The Boston Bruins embarrassed themselves Thursday night in a 6-0 loss to the Hurricanes, while they lost Matt Grzelcyk late in the second period to an upper-body injury. Grzeclyk landed awkwardly behind Boston’s net, adding to the already miserable night at the TD Garden.
In a chippy first period, both teams accrued a hunch of penalty minutes. Both teams combined for 22 penalty minutes in the first period, including five each for Charlie McAvoy and Tony DeAngelo for fighting. With all the infractions getting committed, the first goal had a good chance to be on the power play — and that it was. Vincent Trocheck scored on the man advantage to end the scoreless tie in the first.
The second period came and the Canes added to their total, not letting up at all. Andrei Svechnikov ripped a wrist shot above Linus Ullmark’s blocker and earned his 18th goal unassisted less than three minutes into the period. Sebastian Aho scored his team-leading 20th goal thanks to another rebound given up by Ullmark before Brett Pesce also poured salt in Boston’s wound by putting the margin up to 4-0 before the period ended.
The Bruins tried to get their first goal of the game in the third period but got their goal called back due to goaltender interference. Nick Foligno took a shot, then ran into Frederik Andersen and the puck slipped past Andersen. Not soon afterward, the Hurricanes put their lead up to 5-0 thanks to an Aho deflection on the power play. Jordan Staal then added to the gigantic Carolina lead, scoring his third goal of the season with less than five minutes left in the game.
Ullmark had one of his worst starts of the season, but the Hurricanes had a surplus of shots. Ullmark saved 37-of-43 shots for a .860 save percentage. That was his fourth-worst save percentage in a game this season, but second-worst in his past three starts.
On the other hand, Andersen had an exceptional performance, though. The 32-year-old recorded his second shutout this season, stopping all 34 of Boston’s shots.
The Bruins will hope to bounce back on the road Saturday as they take on the Ottawa Senators. The B’s plan to advance their road record to 12-6-2 in Ottawa — puck drop will take place at the Canadian Tire Centre at 12:30 p.m. EST.
If you enjoyed our content, please consider:
Signing up for our daily newsletter here
Following us on Twitter here