850 million per season.

F Josh Archibald agreed to a one-year, $900,000 deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

G Alex Lyon signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Florida Panthers.

F Nico Sturm and the San Jose Sharks reached an agreement on a three-year contract worth $2.000 million per season.

F Ondřej Kaše signed a one-year deal worth $1.500 million with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Detroit Red Wings signed F Matt Luff to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level and F Austin Czarnik to a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 at the NHL level.

F Bokondji Imama signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Arizona Coyotes.

F Mitchell Stephens agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Montréal Canadiens.

The Philadelphia Flyers signed G Troy Grosenick and D Louis Belpedio to a one-year, one-way and a one-year, two-way contract, respectively, each worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

Philadelphia also signed D Kevin Connauton, F Cooper Marody, and F Adam Brooks to two-year, two-way deals worth $762,500 at the NHL level.

The Vancouver Canucks signed F Philip Di Giuseppe to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

G Jon Gillies agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Arizona Coyotes.

G Michael Hutchinson signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Washington Capitals re-signed F Marcus Johansson to a one-year, $1.000 million contract.

The Vegas Golden Knights re-signed F Brett Howden to a one-year, $1.500 million contract.

F Ryan Winterton signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Seattle Kraken worth $846,667 per season.

D Connor Carrick and G Keith Kinkaid signed one-year, two-way contracts with the Boston Bruins worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

Boston also signed D Dan Renouf to a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 per season at the NHL level.

The Buffalo Sabres signed D Kale Clague and D Chase Priskie to one-year, two-way contracts worth $750,000 and $800,000 at the NHL level, respectively.

F Jacob Melanson signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Seattle Kraken with an $843,333 cap hit.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed G Dennis Hildeby to a three-year, entry-level contract with an $843,333 cap hit.

D Andy Welinski signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the New York Rangers.

F Denis Malgin signed a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

F Spencer Smallman signed a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 per season with the Colorado Avalanche at the NHL level.

The Avalanche also signed D Josh Jacobs to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

F Jonas Røndbjerg signed a three-year, two-way contract worth $766,667 at the NHL level with the Vegas Golden Knights.

F Drake Caggiula signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Vegas also signed F Byron Froese and F Sheldon Rempal to matching two-year, two-way contracts worth $762,500 at the NHL level.

D Tyler Wotherspoon agreed to terms on a two-year, two-way contract worth $762,500 at the NHL level with the New Jersey Devils.

New Jersey also signed F Brian Pinho to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

F Joël Teasdale signed a one-year, two-way, $750,000 contract at the NHL level with the Montréal Canadiens.

The Canadiens also signed F Nathan Schnarr and F Alex Belzile to matching one-year, two-way contracts worth $750,000 at the NHL level.

F Johnny Gaudreau signed a seven-year contract worth $9.750 million per season with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

F Reilly Smith signed a three-year extension worth $5.000 million per season with the Vegas Golden Knights.

F Ryan Strome agreed to a five-year, $25 million ($5.000 million cap hit) deal with the Anaheim Ducks.

The Tampa Bay Lightning signed D Haydn Fleury to a two-year contract with a $762,500 cap hit.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

Round 1 of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft was held Thursday night at Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec marking the first time since the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver that the selections were made in person in front of a live audience as the 2020 and 2021 editions of the draft were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coverage of this year’s first round began Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+ in the United States, as well as on SN and TVAS in Canada.

Rounds 2-7 will be televised on NHL Network and ESPN+ in the U.S., while viewers in Canada can tune to SN or TVAS starting at 11 a.m. ET Friday morning.

Here’s a quick recap of the First Round in case you had other things going on Thursday night.

2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1

  1. Montréal Canadiens – LW Juraj Slafkovsky, TPS (Liiga)
  2. New Jersey Devils – D Simon Nemec, Nitra (Slovakia)
  3. Arizona Coyotes – C Logan Cooley, USA U-18 (USHL)
  4. Seattle Kraken – C Shane Wright, Kingston (OHL)
  5. Philadelphia Flyers – C/LW Cutter Gauthier, USA U-18 (USHL)
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Chicago) – D David Jiricek, Plzen (Extraliga)
  7. Chicago (from Ottawa Senators) – D Kevin Korchinski, Seattle (WHL)
  8. Detroit Red Wings – C Marco Kasper, Rögle BK (SHL)
  9. Buffalo Sabres – C Matthew Savoie, Winnipeg (WHL)
  10. Anaheim Ducks – D Pavel Mintyukov, Saginaw (OHL)
  11. Arizona Coyotes (from San Jose Sharks) – C Conor Geekie, Winnipeg (WHL)
  12. Columbus Blue Jackets – D Denton Mateychuk, Moose Jaw (WHL)
  13. Chicago (from New York Islanders via Montréal Canadiens) – C Frank Nazar, USA-U18 (USHL)
  14. Winnipeg Jets – RW Rutger McGroarty, USA U-18 (USHL)
  15. Vancouver Canucks – RW Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
  16. Buffalo Sabres (from Vegas Golden Knights) – C Noah Ostlund, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
  17. Nashville Predators – RW Joakim Kemell, JYP (Liiga)
  18. Dallas Stars – D Lian Bichsel, Leksands IF (SHL)
  19. Minnesota Wild (from Los Angeles Kings) – LW Liam Ohgren, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
  20. Washington Capitals – RW Ivan Miroshnichenko, Omsk Krylia (Russia)
  21. Pittsburgh Penguins – D Owen Pickering, Swift Current (WHL)
  22. Anaheim Ducks (from Boston Bruins) – C Nathan Gaucher, Québec (QMJHL)
  23. St. Louis Blues – RW Jimmy Snuggerud, USA U-18 (USHL)
  24. Minnesota Wild – RW Danila Yurov, Magnitogorsk (Russia)
  25. Chicago (from Toronto Maple Leafs) – D Sam Rinzel, Chaska (High School- Minnesota)
  26. Montréal Canadiens (from Calgary Flames) – RW Filip Mesar, Poprad (Slovakia)
  27. San Jose Sharks (from Carolina Hurricanes via Montréal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes) – C Filip Bystedt, Linköping HC (SHL)
  28. Buffalo Sabres (from Florida Panthers) – C Jiri Kulich, Karlovy Vary (Extraliga)
  29. Arizona Coyotes (from Edmonton Oilers) – D Maveric Lamoureux, Drummondville (QMJHL)
  30. Winnipeg Jets (from New York Rangers) – C Brad Lambert, Pelicans (Liiga)
  31. Tampa Bay Lightning – LW Isaac Howard, USA U-18 (USHL)
  32. Edmonton Oilers (from Colorado Avalanche via Arizona Coyotes) – LW Reid Schaefer, Seattle (WHL)

Trades made during the first round of the draft:

  • The Montréal Canadiens trade D Alexander Romanov and the 98th overall pick to the New York Islanders for a 2022 1st round pick (13th overall).
  • Montréal traded a 2022 1st round pick (13th overall, originally belonging to the New York Islanders) and a 2022 3rd round pick (66th overall) Chicago for D Kirby Dach.
  • The San Jose Sharks traded a 2022 1st round pick (11th overall) to the Arizona Coyotes for a 2022 1st round pick (27th overall), a 2022 2nd round pick (34th overall) and a 2022 2nd round pick (45th overall).
  • Chicago acquired G Petr Mrázek and a 2022 1st round pick (25th overall) from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2022 2nd round pick (38th overall).
  • The Arizona Coyotes acquired F Zack Kassian, a 2022 1st round pick (29th overall), a 2024 3rd round pick and a 2025 2nd round pick from the Edmonton Oilers for a 2022 1st round pick (32nd overall).

Trades made earlier in the day prior to the first round of the draft:

  • The Colorado Avalanche acquired G Alexandar Georgiev from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2022 3rd round pick, a 2022 5th round pick and a 2023 3rd round pick.
  • The Ottawa Senators traded a 2022 1st round pick (7th overall), a 2022 2nd round pick (39th overall) and a 2024 3rd round pick to Chicago for F Alex DeBrincat.
Categories
Nick's Net

And now a message from the riverbank

An update for those of you that are still here.

In Feb. 2014, I started a hockey blog (this is it).

In June 2014, I actually started doing things with it (I posted my mock draft for the first round).

By the time my sophomore year of college rolled around, two more friends joined the circus.

If you’ve been a fan since then, you probably know how exciting this time of year tends to be.

I’ve been behind all year, though. I don’t know if it’s just regular burnout or what, but I haven’t been able to turnover as much content as I had hoped to create for you to enjoy, squabble at or completely ignore.

Usually, I’m able to stay on top of standings and roster forecasts throughout the season in addition to team-by-team season previews before the first puck is even dropped. That didn’t exactly happen this season.

Sure, I wrote 32 team previews, but I wasn’t able to stay on top of plugging in numbers into a spreadsheet, then making a graphic to provide a visual aid in addition to some written analysis on a lot of things during the 2021-22 season.

If you’ve liked that stuff in the past, I’m sorry for letting you down at all.

If you’ve instead liked the other things I’ve done outside my own blog this season, then that’s neat too, I guess.

I’ve been making more podcast appearances and fully fledging out a regular return to my own show where sometimes we go more in depth and other times we get sidetracked by good tangents.

When you interview someone, you’re supposed to think of about three key questions you want to get at and ideally you only ask one of them before letting things go where they will among follow-ups and asides. The best podcast episodes work similarly in that they’re the ones where you don’t adhere entirely to a script or an outline.

I’m also quite grateful to have co-hosts again. Nobody wants to hear me talk to myself for any amount of time.

Trust me.

If you’ve followed me at any point within the last four years, you know that I’ve been unemployed. If you didn’t know that— surprise(!)— you know now.

It’s frustrating when it happens to anyone— and it will happen to everyone at some point— some bout of uncertainty between jobs.

It’s even more frustrating when it becomes long-term. All the advice— helpful or not— and the million miles of silence that follows.

You become invisible. It doesn’t matter how much you shout into the void.

Messages go unreturned. Friends stop reaching out.

So, while a return to 82 games this season has been welcome, it’s also amplified the silence in all directions.

At times throughout the season, I’ve asked myself “why am I doing this?”

Not in the “I think I might want to change careers” sense, but rather the “how much longer will I go on spending money on my own blog?” sense.

In 2014, Down the Frozen River was about crafting a voice and getting into a routine— becoming acclimated to the Internet gazing over my shoulder at my thought processes and then some.

Here, have another cookie while you’re at it (I swear I’m not tracking you and I have no interest in your shopping preferences, YouTube consumption and more).

Eight years later, it’s still my sandbox, but it’s (hopefully) more refined. Bits of sea glass could be found in there if you go looking.

But I don’t know how much longer I have it in me.

Something’s got to change, because— clearly— I’m still unemployed, right?

Now I’m not talking about the copious notes I jot down from game-to-game. That’ll always continue.

The shot charts you don’t see behind the scenes and more will stay hidden for my own enjoyment and/or professional use.

I’ve always planned to leave the website up for a year after I’m done with it, though the degree to which it will be publicly available depends on employment.

No, this isn’t a new job announcement.

I wish it were, because then it’d be easier to explain.

A year ago, I tried writing for another outlet that informed me I’d be compensated for my work.

I was never paid.

Don’t take any position for the sake of “exposure”. If something is free, you’re the product.

It’s not worth arguing about right now.

I’d rather write for myself in my sandbox than write for someone else that’s just trying to make a quick buck.

I’d also rather forge something entirely brand new or creative if the interests align with the explicit consent of what the end goal might look like (everyone gets paid, nobody gets paid, something gets made, etc.).

I’ve always liked the quirkiness of sports and sports fandom and that’s why I gravitate to things like Secret Base, The ScorchStack and in the old days, Grantland and Days Of Y’Orr.

I might not understand all of the inside jokes, but I know there’s one to be had or whatever.

Anyway, I think I’m done with writing recaps.

For now, at least.

I’ll still tweet and I’ll be taking notes on every game. I just won’t rush to write however many words on every little detail from it.

Maybe I’ll start a newsletter or something next season that’s a bit more of a weekly roundup and commentary than rehashing what happened from night-to-night.

But game-to-game Bruins musings? That’s coming to an end.

I’m happy to hop on a daily podcast or a Boston centric show more frequently as I’ve already been making plenty of guest appearances on Brews & Bruins in addition to appearances on Locked on Flames within the last couple of seasons on top of my own show.

I took two nights off this season, but I still watched all 82 regular season games and the seven postseason games after that.

Yeah, so maybe it is burnout?

When a former Florida Panthers coach was allowed to be behind the bench for one more game prior to resigning I chose not to write a recap and instead focus on the absurdity of the moment.

Absurdity isn’t even the right word.

It should’ve never been allowed to happen.

The only other game I didn’t write about this season was when I finally made my return to TD Garden for the first time since Feb. 25, 2020. Back then, the now still ongoing global pandemic had yet to be declared by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Colorado Avalanche were finally in town after the game was postponed from December to February due to a COVID-19 outbreak across the league that kicked off an expanded Christmas break as a result.

That might have been the last time I saw Patrice Bergeron play in person.

(As it is, the game before that was the last time I saw David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask play in a Bruins uniform, let alone in their NHL careers.)

Thankfully he scored a goal that afternoon– just as he did in the first game I ever went to when I was nine-years-old– Game 2 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against the Montréal Canadiens.

I’m 27 now. Not to make anyone feel old or anything.

I hope I’ll get a next time, though I wouldn’t be opposed to working alongside Bergeron instead if that’s a consolation prize of some sort.

If you’ve made it this far, first of all congratulations and thank you. I had thought about making this a Twitter thread.

You’re welcome for the fact that I didn’t go through with that.

I’ve been writing recaps of Bruins games on my own blog because it gave me something to do other than write cover letters all day and night for the last four years.

I’ve been blogging about the sport for twice as long as that in general.

I’ve also been podcasting for the last seven years for better or worse.

Not to get too sentimental here, but I don’t have a lot of friends. No, I don’t have a lot of enemies either. I just sort of exist— if that.

Is it a product of my introversion? Did I ever learn how to make friends in the first place? Am I just not “cool” enough? Is this a reason why I haven’t been hired anywhere yet?

Is there a friend requirement that you’re not telling me about in order to advance in this simulation?

I was told in middle school that I “didn’t belong here in hockey” because of course a lot of people are told that. We’re really still doing this gatekeeping thing, huh?

A fun thing has happened over the years as a result of this blog and hockey Twitter.

Suddenly I have friends.

I’ve even hung out with them in person— complete strangers that I’ve only known by their “@” handle prior to shaking hands or beating them in bocce.

Now even The ScorchStack follows me— I guess this means I’m invited to Calgary sometime (and I will hold that to them, thank you very much).

That’s helped put the specter of being unemployed at ease.

Somewhat.

Not a whole lot, admittedly, since I wake up every day thinking about it and going to bed still thinking about it. Head empty, just existential crisis vibes.

I stopped counting the number of applications I’ve submitted after I crossed the 300-threshold. It gets pretty depressing beyond that, to be frank.

Even more so when you consider that in the last four years, I’ve had three interviews.

Yep. Three.

Robby Gordon had three wins in 396 NASCAR Cup Series starts from 1991-2012, so I’m about as successful as he was in a stock car, but an interview doesn’t exactly equate with a win, now, doesn’t it?

To “win” in being unemployed is to— you know— get hired somewhere.

None of my interviews since my last job have led to any second interviews, by the way.

I even flew down on a last-minute trip— booking a one-way ticket on a Wednesday before flying and crashing on my friend’s couch Friday night for an interview the next morning a couple of years ago around the halfway point of my long-term unemployment status.

I did everything that you’re told to do afterwards including sending a “thank you” note.

Despite this, I never heard back. Then the pandemic began.

All the jobs I was used to seeing from March through August disappeared and few came back online when the bubbles started across men’s professional sports leagues in North America.

This month alone marks one year since my last phone interview.

My undergrad academic advisor described me as a “model student for anyone looking to attain a communication degree with a focus on making it in the sports industry”.

I’m not so sure when it is you get to say that you’ve made it.

For me it’ll be when I raise the Stanley Cup over my head.

The next logical step is applying to grad school— something my academic advisor asked me if I had any interest in the last time we met back in 2016, though we both agreed that it’d be best to have a genuine intrigue and a want to do more beyond simply just being hired somewhere and growing in a professional setting.

In other words, I didn’t want to write more research papers.

It’s not that I can’t. I just wanted to work— you know, at a job. The very thing that eludes me since my last internship ended, which— in the process— capped off three years of live sports production in TV and radio.

Now, the next step is adding grad school applications to the numerous job applications I fill out regularly.

If I don’t get in, I’ll only be further invisible.

And “fitting in” is something I’ve never felt. Reject conformity.

Different is the only normal.

Not every path is straight.

Thank you if you’ve been following along since 2014, this season or even as recent as the moment you clicked on this because someone you know retweeted it for some reason.

Thank you especially to Cam Davis and Sean Reilly for joining the podcast as co-hosts this season and beyond.

Thanks, as well, to Jess Belmosto, Jessica Lindsey, Chris Gere, Cam Hasbrouck, Drew Johnson, Cat Silverman, Brock McGillis, Pete Blackburn, Ty Anderson, Connor Keith, Colby Kephart and others that I’m sure I’m completely unintentionally forgetting right now for being my go-to’s regarding hockey, career and/or life advice.

If you need me, I’ll be trying to talk positively about myself in about 500-1,000 words so that I can get into a graduate program somewhere by the fall.

Oh, and still applying to “real” jobs in the meantime as well.

Just in case the content slows down around here as the weather warms up.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

Hurricanes advance to Second Round in Game 7 victory over Boston

19,513 fans watched the Carolina Hurricanes advance to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the Boston Bruins, 3-2, in Game 7 of their First Round series at PNC Arena Saturday afternoon.

Max Domi scored a pair of goals in the win as the Hurricanes entertained their largest crowd in franchise history, surpassing that of their 2019 Second Round series sweep of the New York Islanders in Game 4.

Carolina awaits the winner of the New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins series (Game 7 is Sunday with the series tied 3-3).

Meanwhile, Boston heads into a long offseason filled with decisions to make on their own amid a waiting game regarding the playing future of captain, Patrice Bergeron, as the 36-year-old is wrapping up his 18th National Hockey League season and is a pending-unrestricted free agent this summer.

Bergeron indicated before the 2021-22 season began that he wouldn’t negotiate a new contract in season and is likely to begin signing one-year deals as he enters the twilight of his career, though opting to retire altogether remains an option.

After 400 goals and 582 assists (982 points) in 1,216 career regular season games, as well as 49 goals and 78 assists (127 points) in 167 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, Bergeron has certainly had quite the career.

He won a Stanley Cup ring in 2011 (scoring the game-winning goal in a, 4-0, win in Game 7 in Vancouver), could very well take home an NHL record fifth Frank J. Selke Trophy this season, is a member of the Triple Gold Club– and even more elusive Quadruple Gold Club and/or Quintuple Gold Club, depending on how you take into account World Junior Championships and World Cup of Hockey titles– and most importantly, is a loving husband and father to his wife and three children.

After Saturday’s loss, Bergeron gave no indication as to whether he would play next season or retire as it’s much too soon to rush to any decision.

Antti Raanta (3-2, 2.37 goals-against average, .926 save percentage in five games played) delivered a 27-save performance on 29 shots faced in the win for the Hurricanes, while Jeremy Swayman (3-2, 2.64 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in five games played) made 28 saves on 31 shots against in the loss for the Bruins.

B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, fell to 36-37 in 73 Stanley Cup Playoff games behind the bench with Boston as head coach since taking over in Feb. 2017, as well as 38-41 in 79 postseason games all time with Boston (2017-present) and Washington (2003).

The B’s went 3-0 on home ice in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs and failed to record a win in four road games this postseason.

Saturday also marked the 13th career Game 7 for Bergeron, moving him to a tie for the second-most Game 7 appearances by a player in their NHL career with Patrick Roy and Scott Stevens.

Bergeron, Roy and Stevens trail Zdeno Chara for the overall record (14).

Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) remained out of the lineup for Boston due to injuries, while Cassidy made no changes to his lineup from Game 6’s, 5-2, victory in Boston to Game 7 in Raleigh.

The B’s had a long list of healthy scratches and expanded playoff roster components on Saturday, including Chris Wagner, Jack Studnicka, Marc McLaughlin, Steven Fogarty, Troy Grosenick, Josh Brown, Joona Koppanen, Matt Grzelcyk, Cameron Hughes, Jack Ahcan, Tyler Lewington, Oskar Steen, Nick Wolff, Anton Blidh, Kyle Keyser and Jakub Lauko.

Early in the opening frame, Craig Smith made a high hit on Anthony DeAngelo and was assessed a roughing infraction as a result, but rather than presenting Carolina with their first power play opportunity of the afternoon, Vincent Trocheck got in Smith’s face and also picked up a roughing minor.

The two teams skated at 4-on-4 as a result at 4:42 of the first period.

A few minutes later, however, Derek Forbort, was penalized for holding and yielded the first power play of the game to the Hurricanes at 7:41 of the first period.

Carolina failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage, though.

Midway through the first, Connor Clifton tripped Andrei Svechnikov and Brett Pesce caught Taylor Hall with a high stick on the delayed call.

As a result, Clifton and Pesce each went to the box at 10:48 and yielded another pair of minutes at 4-on-4 for both clubs.

Late in the period, Domi shoveled a shot pass to Teuvo Teräväinen (2) in the slot for the redirection to make it, 1-0, Carolina– giving the Hurricanes the first goal in six out of seven games in the series.

Domi (3) and Jaccob Slavin (5) had the assists on Teräväinen’s goal at 18:36 of the first period.

Less than a minute later, DeAngelo took a high stick from Hall and drew blood, resulting in a four-minute double-minor infraction on the Bruins forward and a lengthy power play for the Canes at 19:02.

Entering the first intermission, the Hurricanes led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing the Bruins, 11-10, in shots on goal.

Carolina held the advantage in blocked shots (5-3), takeaways (6-3) and hits (12-10), while Boston led in giveaways (6-3).

Both teams went, 50-50, in faceoff win percentage after one period, while only the Hurricanes had seen any time on the power play and were 0-for-2 heading into the middle frame.

The Canes had about 3:03 remaining on the skater advantage to begin the second period, however.

Boston somehow managed to kill off Hall’s double-minor, then promptly gave up a goal in the vulnerable minute after special teams play as a shot from Jordan Staal bounced off of Hampus Lindholm’s leg right to where Domi (1) was heading before guiding the loose puck into the twine behind Swayman.

Staal (3) and Brady Skjei (1) tallied the assists as a result and the Hurricanes took a, 2-0, lead at 3:14 of the second period.

Less than a couple minutes later, Carolina won a faceoff in their own zone but couldn’t get through the neutral zone as Charlie McAvoy made a play to steal the puck and move it up to Bergeron as the Bruins re-entered the attacking zone.

Bergeron spun and flung a pass intended for McAvoy as the B’s defender pinched in from the point, but the puck was just a touch too hot to handle as McAvoy instead deflected it towards the high slot where Jake DeBrusk (2) gathered a quick shot over Raanta’s glove side– cutting Carolina’s lead in half in the process.

McAvoy (4) and Bergeron (4) had the assists on DeBrusk’s goal and Boston trailed, 2-1, at 5:04 of the second period as a result.

Midway through the middle frame, however, the Hurricanes answered and re-extended their lead to two-goals.

After Trent Frederic rang the iron in the other end, the Canes worked the puck deep into their attacking zone before Teräväinen worked a pass to Domi (2) for a one-timer goal.

Teräväinen (5) and Slavin (6) notched the assists on Domi’s second goal of the game and the Hurricanes took a, 3-1, lead at 10:33 of the second period.

Through 40 minutes of action, Carolina led, 3-1, and was in control with a, 21-18, advantage in shots on goal, including an, 11-7, advantage in the second period alone.

The Hurricanes also led in blocked shots (13-4), takeaways (11-4) and faceoff win% (51-49), while the Bruins led in giveaways (14-6) and hits (27-24).

Carolina was 0-for-3 on the power play, while Boston had yet to see time on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

Brendan Smith sent an errant puck over the glass and out of play for an automatic delay of game minor at 13:33 of the third period.

The Bruins promptly went 6-for-29 on the power play this postseason as they failed to convert on skater advantage while Smith was in the box.

With 2:55 remaining in the action, Carolina thought they scored though the call on the ice was “no goal” and video review was inconclusive, thereby rendering the call on the ice as canon.

With 2:41 left in the game, Cassidy pulled Swayman for an extra attacker.

Boston tried and tried, but they couldn’t establish zone time for long enough until a pass that was almost intercepted shattered the stick blade of a Hurricanes defender and bounced off the far boards.

Hall worked the puck to McAvoy before McAvoy setup David Pastrnak (3) for the one-timer blast on Raanta’s blocker side to bring the Bruins to within one with 21.7 seconds remaining.

McAvoy (5) and Hall (2) had the assists on Pastrnak’s goal as Boston trailed, 3-2, and used their timeout at 19:39 of the third period.

They didn’t have enough to muster an improbable tie to end regulation, however, despite several attempts in the dying seconds.

At the final horn, the Hurricanes had won, 3-2, and clinched the series in seven games, 4-3.

Carolina left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 31-29, despite Boston outshooting the Canes, 11-10, in the third period alone.

The Hurricanes finished Saturday’s effort leading in blocked shots (16-14) and faceoff win% (52-48), while the Bruins left PNC Arena leading in giveaways (18-11) and hits (40-35).

Neither team managed to score a power-play goal in Game 7 as the Hurricanes went 0-for-3 and the Bruins went 0-for-1 on the skater advantage.

Boston fell to 2-27 when trailing a best-of-seven series 2-0.

The B’s also fell to 15-14 in 29 Game 7 appearances, as well as 1-5 in six Game 7 appearances on the road.

The Canes, meanwhile, improved to 6-3 in nine Game 7 appearances overall, as well as 3-0 in three Game 7 matchups on home ice and 6-0 in a Game 7 since relocating from Hartford.

The Hurricanes advanced to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs after eliminating the Bruins in seven games.

This will be Carolina’s second appearance in the Second Round in as many years which is a first in franchise history— dating back to their time as the Hartford Whalers from 1979-97.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

Bruins force Game 7 with commanding, 5-2, victory at home

For the 29th time in franchise history (a National Hockey League leading postseason stat), the Boston Bruins are going to a Game 7 in a best-of-seven series after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, Thursday night at TD Garden.

Whereas recent memory conjures images of Boston’s 2019 Stanley Cup Final Game 7 loss on home ice to the visiting St. Louis Blues, this time around the Bruins will look to be a spoiler on the road in Raleigh, North Carolina and become the first wild card team since the NHL adopted its current playoff format in 2014, to usurp a division winner in their non-traditional division.

See, the B’s belong to the league’s Atlantic Division, while the Canes exist in the Metropolitan Division.

Carolina, meanwhile, will have home ice in their first Game 7 against Boston since the Hurricanes upset the Bruins in the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinal.

It will also be Carolina’s first Game 7 appearance since they beat the Washington Capitals on the road in their 2019 First Round matchup.

The last Game 7 victory on home ice for the Hurricanes was, of course, the 2006 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

Jeremy Swayman (3-1, 2.51 goals-against average, .913 save percentage in four games played) made 23 saves on 25 shots against in the win for Boston Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Hurricanes goaltender, Antti Raanta (2-2, 2.46 goals-against average, .926 save percentage in five games played), turned aside 29 out of 33 shots faced in the loss.

Once more, the Bruins were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) Thursday night, while Hampus Lindholm returned to the lineup after missing the last few games with an upper body injury.

Down 3-2 in the series entering Thursday and with Lindholm’s return to action, Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, restructured his lines and defensive pairings to a more familiar look around the trade deadline when the B’s were surging in the regular season.

Jake DeBrusk went back to the first line right wing with Patrice Bergeron at center and Brad Marchand on left wing, while David Pastrnak was reunited with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula on the second line.

Trent Frederic returned to the lineup on the third line with Charlie Coyle at center– flanked by Frederic and Craig Smith on his wings.

Meanwhile, Nick Foligno, Tomáš Nosek and Curtis Lazar returned to their usual roles on the fourth line with Chris Wagner joining the short list of healthy scratches in the press box at TD Garden for Game 6.

On defense, Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy were reunited, while Mike Reilly suited up alongside Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton’s third pairing went unchanged.

Wagner and Matt Grzelcyk joined Jack Studnicka, Marc McLaughlin, Steven Fogarty, Troy Grosenick, Josh Brown, Joona Koppanen, Cameron Hughes, Jack Ahcan, Tyler Lewington, Oskar Steen, Nick Wolff, Anton Blidh, Kyle Keyser and Jakub Lauko as Boston’s healthy scratches on Thursday.

Sebastian Aho kicked things off with a hooking infraction at 12:44 of the first period, but the Bruins couldn’t muster anything on the skater advantage.

Neither team could score, nor did either club score a goal in the opening frame, rendering it, 0-0, entering the first intermission despite Carolina holding an, 11-8, advantage in shots on goal.

Boston led in blocked shots (6-3), giveaways (4-0) and faceoff win percentage (62-39), while the Hurricanes held the advantage in hits (22-11).

Both teams had three takeaways each and had yet to see time on the power play entering the middle frame.

It didn’t take long for the B’s to jump out ahead first as Marchand (4) received a pass and entered the attacking zone along his off wing before sending a wrist shot high on the short side over Raanta’s glove and under the bar to give the Bruins a, 1-0, lead 46 seconds into the second period.

Clifton (1) and Coyle (4) notched the assists as Boston scored the game’s first goal for the first time in the series.

Less than a few minutes later, however, Clifton kicked off a string of penalties for the Bruins when he was assessed a holding minor at 3:23, but Boston made the kill.

Carolina got a second chance on the power play at 9:08, however, when Frederic tripped Brett Pesce and even had 54 seconds on a 5-on-3 advantage when McAvoy cut a rut to the sin bin hooking Vincent Trocheck at 10:15 of the second period.

The Canes, however, failed to convert on the two power plays.

Haula caught Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a high stick at 13:36 of the second period and presented another power play opportunity that went by the wayside for Carolina.

At 16:58, Pesce was assessed a holding minor and yielded Boston their second power play of the night.

Late in the ensuing skater advantage, the B’s worked the puck around the zone enough before Marchand dished a pass back to Pastrnak for a shot attempt from the point that was blocked by a Hurricane before rebounding to Coyle (2) in the slot for the doorstep goal on the forehand.

Pastrnak (3) and Marchand (7) tallied the assists on Coyle’s power-play goal at 18:04 of the second period and the Bruins had a, 2-0, lead as a result.

Through 40 minutes of play, the B’s held a two-goal lead going into the second intermission and led, 19-17, in shots on goal, including an, 11-6, advantage in shots in the middle frame alone.

Boston also dominated in blocked shots (15-9), takeaways (6-3) and faceoff win% (53-47), while Carolina led in giveaways (5-4) and hits (27-21).

The Hurricanes were 0-for-4 and the Bruins were 1-for-2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

Carolina struck first in the final frame as Seth Jarvis setup Andrei Svechnikov (2) for a catch and release goal high on the short side past Swayman’s blocker to cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1.

Jarvis (2) had the only assist on Svechnikov’s first goal of the game at 3:24 of the third period.

Less than four minutes later, however, the Bruins responded and re-extended their lead to two-goals after Haula (1) redirected a shot pass into the far corner of the net behind Raanta for a, 3-1, lead at 7:08 of the third period.

McAvoy (3) had the only assist on Haula’s first goal of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Midway through the third period, Forbort (1) flung a shot from the point with eyes that may have tipped off of a Canes skaters’ stick under Raanta’s blocker side while the Carolina netminder was temporarily without a stick– having dropped it seconds prior.

Nosek (1) had the only assist on Forbort’s first goal– regular season or playoffs– since Nov. 20th and the Bruins had a, 4-1, lead as a result at 10:43.

Jaccob Slavin sent an errant puck over the glass and out of play at 12:01, but the B’s failed to capitalize on their last power play opportunity of the night.

With 4:33 remaining in the action, Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker, but it wasn’t long before Lazar (1) floated a shot from the red line into the empty twine to give Boston a, 5-1, advantage.

Foligno (1) and Nosek (2) tallied the assists on Lazar’s empty net goal at 15:43 of the third period.

Less than a minute later, Marchand was assessed a four-minute double-minor penalty for spearing Kotkaniemi while skating past the Carolina forward at 16:20.

The Hurricanes made relatively quick work of the first power play as Slavin sent the puck to Martin Nečas, who fed Svechnikov (3) for another one-timer goal– this time cutting the deficit from four goals to three.

Nečas (3) and Slavin (4) had the assists on Svechnikov’s power-play goal– his second goal of the game– at 17:30 of the third period.

The Bruins killed off the rest of Marchand’s penalty and went on to win, 5-2, at the final horn.

At the end of the night, Boston left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 34-25, including a, 15-8, advantage in the third period alone, while Carolina dominated in everything else, including blocked shots (18-12), giveaways (10-5), hits (42-34) and faceoff win% (52-48).

The Hurricanes finished the night 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Bruins went 1-for-3 on the skater advantage.

The B’s are now 13-14 all time in a Game 6 when trailing in a series 3-2 and are looking to win a best-of-seven series for just the third time in 29 instances of at one point trailing 2-0 in the series heading into Game 3.

Game 7 is back at PNC Arena in Raleigh Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET with the winner clinching the series 4-3 and advancing to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Viewers in the United States can tune to ESPN, while those in Canada can catch the action on SN360, SNE, SNW, SNP and TVAS.

Local markets can also watch the game on their corresponding regional networks if so desired.

Boston will be making their 29th appearance in a Game 7 and enters Saturday with a 15-13 record in 28 prior Game 7 efforts, having most recently lost in a Game 7 on home ice to the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

The Bruins lead in Game 7 appearances (28) and are tied with the Montréal Canadiens for the most wins (15), as well as with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the most losses (13).

Carolina is entering their eighth appearance in a Game 7 Saturday afternoon with a 5-3 record in seven prior instances of a Game 7, having most recently beaten the Washington Capitals on the road in Game 7 of their 2019 First Round series in double overtime.

The Hurricanes last hosted a Game 7 on home ice in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers to clinch the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship.

The Canes are 5-0 in a Game 7 since relocating from Hartford and previously defeated the Bruins on the road in Game 7 of their 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinal series in overtime.

Coincidentally, that game was also held on May 14th.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

Hurricanes can eliminate Bruins on the road in Game 6

The Carolina Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals before the Boston Bruins could even get on the board prior to pocketing an empty net goal to seal the deal on a, 5-1, victory in front of their home crowd at PNC Arena Tuesday night in Game 5 of their 2022 First Round matchup.

As a result, the Bruins face elimination on their own ice back at TD Garden in Game 6 on Thursday.

The Hurricanes have a 3-2 series lead and can advance to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win in Boston and go on to face the winner of the New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins series (Game 5 is Wednesday night with the Penguins leading the series 3-1).

For Boston, it’s win and force a Game 7 back in Raleigh Saturday night or go home empty handed with an early postseason exit Thursday.

In any case, the home team has yet to lose in this series.

Antti Raanta (2-1, 1.96 goals-against average, .942 save percentage in four games played) made 33 saves on 34 shots against in the win for Carolina.

B’s netminder, Jeremy Swayman (2-1, 2.68 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in three games played), stopped 33 out of 37 shots faced in the loss.

The Bruins were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Jesper Frödén (lower body) and Hampus Lindholm (upper body) on Tuesday, while Charlie McAvoy returned from COVID-19 protocol and was cleared to play in Game 5 after missing Game 4.

Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made a few lineup changes as a result of McAvoy’s return.

On defense, Cassidy reunited Matt Grzelcyk with Brandon Carlo on the second pairing, while Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton were relegated to the third pairing.

McAvoy slotted back into his regular role on the right side of the first pairing with Mike Reilly as his partner for the night while Lindholm remains out due to injury.

Among the forwards, Cassidy promoted Craig Smith to the second line right wing with Taylor Hall on the opposite wing and Erik Haula at center, while Jake DeBrusk took to the left side of Charlie Coyle on the third line with Tomáš Nosek playing right wing.

Josh Brown joined Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh and Kyle Keyser on Boston’s list of healthy scratches Tuesday night in Raleigh.

After pinching and winning a battle in the attacking zone, Jaccob Slavin (1) threw a shot on net that caught a piece of Swayman’s leg pad before trickling over the goal line while the Bruins netminder swatted at the rubber biscuit in desperation.

Carolina led, 1-0, at 6:11 of the first period as a result, while Tony DeAngelo (6) and Sebastian Aho (2) tallied the assists on Slavin’s goal.

For the fifth time in as many games this series, the Hurricanes struck first on the scoreboard.

A couple minutes later, Grzelcyk hooked Max Domi and cut a rut to the penalty box as a result. Carolina went on the power play at 8:30, but failed to convert on their first skater advantage of the night.

Shortly after killing Grzelcyk’s minor, Forbort was assessed a roughing infraction at 11:21– yielding another power play for the Canes as a result.

While on the penalty kill, Nosek failed to clear the puck and the B’s quickly became trapped in their own zone.

Vincent Trocheck worked the puck to Teuvo Teräväinen before Teräväinen setup DeAngelo (1) for a one-timer power-play goal to give Carolina a, 2-0, lead at 12:17 of the first period.

Entering the first intermission, the Hurricanes held that lead and held the advantage in shots, 12-8, as well.

The Canes also dominated in blocked shots (12-4), takeaways (6-2) and giveaways (5-3), while the Bruins led in hits (21-18) and faceoff win percentage (63-38).

Boston had yet to see time on the skater advantage, while Carolina was 1-for-2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Grzelcyk cut a rut back to the penalty box for catching Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a high stick at 2:53 of the second period, but the Hurricanes weren’t able to convert on the resulting skater advantage.

About ten minutes later, Kotkaniemi returned the favor with a high stick on Grzelcyk at 12:03.

Boston’s ensuing power play was cut short when McAvoy was penalized on a routine neutral zone battle for interference at 13:50.

After 14 seconds of 4-on-4 action, the Canes went on an abbreviated power play that the Bruins managed to kill off.

However, Carolina didn’t take long to catch the B’s in the vulnerable minute after special teams action.

No, the Canes didn’t waste much time at all as Seth Jarvis (2) benefited from sheer puck luck after Carlo failed to clear the puck out of his own zone– deflecting it off his own teammate in DeBrusk before watching the rubber biscuit float over Swayman’s shoulder and into the far side of the net.

Aho (3) and Teräväinen (3) notched the assists on Jarvis’ first goal of the game at 15:52 of the second period and the Hurricanes led, 3-0.

Entering the second intermission, Carolina maintained their three-goal advantage, 3-0, and led in shots on goal, 27-19, including a, 15-11, advantage in the second period alone.

The Hurricanes also led in blocked shots (19-12), takeaways (14-7) and giveaways (13-5), while the Bruins led in hits (32-28).

The two clubs split faceoff win%, 50-50, while the Canes went 1-for-4 on the power play and the B’s went 0-for-1 heading into the final frame.

Nino Niederreiter kicked off the third period 26 seconds into the final frame with a slashing infraction against Brad Marchand, but once more Boston’s advantage would be cut short.

This time, Hall slashed Martin Nečas and yielded 36 seconds of 4-on-4 action before an abbreviated power play for Carolina at 1:51 of the third period.

Shortly after Niederreiter was freed from the box, the Canes struck with another power-play goal– this time by Jarvis (3) for his second goal of the night– collecting the garbage on a redirected shot from point blank to make it, 4-0, Hurrianes.

Trocheck (4) and DeAngelo (7) collected the assists on Jarvis’ power-play goal at 3:31 of the third period as the Bruins fell to 23-for-27 on the penalty kill.

Midway through the third, Clifton (1) waltzed from end-to-end and drove to the net– scoring on Raanta’s five-hole with ease to get Boston on the scoreboard and cut Carolina’s lead to three-goals.

Haula (2) and Hall (1) tallied the assists on Clifton’s goal and the Bruins trained, 4-1, at 10:09 of the third period.

About a minute later, DeAngelo went to the box for holding at 11:36.

The B’s let the resulting power play go by the wayside and couldn’t muster a desperation effort.

With 4:52 remaining in the action, Cassidy pulled Swayman for an extra attacker.

By 16:20 of the third period, Trocheck (3) hit the back of the twine on an empty net goal in a third time’s the charm opportunity for the Hurricanes.

Nečas (2) and Teräväinen (4) had the assists as Carolina sealed the deal on a Game 5 victory with a, 5-1, lead.

At the final horn, the Hurricanes left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 38-34, despite Boston’s, 15-11, advantage in the third period alone.

Carolina finished Tuesday night’s action leading in giveaways (17-11), while the Bruins left PNC Arena leading in blocked shots (21-20), hits (45-34) and faceoff win% (54-46).

The Canes went 2-for-5 on the power play in Game 5, while the B’s went 0-for-3 on the skater advantage in the loss.

Carolina takes a 3-2 series lead as a result of the, 5-1, win heading into Game 6 Thursday night in Boston where the Hurricanes will have a chance to eliminate the Bruins and advance to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs with another victory.

Puck drop at TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET and viewers outside of the local markets can catch the action on TNT in the United States, as well as SN360 and TVAS in Canada.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

Marchand notches five points in, 5-2, victory in Game 4

For the 34th time since making his postseason debut in 2011, Brad Marchand had a multi-point Stanley Cup Playoff game as he amassed 2-3–5 totals in a, 5-2, win for the Boston Bruins over the Carolina Hurricanes Sunday afternoon in Game 4 at TD Garden.

Among active players, only Tampa Bay Lightning forward, Nikita Kucherov, has more multi-point postseason games in that span with 37.

Jeremy Swayman (2-0, 2.00 goals-against average, .925 save percentage in two games played) made 24 saves on 26 shots against in the win for Boston.

Carolina netminder, Antti Raanta (1-1, 2.40 goals-against average, .928 save percentage in three games played), stopped 23 out of 27 shots faced in the loss.

As a result of Sunday’s win in Game 4, the Bruins tied the series 2-2 heading back to PNC Arena Tuesday night for Game 5.

With a five-point effort– including a pair of goals– for Marchand and three points (one goal, two assists) for Patrice Bergeron on Sunday, the Boston duo continued to climb the ranks of Bruins franchise postseason records.

Bergeron is second in club goals in Stanley Cup Playoff history with 49, while Marchand usurped Phil Esposito for sole possession of the third-most with 48.

Bergeron now has 77 postseason assists– good enough for the third-most in team history– while Marchand jumped Bobby Orr for the fourth-most with 68 to Orr’s 66.

Bergeron (126) also surpassed David Krejci (124) for the second-most postseason points in Boston’s franchise history trailing only Ray Bourque (161) for the most overall.

The B’s were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Jesper Frödén (lower body), Hampus Lindholm (upper body) and Charlie McAvoy (COVID-19 protocol) in the, 5-2, win against the Canes– prompting head coach, Bruce Cassidy, to make a few changes among his defensive pairings due to McAvoy’s late removal from the lineup.

Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo were promoted to the first pairing with Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton filling out the rest of the top-four defenders.

Mike Reilly suited up alongside Josh Brown on the third defensive pairing as a result with Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh and Kyle Keyser comprising the short list of healthy scratches for Boston in Game 4.

Reilly caught Max Domi with a high stick and presented the afternoon’s first power play to the Hurricanes as a result at 2:24 of the first period.

The Bruins made the kill on the ensuing special teams play, however.

Midway through the opening frame, Curtis Lazar was penalized for interference at 11:44, but once more Carolina failed to convert on the resulting skater advantage.

The Canes caught Boston in the vulnerable minute after special teams action, though, as Jordan Staal sent a pass to Brett Pesce (1) in the slot as the Carolina defender pinched in from the point and buried the rubber biscuit on Swayman’s five-hole.

Staal (2) and Domi (1) had the assists on Pesce’s goal and the Hurricanes jumped out to a, 1-0, lead at 14:06.

Carolina’s scored first in every game so far this series, but Boston answered back in a hurry about a couple minutes later when Bergeron (3) snuck a shot through Raanta’s five-hole from the doorstep to tie the game, 1-1, at 16:09.

David Pastrnak (2) and Marchand (4) tallied the assists on the goal as the Bruins evened things up 2:03 after Pesce’s goal.

About a minute later, Staal cut a rut to the sin bin for hooking and presented Boston with another power play at 17:25.

The B’s time on the skater advantage was cut short, however, when Taylor Hall tripped Vincent Trocheck at 17:48 of the first period resulting in 1:38 of 4-on-4 action before an abbreviated power play for Carolina in the remainder.

Entering the first intermission, though, the Bruins and Hurricanes were tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard with the Canes leading in shots on goal, 10-6, after 20 minutes.

Carolina also led in blocked shots (4-2), giveaways (4-2), hits (13-12) and faceoff win percentage (62-38), while both teams managed two takeaways aside.

The Hurricanes were 0-for-3 and the Bruins were 0-for-1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

The Canes wrapped the puck around the attacking zone quickly in the middle frame before Nino Niederreiter found Staal (1) for a one-timer goal from the slot to give Carolina a, 2-1, lead 33 seconds into the second period.

Niederreiter (1) and Tony DeAngelo (5) had the assists on the goal.

Less than a minute later, Andrei Svechnikov was given an interference infraction at 59 seconds of the second period and the Bruins went on the power play.

Boston’s 5-on-4 quickly became a 5-on-3 skater advantage when Trocheck sent an errant puck over the glass and out of play at 1:37 of the second period, yielding an abbreviated two-skater advantage to Boston for a span of 1:23.

The Bruins, however, did not convert on the power play opportunity.

Teuvo Teräväinen hooked Pastrnak at 13:40, but Carolina’s penalty kill managed to get their job done without issue.

Late in the period, however, Niederreiter tripped Craig Smith at 17:35 and presented the B’s with another skater advantage.

This time, Raanta made a save on a shot by Marchand before the puck dropped to the ice and sat in the crease at the Hurricanes netminder’s feet prior to Jake DeBrusk (1) burying it on the far side with one quick swoop.

Carolina’s head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, challenged the call on the ice on the basis that he believed DeBrusk made enough contact with his stick on Raanta prior to the goal to overturn the call, however the official review deemed DeBrusk’s play to be concurrent with the rulebook in terms of how a player is allowed to go after a loose puck in the crease.

The call on the ice stood. Good goal.

Boston tied it, 2-2, while Marchand (5) and Bergeron (2) tallied the assists on DeBrusk’s power-play goal at 18:44 of the second period.

As a result of the unsuccessful challenge, the Hurricanes were assessed a bench minor and Niederreiter went back to the sin bin to serve the infraction at 18:44.

The Bruins wound up with another 5-on-3 advantage after Sebastian Aho caught Bergeron with a high stick near the Boston captain’s eye and drew blood.

Aho was charged with a four-minute double minor for high sticking at 19:35 of the second period and the B’s went on the 5-on-3 advantage for the next 68 seconds– spilling over into the final frame as a result.

Through 40 minutes of action, Boston and Carolina were tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard despite the Bruins leading in shots on goal, 19-16, including a, 13-6, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.

The Canes held the advantage in blocked shots (8-6), giveaways (5-4) and faceoff win% (57-43), while the B’s led in takeaways (4-3).

Both teams had 24 hits aside heading into the second intermission.

Entering the final frame, the Hurricanes were 0-for-3 and the Bruins were 1-for-7 on the power play.

Cassidy sent out five forwards to start the third period as the Bruins had time remaining on the power play with Aho in the box for Carolina.

It didn’t take Boston long to pull ahead of the Hurricanes.

Charlie Coyle found Marchand in the high slot by the top of the right circle where Marchand (2) riffled a shot over Raanta’s glove side to give the Bruins their first lead of the afternoon, 3-2, 44 seconds into the third period.

Coyle (2) and DeBrusk (2) notched the assists on Marchand’s power-play goal.

A couple minutes later, Grzelcyk caught Brady Skjei with a high stick and yielded 52 seconds of 4-on-4 action at 2:46 of the third period as a result before an abbreviated power play for Carolina would commence.

The Bruins managed to kill off Grzelcyk’s minor without issue.

Early in the final frame, Bergeron won an attacking zone faceoff over to Marchand before Marchand setup Pastrnak (2) for the catch and release goal from point blank on the low glove side while Raanta dove across the crease.

Marchand (6) and Bergeron (3) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s goal as the Bruins extended their lead to two-goals, 4-2, at 5:41 of the third period.

DeAngelo cross checked Lazar in the face at the midpoint of the final frame and presented Boston with another power play at 10:00, but the Bruins failed to convert on the advantage while the Carolina defender was in the box.

With 3:48 remaining in the action, Brind’Amour used his timeout and pulled Raanta for an extra attacker.

Shortly thereafter, Marchand (3) buried the puck in the empty net to secure a, 5-2, win for Boston at 19:25 of the third period.

Coyle (3) and Carlo (1) had the assists on the goal as the B’s extended their lead to three-goals.

In the dying seconds of the action, Nick Foligno flipped the puck over the glass for an automatic delay of game minor at 19:57.

The Hurricanes did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage as the final horn sounded on a resounding victory for the Bruins in Game 4– tying the series 2-2 in the process.

Boston left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 28-26, despite trailing Carolina, 10-9, in shots on net in the third period alone.

The B’s also led in hits (37-29), while the Canes left TD Garden leading in blocked shots (15-6) and faceoff win% (54-46).

Both teams had six giveaways aside and the Hurricanes were 0-for-5, while the Bruins were 2-for-9 on the power play on Sunday.

Boston improved to 2-1 when tied after the first period and 1-0 when tied after the second period this postseason, while Carolina fell to 1-2 when tied after one and 0-1 when tied after two in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Bruins tied the series 2-2 as a result of their win in Game 4, which means a 3-2 series lead is up for grabs for either team Tuesday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh in Game 5.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET and viewers outside of the local markets can catch the action on ESPN in the United States, as well as SN360 and TVAS in Canada.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

Boston takes Game 3 with, 4-2, victory on home ice

Four different players scored for the Boston Bruins in their, 4-2, win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of their 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup Friday night at TD Garden.

Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall each had a goal for Boston in their first victory against Carolina since Dec. 3, 2019 (regular season and postseason).

Jeremy Swayman (1-0, 2.00 goals-against average, .926 save percentage in one game played) made his first postseason start and picked up the win with a 25-save effort on 27 shots faced.

Swayman became the fourth Bruins rookie goaltender to make their first career playoff start on home ice and win, joining Tiny Thompson (Game 1 of the 1929 Semifinal against Montréal), Mike Moffat (Game 1 of the 1982 Adams Division Semifinal against Buffalo) and Andrew Raycroft (Game 1 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against Montréal) in the process.

Hurricanes goaltender, Pyotr Kochetkov (1-1, 3.30 goals-against average, .900 save percentage in two games played), made 24 saves on 28 shots against in the loss.

The Bruins trail in the series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Sunday afternoon in Boston.

The B’s were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Jesper Frödén (lower body) and Hampus Lindholm (upper body) on Friday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup.

First, Cassidy reunited Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak on the first line, while moving Jake DeBrusk to the second line right wing with Hall at left wing and Erik Haula at center.

Tomáš Nosek was promoted to the third line left wing with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith in their usual roles, while Nick Foligno, Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner made up the fourth line.

On defense, Mike Reilly went in for Lindholm alongside Charlie McAvoy while Lindholm was out due to injury.

Trent Frederic joined Josh Brown, Anton Blidh and Kyle Keyser among Boston’s healthy scratches for Game 3.

Jordan Martinook caught Hall with a high stick at 4:47 of the first period, but the Bruins weren’t able to convert on their first power play of the night.

Less than five minutes later, Brendan Smith kept the puck in the attacking zone and threw a shot towards the net before Vincent Trocheck (2) corralled the puck and wrapped it around Swayman with a change of pace.

Smith (1) had the only assist on Trocheck’s goal and the Hurricanes took a, 1-0, lead at 9:17 of the first period as a result.

Moments later, Martinook cut a rut back to the sin bin for hooking Lazar at 13:10.

Once more, however, Boston wasn’t able to muster anything on the ensuing skater advantage.

Instead, the B’s presented Carolina with their first power play of the night at 16:07 of the first period after Haula hauled down Jesper Fast with a trip.

The Canes didn’t convert on the power play and, worse, gave up a shorthanded goal against in the process.

DeBrusk broke into the attacking zone and connected with Coyle (1) on a tape-to-tape pass that Coyle batted out of mid-air to beat Kochetkov to tie the game, 1-1, at 17:16.

DeBrusk (1) had the only assist on Coyle’s shorthanded goal.

Late in the period, Marchand slashed the Tony DeAngelo’s stick out of his hands and took a trip to the sin bin as a result at 19:25.

Boston’s penalty kill would spill over into the middle frame unscathed, however.

The score was tied, 1-1, after 20 minutes of action, with the Hurricanes leading the Bruins in shots on goal, 11-8.

Carolina also dominated in blocked shots (7-3) and takeaways (7-0), while the B’s led in giveaways (3-2), hits (13-12) and faceoff win percentage (52-48).

Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Marchand (1) cut to the slot reminiscent of a prominent scoring move in EA Sports’ NHL 94, settled the puck and buried the rubber biscuit in the back of the twine to give Boston their first lead against Carolina all year (regular season and postseason combined) at 5:41 of the second period.

Bergeron (1) had the only assist on Marchand’s tally as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead on the scoreboard.

About a minute later, Connor Clifton cross checked Martinook and presented the Canes with a power play at 6:48, but Carolina couldn’t muster a goal on the resulting skater advantage.

Less than a minute later, DeAngelo and Marchand exchanged pleasantries by the benches and received roughing and interference infractions, respectively, at 7:44.

Shortly thereafter, Martinook tried to hit Hall in the neutral zone and ended up taking the worst of it– colliding and landing awkwardly, while sustaining a lower body injury in the process.

Moments later, Ian Cole interfered with Lazar and yielded another power play to Boston at 12:36.

It quickly became a two-skater advantage at 13:05, when Trocheck hooked Marchand and presented the Bruins with a 5-on-3 power play as a result for about 1:31.

The Hurricanes killed Cole’s minor, but couldn’t keep Boston’s power play off the board as Pastrnak (1) snapped a shot from the right dot past Kochetkov’s short side to extend the lead to two-goals.

Marchand (2) and Coyle (1) notched the assists on Pastrnak’s power-play goal and the B’s led, 3-1, at 14:53 of the second period.

While the 17,850 in attendance celebrated the goal, however, a pane of glass came crashing down on timeout coordinator, Joe Foley, in Boston’s penalty box requiring medical assistance from both trainers and in-arena staff.

Foley was stretchered off the ice and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for observation and should be fine, NHL spokesperson, John Dellapina, told The Associated Press.

After a seven-minute delay, play resumed and Clifton cut a rut to the box shortly thereafter for roughing, which was briefly reviewed by the on-ice officials as Brendan Smith’s visor cut the Hurricanes defender and drew blood at 15:41.

The Bruins made the kill on Clifton’s infraction.

Entering the second intermission, Boston led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 21-19, in shots on goal.

The B’s had a, 13-8, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone and led in hits (21-19), blocked shots (19-8), as well as faceoff win% (56-44) after 40 minutes of play.

Carolina held the advantage in takeaways (7-3) and giveaways (9-6), while the Hurricanes went 0-for-4 on the power play through two periods.

Boston was 1-for-4 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

Prior to the third period, the Canes tweeted that Martinook would not return to the night’s action with a lower body injury and head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, told reporters after the game that Martinook’s prognosis didn’t look good.

Meanwhile, Trocheck tripped Nosek at 3:49 of the third period and yielded another power play to Boston.

The Bruins made quick work of the resulting skater advantage with Hall (2) dishing a pass across the slot to Pastrnak before receiving a setup in return for a one-timer goal from the doorstep of the crease as Kochetkov fell behind going from right to left.

Pastrnak (1) and Marchand (3) had the assists on Hall’s power-play goal and the B’s had a, 4-1, lead at 4:08 of the third period.

Less than a minute later, Foligno was penalized for cross checking at 4:48, but Carolina couldn’t muster a power-play goal.

Midway through the third, however, Jaccob Slavin (1) lobbed a shot from the point with eyes past Swayman on the glove side to make it a two-goal deficit.

Slavin’s goal was unassisted as the Hurricanes trailed, 4-2, at 11:30 of the third period.

With 2:42 remaining in regulation, Brind’Amour pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker.

He later used his timeout after a stoppage with 1:36 left on the clock, but Boston stood tall and continued to block shots to the very end of the night with Derek Forbort tying a team-record for most blocked shots in a single postseason game (9), done twice before by Dennis Seidenberg in 2013, and the late Steve Montador in 2009.

At the final horn, the Bruins had taken Game 3 by a final score of, 4-2, and cut the series lead down to 2-1 in favor of the Hurricanes.

Boston left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 28-27, despite Carolina outshooting the Bruins, 8-7, in the third period alone.

The B’s also wrapped up Friday night’s action leading in blocked shots (29-12) and faceoff win% (57-43), while the Canes left TD Garden leading in giveaways (12-7) and hits (40-33) after Game 3.

The Hurricanes went 0-for-5 on the skater advantage, while Boston went 2-for-5 on the power play on Friday.

The Bruins improved to 14-15 all time in Game 3s when trailing 2-0 in a best-of-seven series, as well as 1-1 when tied after the first period and 1-0 when leading after the second period this postseason.

Carolina, meanwhile, fell to 1-1 when tied after one and 0-1 when trailing through two periods in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With the loss in Game 3, the Hurricanes now lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

Puck drop in Boston is set for 12:30 p.m. ET and viewers outside of the local markets can catch the action on ESPN in the United States, as well as SN and TVAS in Canada.

Carolina can take a commanding 3-1 series lead heading back to Raleigh for Game 5 while the B’s could even the series 2-2 with another win in Game 4.

Categories
NHL Nick's Net

Hurricanes take 2-0 series lead, lose Raanta in Game 2

Sebastian Aho tied a franchise record with his fourth multi-goal game in a, 5-2, victory for the Carolina Hurricanes as they beat the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of their 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup Wednesday night at PNC Arena.

Meanwhile, each team lost a key player to an injury and there were 14 combined power plays in a game that had a little bit of everything good, bad and ugly.

Antti Raanta (1-0, 0.88 goals-against average, .978 save percentage in two games played) made six saves on six shots against before he was taken out of the game due to injury, while Pyotr Kochetkov (1-0, 2.31 goals-against average, .938 save percentage in one game played) turned aside 30 out of 32 shots faced in the win for the Hurricanes.

Bruins goaltender, Linus Ullmark (1-1, 4.17 goals-against average, .860 save percentage in two games played), made 29 saves on 32 shots against in the loss.

The Bruins were without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) on Wednesday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made one change to his lineup– promoting Matt Grzelcyk to the first defensive pairing with Charlie McAvoy and relegating Hampus Lindholm to the second pairing with Brandon Carlo.

Boston’s list of healthy scratches went untouched from Game 1 to Game 2 with Mike Reilly, Chris Wagner, Josh Brown, Anton Blidh and Kyle Keyser watching from the press box at PNC Arena.

Nino Niederreiter tripped Carlo and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the night at 3:17 of the first period, but the B’s weren’t able to convert on the skater advantage.

Moments later, Tony DeAngelo checked Erik Haula without the puck and cut a rut to the sin bin for interference as a result at 7:28, but Boston’s ensuing power play was cut short about 19 seconds later.

David Pastrnak caught Raanta with a forearm to the head while trying to avoid a major collision with the goaltender as Raanta worked to clear the puck outside the crease and Pastrnak tried to come to a stop without bowling over the netminder– completely flattening him in the process.

That said, the on-ice officials ruled it a five-minute major for goaltender interference before reducing Pastrnak’s infraction to a minor penalty upon video review.

Raanta was bleeding from a cut on his face and took some time to be helped off the ice by a trainer, but was Pastrnak’s force enough to cause the inside of Raanta’s mask to cut the goaltender or Vincent Trocheck’s accidental bump in the side of his teammate’s head as he skated by while Raanta was down on the ice pulling his mask off do more damage on top of the incidental contact with Pastrnak?

This is the type of thing that’s going on inside the minds of the on-ice officials alongside their interpretation of the rulebook.

Carolina replaced Raanta with Kochetkov and the Bruins managed to kill Pastrnak’s minor for goaltender interference at 7:47 of the first period.

A little past the midpoint of the opening frame, however, Jordan Staal broke free from Derek Forbort and sent a pass across the ice through the slot to Jesper Fast (1) for a one-timer goal– giving the Hurricanes a, 1-0, lead as a result at 13:03 of the first period.

Staal (1) and Jaccob Slavin (2) tallied the assists on Fast’s goal.

A couple minutes later, Aho (1) tipped a shot from the point by DeAngelo past Ullmark on the stick side to extend the Canes’ lead to two-goals.

DeAngelo (2) and Slavin (3) notched the assists and the Hurricanes led, 2-0, at 15:30.

Patrice Bergeron cut a rut to the sin bin for slashing at 18:54 and the Bruins managed to make the kill on the infraction.

Late in the period, however, Charlie Coyle and Niederreiter went to the box with coincidental minors at 19:53, followed by a scrum as the first intermission began– yielding roughing minors for Haula, Carlo and Seth Jarvis at 20:00.

Boston would be shorthanded to begin the middle frame.

Carolina, meanwhile, led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 11-10, in shots on goal after 20 minutes of action.

The Hurricanes also led in blocked shots (6-3), takeaways (5-0), giveaways (7-3) and faceoff win percentage (59-41), while the Bruins led in hits (18-16) entering the first intermission.

Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play heading into the middle period.

Carolina confirmed that Raanta (upper body) would not return to the night’s action with a tweet prior to the start of the middle frame.

While on the power play, Aho (2) blasted a one-timer past Ullmark low on the glove side to give the Hurricanes a, 3-0, lead at 1:10 of the second period.

DeAngelo (3) and Teuvo Teräväinen (1) had the assists on Aho’s power-play goal– giving the Finnish forward his fourth career multi-goal postseason game– tying Kevin Dineed for the most in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes franchise history in the process.

Trent Frederic checked Teräväinen shortly thereafter in frustration and picked up an interference minor at 3:39, though the Canes failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage this time around.

Andrei Svechnikov was penalized for holding at 14:36 and it didn’t take Boston long to get on the scoreboard with a power-play goal from Bergeron (1) after he sent the puck back to the point whereby a shot attempt went wide, caromed off the glass back to Brad Marchand in the slot before Bergeron got a piece of it from close range.

Marchand (1) had the only assist on Bergeron’s 16th career postseason power-play goal– tying him for the third-most in Bruins franchise history with Johnny Bucyk in the process– and Boston trailed, 3-1, at 14:36 of the second period as a result.

A few minutes later, Svechnikov made a big hit behind the goal line on Lindholm– knocking the Bruins defender to the ice and leaving him in a daze as he was assisted by a trainer and teammate, Jake DeBrusk, to the tunnel.

Carlo went after Svechnikov in defense of his injured blue line partner and picked up a pair of roughing minors, while Svechnikov only received two minutes for roughing at 17:11 of the second period, rendering Carolina on the power play as a result.

Less than a minute later, Marchand and Kochetkov exchanged pleasantries and yielded slashing penalties at 17:52, followed by a holding infraction on Forbort at 18:07.

Carolina’s ensuing 5-on-3 advantage didn’t last long as Niederreiter (2) had just enough mustard on a shot that it trickled through the crease and over the goal line to give the Hurricanes another three-goal lead, 4-1, at 18:52.

Trocheck (2) and DeAngelo (4) tallied the assists on Niederreiter’s power-play goal and the Canes took their, 4-1, lead into the second intermission after 40 minutes of play.

Carolina led in shots on goal, 25-21, including a, 14-11, advantage in the second period alone, while dominating in blocked shots (9-7), takeaways (7-5), giveaways (10-5) and faceoff win% (54-46).

Boston, on the other hand, led in hits, 31-30, after two periods on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes were 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Bruins were 0-for-3 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

Early in the final frame, Svechnikov and McAvoy collided in the open ice and rendered the Bruins defender to his knees amid a brief stoppage.

He did not miss any shifts, however, as DeBrusk received a roughing minor for expressing his displeasure with Svechnikov and the B’s tweeted that Lindholm (upper body) would not return to the night’s action at 1:52 of the third period.

Carolina had another brief 5-on-3 advantage after Forbort caught Teräväinen with a high stick and drew blood at 3:04.

Forbort skated to the box with a double-minor penalty and Boston somehow made the kill.

Moments later, the Hurricanes had too many skaters on the ice and were assessed a bench minor at 8:27, but the B’s couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing power play.

Midway through the third period, however, Bergeron (2) notched his second goal of the game on an inadvertent deflection off of his right skate behind Kochetkov on a shot by McAvoy from the top of the left circle.

McAvoy (2) had the only assist on the goal and the Bruins trailed, 4-2, at 12:21 of the third period, while Bergeron (47) surpassed Phil Esposito (46) for the second-most postseason goals in franchise history– trailing only Cam Neely (55) for first overall in a Boston uniform.

With about 4:30 remaining in regulation, Cassidy pulled a page out of the book of head coaching as taught by Patrick Roy and yanked Ullmark out of the crease for an extra attacker.

Brett Pesce caught Marchand with a high stick at 15:49 and the B’s went on a power play as a result, but the Hurricanes’ penalty kill came and went unscathed and unchallenged.

After a stoppage with 1:15 remaining, Cassidy used his timeout to rally his skaters, but it was to no avail.

Carolina picked up a rebound that made its way all the way into their attacking zone and Niederreiter (3) put the icing on the cake with his second goal of the game– this time on an empty net to make it, 5-2, for the Hurricanes at 19:19.

Svechnikov (1) had the only assist on the goal.

At the final horn, another scrum ensued and only Forbort was dealt a roughing minor at 20:00 of the third period, but it didn’t matter in the end result as Carolina pulled off a, 5-2, victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 38-34, and had a, 17-9, advantage in shots on net in the third period alone.

The Bruins led in blocked shots (13-10) and hits (45-33), while the Hurricanes left their own ice leading in giveaways (12-7) and faceoff win% (55-45).

Carolina went 2-for-9 on the skater advantage, while the B’s went 1-for-5 on the power play Wednesday night in Game 2.

For the first time since the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, the Bruins trail 2-0 in a series heading back to home ice for Game 3.

Teams that lead a best-of-seven series 2-0 go on to win the series about 87% of the time per Hockey-Reference.

The Hurricanes take a 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3 Friday night at TD Garden in Boston. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET and viewers outside of the local markets can catch the action on TNT in the United States, as well as SN360 and TVAS2 in Canada.