The reason the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes played the first postseason game in NHL history was because of a marathon overtime the night before.
And although Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Series of the Bruins and Canes’ first round did not require five overtime, it required some bonus hockey, which was only fitting.
And it was Patrice Bergeron who secured the 4-3 victory for the Bruins, breaking the tie at 1:13 in the second overtime period.
David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and David Krejci scored the goals for the Bruins. Joel Edmundson, Brock McGinn and Haydn Fleury had the tales of the Canes. Tuukka Rask made 25 saves for Boston, while Petr Mrazek denied 36 shots for Carolina.
The Bruins lead the series 1-0.
Here’s how it all went:
ALLE SQUARE
The Bruins’ jump in the first period was better than it had been in previous opening hours since their arrival in Toronto, and after scoring their first goal, they drew the level to go one in the intermission.
Boston’s defense broke after the Hurricanes got the zone, and Carolina was able to run the puck with relative ease. Sebastian Aho gave a puck to Teuvo Teravainen, who then stepped Edmundson up for a one-timer from the point. The blue liner’s drive hit Rask to open the scoring at 13:02.
Eddy with an absolute laser! pic.twitter.com/X3CciQ2vG9
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 12, 2020
The Bruins got a late boost from their topline, which terrorized Carolina last postseason but is a slow start in the bubble.
On a designed play from an offensive sunshine, Patrice Bergeron won a face-off and got the puck over to Brad Marchand. Pastrnak beelined for the far post in fighting Jaccob Slavin, and Marchand slid a pass through the middle of the zone to find Pastrnak, who quickly hit a scattered Mrazek to tie the game at one with 2:15 left in the period.
Pasta for breakfast? That works for us.
Stream the game on the NESN app 🔗https: //t.co/9SwY0Njvr7 pic.twitter.com/MInaoygQ3t
– NESN (@NESN) August 12, 2020
The Bruins outshot Carolina 9-4 in the first.
MORE OF THE SAME
Each side added a goal to end the second period locked up at two.
Less than five minutes into the second, Coyle de Bruins gave her first lead into the bubble. A loose puck in the air hit Mrazek’s hand, but he could not hold it and freeze. When the puck went away, Coyle waited on it with a wide open net to bury the goal of goal at 4:38.
Coyle ➡️ Back from the net
Stream the game on the NESN app 🔗 https://t.co/9SwY0Njvr7 pic.twitter.com/JU3jTOqukh
– NESN (@NESN) August 12, 2020
But any momentum that the Bruins had was soon dispelled.
The Hurricanes had challenged the Coyle goal for a hand pass (do we think?), But the call stood. As a result, the Bruins went to the power play for a Carolina delay of the game, but it would be the Hurricanes who paid the advantage.
McGinn intercepted a pass on the spot and had a break-in, and when he locked in the lock, he flipped to his backhanded and grabbed the puck past Rask, just 21 seconds after Coyle’s goal.
Puck just right pic.twitter.com/HskKDdrfeg
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 12, 2020
The Bruins later got another game in the period and there was also a two-minute 4-on-4, but just the two goals would be scored in the middle 20 minutes. Boston had an advantage of 12-5 shots in the frame.
TO OT WE GO
Continuing the trend of the previous two periods, each team had one goal in the third, sending the game to rate tied at three.
The Bruins scored quickly during the period. Charlie McAvoy held the puck at the half board in the Boston offensive zone, but slammed it up and into the slot after McGinn closed to push the defender. From one knee, Kase crashed and got the puck, then fired a shot at Mrazek, which he fired away with a pad save. But handball went to Krejci in front of the door and the center had great patience with the puck, dancing around Mrazek before slipping past to put the Bruins at 3-0, just 59 seconds into the third.
KRECH FOR THE LEEEAD 🚨 pic.twitter.com/3KJzCHTUee
– NESN (@NESN) August 12, 2020
A little under nine minutes later, the Canes got one back.
Vincent Trocheck won a battle along the boards in the offensive end of Carolina, and then got the puck to Fleury on the spot. As Fleury moved along the blue line, Fleury processed a wristwatch that weighed down a ton of traffic and hit Rask over his glove to ban the game at 9:49.
Fleurs just scored from Buffalo pic.twitter.com/u7c7UDlniW
– Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 12, 2020
BERGERON WINS IT
One overtime period was not enough, but two was.
Shortly after the puck fell for the second overtime, the Bruins got a kick out of it. After catching the attacking blue line, Marchand dropped it to Pastrnak in the middle, and Pastrnak slid it to Bergeron on the right flank. Bergeron then fired the wrister past Mrazek at 1:13 in the second OT.
ABSOLUTE BEEEEEAUTY
Browns take Game 1 of the Canes 😍 pic.twitter.com/B2a0KYkewP
– NESN (@NESN) August 12, 2020
FOLLOWING
The Bruins and Hurricanes will meet Thursday night for Game 2. Puck drop from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto is set for 8 pm ET. You can watch the game on NESN, covering first names starting at 7pm on NESN +.
Thumbnail via Winslow Townson / USA TODAY Sports Images
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