Bruce Cassidy, Bruins’ head coach, made a game changing decision during Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory for the Bruins while visiting the Hurricanes. He decided to break up Boston’s dynamic trio, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, by removing Pastrnak from the first line where his two buddies play and assigning him to the second line.
Even though the Bruins lineup was shuffled the pairing up of Bergeron and Marchand remained.
Marchand scored twice, including the game winner in the third period. The Bruins came back from behind.
Bergeron helped Marchand on both his tallies and had three assists overall.
One of his impressive assists followed a tremendous defensive play which shifted the momentum in the Bruins’ favor.
On the other end of the rink, Bruins’ goaltender, Jaroslav Halak totaled 42 saves against the most aggressive shooting team in the league. The Hurricanes picked up a powerplay because of a tripping call against Jeremy Lauzon. Carolina’s leading scorer, Michael Ferland, scored with 2:06 left in the period off an assist fed to him by Sebastian Aho. It was the sixth time this season the Bruins’ allowed their opponents to score first.
Pastrnak shot the puck past Scott Darling from no angle on the goal line for his 11th goal of the year on the Bruins’ third power play. His goal brought the game to a 1-1 tie with 7:38 remaining in the second period.
Former Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 with a shot from the top of the slot with 1:27 left in the second period. However, the Bruins persevered with Bergeron’s breakaway while Hurricanes were shorthanded.
He fed the puck to Marchand who scored from the left side of the ice to tie the game at two with only 18 seconds remaining in the second period. This was Marchand’s first goal since Oct. 17.
The Hurricanes lead the NHL in shots by holding nearly 40 shots more than the team’s following them.
They shot a season high 24 shots in the second period of which Halak managed to save 23.
With 14:37 left in the third period, Marchand scored on Darling on the right side of the net off another assist from Bergeron.
The Bruins reached their first lead of the game at 3-2 and held onto it for the win. This game was a good response to their home loss to Montreal on Saturday. The Bruins head to Nashville on Saturday looking to maintain their momentum after this win.