It wasn't always pretty but the most important thing is that the Bruins completed their most fundamental task today by beating the Hurricanes 2-1 in Game 5 which tipped the first round series in their favor 4-1. With that, Boston gets at least a few days of rest before what figures to be a much more difficult series in the second round against either Philadelphia (up 3-2 in their series vs. Montreal after losing tonight) or Tampa Bay (who similarly knocked Columbus out in 5 games earlier this afternoon). David Pastrnak returned after missing Games 2-4 and produced two assists while Boston scored both of its goals on the power play in the second period-a gift tap-in by David Krejci and a cheeky bank shot as time expired by Patrice Bergeron-and Jaroslav Halak finished with 23 saves.
If high-scoring end-to-end action is your thing, this probably wasn't the tilt for you. Then again, a low-scoring contest that was so dictated by special teams not surprisingly ended up in Boston's favor. Their power play went 2-for-4 while their penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3. It might actually have been Carolina's best outing of the entire series except for the whole scoring goals thing which last time I checked was rather important. Not having Andrei Svechnikov the past few games obviously was a huge factor but outside of Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, their forward lines lack some real depth and ditto for their defensemen who are pretty terrible outside of Dougie Hamilton (seriously) and Jaccob Slavin. Oh and maybe alternating between Petr Mrazek (25 saves but he went 0-3 in the series) and backup goaltender James Reimer for every single game of the series wasn't a winning formula but what do I know?
The Canes couldn't have asked for a much better start in a possible elimination game as Haydn Fleury gave them a 1-0 lead almost halfway through the first period at 9:35. Aho and Jordan Martinook provided the assists on the promising young blueliner's second goal of the postseason. They say that the closeout game is always the hardest one to win and for almost two full periods, the Black and Gold looked pretty disinterested in the proceedings. Boston simply knows how to win though, something that can't be said for an opponent that fell to 1-8 against them combined the last two postseasons. With that in mind, Carolina made two mental mistakes as they clung to the 1-0 advantage in the second period and Boston did what a championship contender does: they made them pay dearly each time. You know the fact that Game 6 would have been tomorrow helped inspire the Bruins a tad as well since who wants to play another back-to-back in these strange times?
Playoff David Krejci got the party started for the B's as a loose puck found him wide open on the doorstep and it appeared like he couldn't believe his good fortune as he made it 1-1 at 15:20. His third goal of the postseason extended his point-streak to five games with Pasta and Bergy adding the helpers. What turned out to be the game-winning tally for Bergeron is something that will be shown for years to come namely when he eventually retires (fingers crossed as a Bruin) then enters the Hockey Hall of Fame. Few guys would have the combination of smarts to know the clock was running out on the second period while also possessing the skill to put the puck right in Mrazek's skates when Carolina's goaltender made a huge error by standing up too straight. Boston took a 2-1 lead with 3.5 seconds left in the frame on Bergeron's second goal of the postseason, assisted by Pastrnak and Krejci.
The third period didn't feature many shots on goal (6-5 in favor of the Hurricanes) and while Carolina controlled the puck for long stretches in Boston's defensive zone, they couldn't solve Halak or Boston's air-tight defense again. Halak was at his best in Game 3 (besides his unforgivable turnover that led to the lone Canes goal) but he needed to be better than his shaky Game 4 self and thankfully he was solid. Whomever the B's meet next, Halak has to be on top of his game to give the Bruins their best chance to continue advancing. For now, they should be proud that they were able to beat a good team (albeit flawed) with relative ease despite a few off-ice issues that would affect lesser clubs in a much bigger way.
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