FINAL SCORE: Boston Bruins 3, Carolina Hurricanes 1
IN BRIEF: The Bruins regained control of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Hurricanes with an impressive win Saturday afternoon.
Boston announced earlier Saturday that starting goalie Tuukka Rask had opted out of the league's return to play, which made Jaroslav Halak the team's No. 1 netminder for this playoff run. Halak responded with an excellent performance, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced. The only goal Halak allowed came on a poor pass he made from behind his own net in the third period.
The first two Bruins goals were tallied by Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly, who are giving the B's valuable secondary scoring with top-line right wing David Pastrnak out of the lineup for Game 2 and Game 3. Brad Marchand secured Boston's win with an empty-net goal in the final minute of the third period. B's center David Krejci extended his point streak to four games with two assists.
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SERIES: 2-1 Bruins
HIGHLIGHTS
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the Bruins got on the board 14 seconds into the second period when Charlie Coyle showed tremendous hand-eye coordination to bat the puck out of mid-air and past Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek.
The Bruins doubled their lead when Sean Kuraly scored just 1:16 into the third period. It was a shorthanded goal.
The Bruins were in complete control to begin the third period and their energy went to an even higher level after Kuraly's goal. That momentum was halted when Anders Bjork took his third penalty of the game and put the Hurricanes on the power play. Halak tried to make a hard pass up ice from behind his net and committed a costly turnover that gave Nino Neiderreiter an easy goal.
Hurricanes star forward Andrei Svechnikov left the game in the third period with an injury. It would be a massive loss for Carolina if he misses any games in this series.
UP NEXT
The Bruins and Hurricanes will play Game 4 of their first round series Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.