Hurricanes Outshoot Bruins Two to One but Squeak By 2-1
Carolina won by a single goal, but this one was never as close as the 2-1 final suggests. The Hurricanes doubled Boston on shots, 30 to 15, and took 62.1% of the five-on-five shot attempts -- meaning nearly two of every three pucks fired at either net came off Carolina sticks.
The chances backed it up. Carolina's looks were worth 3.91 expected goals -- how many goals its chances would usually produce -- and it scored two. Boston managed just a handful of shots but still found the scoresheet through Pavel Zacha, set up by David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm, with Boston's lone power-play goal coming on five chances.
Jackson Blake (four shots) and Sebastian Aho (five shots) did the scoring. Aho also rang one off the post, and Boston's Matthew Poitras hit iron too. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 14 of 15, while Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves to keep it a one-goal game. On another night, Carolina's pressure produces a bigger margin.
