After two days off, the Eastern Conference Final was back in action on Sunday afternoon. The Boston Bruins took a commanding 2-0 series lead on home ice with a blowout victory in Game 2.
Boston scored early and often on the Hurricanes, tallying the first six goals of the game in a 6-2 victory over Carolina. Now the series heads to Raleigh with the Bruins firmly in control.
Boston got contributions throughout the lineup, with five different players scoring a goal and 11 different players recording at least one point. Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk had two goals in the win while Torey Krug and Charlie Coyle led all players with three points apiece.
Below you can find a recap of the Bruins' dominant victory in Game 2.
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NHL Playoffs for Sunday, May 12
Game 2: - FINAL - Bruins 6, Hurricanes 2 (BOS leads 2-0) [Box score]Bruins fully pull away in third
Petr Mrazek returned to the net for the Hurricanes in the third period and the Bruins continued to make his life miserable. Boston added two more goals to their total to open up the third period -- one coming from David Backes on a chaotic scramble in front of the net, another coming from Danton Heinen on an odd-man rush immediately following a Hurricanes power play. The Heinen tally made it 6-0, giving the Bruins 10 straight goals in the series.
Eventually the Canes would get those two goals back with goals from Justin Williams and Teuvo Teravainen. One of those goals was a complete gift from Tuukka Rask.
Unfortunately for the Canes, those two goals were all they were able to muster and it was still a 6-2 loss on the day.
Things unraveling for Hurricanes
Things went south for the Hurricanes in a hurry during the second period. Rookie defenseman Connor Clifton scored his first career NHL goal to make it 3-0 Bruins less than four minutes into the second. On top of that, the Canes' power play has been miserable so far in Game 2 and they've given up power play goals on both of Boston's man-advantage opportunities.
The Bruins got a power play late in the second when Brad Marchand goaded Justin Williams into taking a retaliatory penalty after Marchand high-sticked Williams in the neck area. On the ensuing power play, Gryzelcyk scored his second goal of the game.
Justin Williams gets the only penalty in this confrontation with Brad Marchand and I’m sure everyone will react reasonably!! pic.twitter.com/NWm7g9fAYV
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 12, 2019
That tally made it 4-0 Bruins and this one is all Boston after 40 minutes.
Physical first ends in Bruins' favor
The Hurricanes came out of the gate flying and it was clear that they wanted to bring some physicality in Game 2. A number of Hurricanes players were throwing the body around early, including Micheal Ferland, who crushed Matt Gryzelcyk with a big hit in the early going.
Much like they did in Game 1, special teams played a big role in the opening frame of Game 2. Immediately after the Bruins were able to kill a Carolina power play in the first, they took that momentum generated by the penalty kill and turned it into offense. Marcus Johansson picked up an assist (his third point of the series already) on a Gryzelcyk goal that should have been stopped by Petr Mrazek.
The Bruins continued to dominate the remainder of the period and they went on the power play in the final few minutes of the frame. Jake DeBrusk was left all alone in front of the net and was able to stuff home a power play goal to make it 2-0.
The Bruins have had trouble in second periods this postseason, so that's worth keeping in mind. But they've got a two-goal cushion heading into first intermission on home ice in Game 2.
