The 2019 Eastern Conference Final begins tonight at TD Garden in Boston. The Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins will meet for the first time in the playoffs since 2009. That series - dubbed the Canes’ most emotional series by yours truly - will be tough to top. However, the pieces are in place and you never know what the future holds. Carolina Hurricanes (20-7-3) at Columbus Blue Jackets (13-12-7) 2021 Regular Season Game 31 Monday, March 22, 2021 - 7:00 p.m. ET Nationwide Arena - Columbus, Ohio Watch: Fox Sports Carolinas Listen: 99.9 The Fan SBN Opposition: Jackets Cannon Follow Canes Country on Social Media Twitter @CanesCountry Facebook Canes Country Instagram @canescountrypix Broadcast Note: NBC crew for tonight’s game will be Doc Emrick alongside Eddie Olczyk. Brian Boucher will be between the benches. John and Tripp will handle the radio call. Since dispatching the New York Islanders in a four game sweep, the Hurricanes have been able to rest and recuperate. They haven’t played since last Friday and tonight should see the return of a few faces that were absent in their last game. Petr Mrazek should re-assume his place as the starting goaltender. Jordan Martinook and Micheal Ferland are both expected to play, although their minutes may be limited. The time off also saw some changes to the Canes’ powerplay unit. Expect Staal and Svechnikov on PP1 with Aho, Teuvo and Faulk. Nino and Justin Williams join Wallmark, Hamilton and Slavin on PP2. Ferland has also been practicing with the PP units, so a return to the 2nd unit is possible. Below is the Canes’ projected lineup: Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Justin Williams Warren Foegele - Lucas Wallmark - Brock McGinn Jordan Martinook - Greg McKegg - Micheal Ferland Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton Brett Pesce - Justin Faulk Haydn Fleury - Calvin de Haan Petr Mrazek Curtis McElhinney Injuries and Scratches: Saku Maenalanen (hand surgery), Trevor van Riemsdyk (shoulder surgery), Jake Bean (healthy), Patrick Brown (healthy) As for the Canes’ opponent, the Bruins more closely resemble the Washington Capitals than the Islanders. They’re built around their top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak. That line alone has combined for five all-star game appearances, four Selkes (best defensive forward - all Bergeron), and two Stanley Cups. During their 13 playoff games this year, they have a combined 32 points and are plus-16. The Bruins remind one of the Capitals in another fashion as well - their power play. It’s the best in the playoffs with a conversion rate of 28.6%. The Canes need to keep the play at 5 on 5 where the numbers indicate they are the better team. A game where the whistle is blown often and there is a parade of players to the penalty box does not favor Carolina. Which brings us to Brad Marchand. Marchand is a talented hockey player. He’s a two-time all-star and has his name on the Stanley Cup. However, his talent on the ice is all too often overshadowed by his antics before and after the whistle. There are things like breaking Cam Atkinson’s stick. Which is annoying. Then there are things like his cheap shot to Scott Harrington - for which he should have been suspended. This all presents both a risk and opportunity for the Canes. Marchand will undoubtedly try something untoward during the series. The Canes must be prepared for it and not allow it to distract them. A particularly egregious act could result in a suspension - which would be an enormous blow for the Bruins. The Canes can’t back down - but they must keep their heads. Here’s how Boston will line up tonight: Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak Jake DeBrusk – David Krejci – David Backes Marcus Johansson – Charlie Coyle – Danton Heinen Joakim Nordstrom – Sean Kuraly – Chris Wagner Zdeno Chara – Connor Clifton Torey Krug – Brandon Carlo Matt Grzelcyk – Steven Kampfer Tuukka Rask Jaroslav Halak Injuries and Scratches: Charlie McAvoy (Suspension), John Moore (upper body), Sean Kuraly (healthy) , Noel Acciari (undisclosed), Karson Kuhlman (healthy), Kevan Miller (lower body) One final note: if you’re headed to the Carolina Ale House on Glenwood South for the watch party, expect to be among plenty of your closest friends. It might not be a bad idea to arrive early, and the always-helpful Jon Chase has a few pointers for fans making the trip tonight:<doc-sep>BOSTON — The Carolina Hurricanes knew that the Boston Bruins would present a challenge that they hadn’t seen thus far in the 2019 NHL playoffs, their skill and speed combination providing a formidable challenge. For 40 minutes, the Hurricanes looked like they had the answers. Then the third period came along, and some earlier missed opportunities combined with questionable officiating decisions to hand the Hurricanes a frustrating 5-2 defeat, snapping a six-game winning streak and dropping them in a 1-0 hole in the Eastern Conference Final. Perhaps it was no surprise that after a six-day break, the Bruins came out for the first few shifts playing inspired hockey that seemed to have the Hurricanes back on their toes a bit. Their effort was rewarded 2:55 into the game when Steven Kampfer, in the lineup to replace the suspended Charlie McAvoy, took advantage of lackadaisical defending from Justin Faulk and Micheal Ferland to pick his spot and score his first goal of the playoffs, and his fourth when including the regular season - two of which came against Carolina. But it didn’t take long for the Hurricanes to equalize. Sean Kuraly took a roughing penalty 44 seconds after Kampfer opened the scoring, and three seconds later Sebastian Aho tipped in an Andrei Svechnikov shot from the left point to tie the game once again. Slowly, the Hurricanes grew into the game, helped by the fact that the Bruins looked like they threw everything on the ice in the first ten minutes and the fresher legs of the rested Hurricanes eventually took over. The Bruins’ cause was not helped when Zdeno Chara took an Aho wrist shot off the ankle while killing a penalty, sending him to the room for the remainder of the period. He did return to start the second, although clearly favoring his injured right leg. The Hurricanes then took things to another level, peppering Tuukka Rask with shot after shot. The Bruins goaltender was up for every shot, but he then beat himself to give the Hurricanes the lead. Greg McKegg was driving the net on the left wing, and he took a shot that bounced off Rask’s back and was back-heeled into the net by the goaltender as McKegg was pushed into the net by Kampfer. The crowd was incensed, but there were no challenges from either the Bruins or the war room. The Hurricanes had plenty of chances to take a two-goal lead, including a Williams chance that was robbed by Rask, a Brett Pesce shot off the crossbar, and a Brock McGinn shorthanded chance that was tipped wide of an open net. The Bruins looked solid on a late-period power play, but couldn’t dent Mrazek, who made 23 saves in the game. They got to him to start the third, though. With Jordan Staal in the box for boarding, the Bruins’ top-ranked power play struck, Marcus Johansson taking advantage of Calvin de Haan’s inadvertent block of Brad Marchand’s shot. Fifteen seconds later, Dougie Hamilton was sent to the box for an exceptionally questionable roughing penalty, while Kuraly somehow avoided a penalty for blindsiding Svechnikov in the neutral zone. It only took the Boston power play 13 seconds to take the lead right back, this time through Patrice Bergeron. Rod Brind’Amour called his timeout, clearly looking to calm some frazzled nerves on the Carolina bench, and at the same time stem the bleeding. Once the Bruins took the lead, they went into lockdown mode, denying anything in front of Rask repeatedly, allowing him to add to his tally of 29 saves on the evening. Teuvo Teravainen had the best chance, firing wide from the slot with six minutes left, but the Hurricanes were left to fend for scraps in front of a resurgent Bruins defense. Brind’Amour pulled Mrazek with 2:30 to go but the gamble didn’t pay off. Charlie Coyle hit the empty net from 100 feet away to seal the game with 2:13 to go. And then, for good measure, off the ensuing faceoff Teravainen turned the puck over and handed Chris Wagner a breakaway that he converted to give the Bruins a 5-2 win and leave the Hurricanes with plenty of questions and two days to think about the answers. They Said It Rod Brind’Amour: There’s no point in commenting [on the officiating]. There were penalties both ways, I thought, called and not called. I don’t want to get into the officiating. [Hamilton] was playing with an edge. We all were. Guys were trying to be engaged. Maybe he took it too far. I haven’t even looked at them. I was as frustrated as everybody on some of the calls, but you’ve got to kill them. If you take a penalty, you’ve got to kill it. For 20 minutes, we were [good]. Our second period was fine, we got skating. The first period we came out slow. Third period, obviously the penalties. We were smacked right on our heels right from the start, and we never recovered. It took all the momentum from us, six minutes right away killing penalties. We had a couple good chances near the end, didn’t execute very well on the 6-on-5. I don’t know how much [Ferland] played, he had been out for so long. He had some chances, but he took a penalty - that was the one I had a hard time with. It didn’t seem like too much. [Mrazek] was fine. We left him out to dry there at the end, but I thought he was solid. We’re not going to win if we don’t play better than that. We had spurts, but that’s not going to be good enough, I don’t think during the regular season, certainly not at this time of year. We’ll regroup and try to get better for the next game. Greg McKegg: We just got in a little bit of penalty trouble. They have a good power play. A couple of bounces went their way, they capitalized, and that was that. We were right there in the third period, in a 2-1 game, we’re up and we haven’t really played our best hockey. We just have to lock it down better and get back it on Sunday. It’s the way it goes. Obviously, like I said, we got into a little bit of penalty trouble. I didn’t see much with the penalties, but we have to try to lock it down when we can, and we didn’t do that in the third. If you’d asked us before the game, heading into the third up 2-1, we’d have taken it. They came out strong in the third, a couple breaks here and there, and that’s it. We were right there and I don’t feel like we played our best hockey. We definitely have to stay out of the box; they have a great power play, and they got some pretty skilled guys. I think if we can keep our feet moving in their zone and generate chances, we’ll be fine. Sebastian Aho: A couple penalties too many against that good power play. It was right there for us. We need to learn from this and come back on Sunday. Of course we need to trust that we can be better. We just have to stay out of the box. First, a great faceoff win by Jordan, then an unreal pass by Svech to the backdoor and I just tipped it in. We’ve been in this situation before, so it’s good that we have that experience. Dougie Hamilton: Not much else to say. The game’s done now, there’s nothing you an do about it now. We were playing, not a bad game, but had a lead in the third, took some penalties, gave them the lead. Tough to come back from those. [The fact that this was called tighter than a normal playoff game, do you think it was tighter than that?] I’m not going to comment on the refs. [Were the penalties undisciplined or unfortunate?] I didn’t think they were penalties, so neither. [Did you get an explanation?] No. For sure it stings.<doc-sep>BOSTON — Some third-period fireworks gave the Boston Bruins an early advantage in their first Eastern Conference Final since 2013. Down 2-1 entering the final frame, the Bruins scored four goals, the first two just 28 seconds apart, to earn a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday at TD Garden in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series. Steven Kampfer, Marcus Johansson, Patrice Bergeron, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner had the Bruins’ goals. Sebastian Aho and Greg McKegg had Carolina’s tallies. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves for the Bruins, while Petr Mrazek turned away 23 shots for Carolina. Here’s how it all went down: ONE APIECE Both teams found a goal in the first few minutes of the opening period, which ended in a 1-1 tie. The Bruins goal came from an unlikely, albeit poetic source. The Hurricanes won a face-off in their own zone and got the puck up to the point, but Johansson poked it into the neutral zone and started the rush on his own. Shortly after gaining the offensive blue line, Johansson came to a stop and slipped a nice backhand pass to Kampfer, who was dashing through the center. The defenseman — who was in only because of Charlie McAvoy’s suspension — held the puck for a moment, then sniped a wrister from the high slot past Mrazek at 2:55.<doc-sep>
Highlights of the Bruins' 5-2 Game 1 win over the Hurricanes originally appeared on nbcsportsboston.com FINAL SCORE: Bruins 5, Hurricanes 2 IN BRIEF: Two power-play goals 28 seconds apart in the third period, including a go-ahead strike from Patrice Bergeron, helped give the Bruins a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs' Eastern Conference final Thursday night at TD Garden. Game 2 is Sunday afternoon in Boston. BOX SCORE HIGHLIGHTS: KAMPFER'S RETURN TO LINEUP PAYS OFF QUICKLY: 47 SECONDS LATER, AHO DEFLECTION TIES IT: A little finesse ties this one up! pic.twitter.com/XHWov3Rw5s — Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) May 10, 2019 MCKEGG GIVES CANES THE LEAD IN 2ND: Greg McKegg got the job done! pic.twitter.com/YlyOvuYwzv — Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) May 10, 2019 JOHANSSON TIES IT IN 3RD FOR B'S ON POWER PLAY: Story continues BERGERON WITH ANOTHER POWER-PLAY GOAL GIVES B'S THE LEAD: A FOUR-GOAL THIRD BREAKS IT OPEN: #NHLBRUINS WIN GAME 1!!! 🙌 5-2 over Carolina. A huge third for the B's! pic.twitter.com/TH1LtI4jGm — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 10, 2019 FROM JOE HAGGERTY: *The Bruins jumped all over Carolina's strength early in the first period. Marcus Johansson was right on top of Justin Faulk at the blue line and forced him into a turnover before finding Steve Kampfer as a trailer on the play. Kampfer buried a shot from the high slot and the Bruins were off and running. It obviously had to be a thrill for Kampfer stepping in after playing just a single game in this playoff run and then scoring early in the first to give the Bruins a quick lead over the Carolina Hurricanes. *The Bruins power play finally came to life in the third period when given some opportunities as the Hurricanes showed a little of their inexperience through a lack of discipline. First, it was Johansson hammering home a rebound of a Brad Marchand shot while fighting to stay in front of the net. Then it was Patrice Bergeron ripping a shot from the bumper position after Jake DeBrusk threw a pass from his knees to Brad Marchand, who then fed Bergeron quickly in the slot for the game-winning goal in the third period. That goal arrived after Dougie Hamilton decided to go after a Bruins player following a Sean Kuraly collision with Andrei Svechnikov in the middle of the ice. *Some real iffy calls in the game as both Sean Kuraly and Charlie Coyle were called for tic-tac penalties while Warren Foegele was busy slew-footing Torey Krug at the other end of the ice without a call from the officials. Foegele kicked out Krug's leg and then pushed him back hard as he hit the ice hard and then crashed into the boards in a really dangerous play. Kuraly also absorbed a shoulder check to the head before he responded with the retaliation penalty that ended up putting Boston in the penalty box. Perhaps it all evened out in the third period, however, when the Bruins got a couple of power plays that allowed them to take control of the game. UP NEXT: Game 2: @Boston, Sunday, 3 p.m., NBC Game 3: @Carolina, Tuesday, 8 p.m., NBCSN Game 4: @Carolina, Thursday, May 16, 8 p.m., NBCSN *Game 5: @Boston, Saturday, May 18, 7:15 p.m. NBC *Game 6: @Carolina, Monday, May 20 at 8 p.m., NBCSN *Game 7: @Boston, Wednesday, May 22 at 8 p.m., NBCSN *if necessary Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.