Canes overwhelm Bruins in Game 5, take 3-2 lead

Home. Sweet. Home.

The Hurricanes returned to PNC Arena Tuesday night and looked much more like their normal selves, beating Boston 5-1 to take a 3-2 advantage in the series with their third dominant win on home ice.

The Canes were good from the get go, as Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo scored in an overwhelming first period to give Carolina a 2-0 lead for the third straight game in PNC. Seth Jarvis added a pair of goals to make it 4-0, while Vincent Trocheck pitched in an empty netter to put the final nail in Boston’s coffin.

Antti Raanta was absolutely exceptional in net for the Hurricanes, stopping 34 of 35 shots faced while turning away some pretty high-danger looks throughout the game. Jeremy Swayman took the loss for the Bruins, as Raanta put together one of his best performances as a member of the Canes.

After special teams were such a costly issue for the Canes in Boston, it was once again an area of strength Tuesday night at home. The Hurricanes went 2 for 5 on the power play and had a third goal that was essentially a power play tally with the man leaving the box, while also going a perfect 3 for 3 on the kill.

Coming off the tough trip to Boston a good start was pivotal for the Canes, and that is exactly what Carolina got. The home team was buzzing from the start. Raanta made a couple of good early saves, and the Canes handled the puck and created some good looks on the other end.

The scoring started with a phenomenal all-around shift for the Hurricanes, as Andrei Svechnikov put a big hit on Matt Grzelcyk on the forecheck to keep the puck in the offensive zone for the Canes.

After moving the puck around, Slavin carried it into the circle and fired a shot at Swayman. The Boston goaltender got a piece of it but not enough, as the puck trickled in to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead for the fifth straight game.

But unlike in Boston, the Canes were able to make it 2-0 as DeAngelo unleashed a bomb on the power play. It was the Hurricanes’ second man advantage in short succession, and some great puck movement as a unit set up the one-time rocket for DeAngelo.

The Canes carried the 2-0 lead into the first intermission, the third time in as many games at home this series that Carolina has scored the first two goals of the night.

The Hurricanes carried all of that first-period momentum into the second, as most of the middle frame featured the Canes controlling the puck on the attack.

Boston got its first power play of the night late in the second period and had some good zone time, but Raanta did some pretty unbelievable things to preserve the scoreless night.

The Bruins power play came to an early end as Charlie McAvoy headed to the box, and the Canes made it 3-0 literally as McAvoy was rejoining the action with a goal that was certainly exactly how they drew it up.

Jarvis went to battle in front of Boston’s net and fell to the ice, and he took a swipe at the puck from the playing surface. That swipe made contact with the puck and sent it into the skates of Brandon Carlo, where it pinballed around before somehow, someway making its way past Swayman for a Carolina goal.

Jarvis made it 4-0 early in the third with his second goal of the night, this time actually on the power play and also actually on purpose.

After the Bruins once again erased a power play with a penalty of their own, the Canes got to the man advantage and did good work once again. DeAngelo rifled a shot on Swayman through traffic that got a deflection from Trocheck, and Jarvis was exactly where he was supposed to be to clean things up.

Boston ended Raanta’s shutout bid just past the midway point of the third period, as some iffy defending in the neutral zone led to a rush chance for Connor Clifton, who used a nice power move to the net to beat Raanta and make it 4-1.

Shortly after that DeAngelo took a holding penalty behind the Hurricane’s net, giving Boston a big power play down three goals with 8:24 to play. The Canes killed it off comfortably, ending any fleeting hope of a comeback for the Bruins.

Boston pulled Swayman with 4:30 left in the game, and Trocheck pretty quickly made it 5-1 with a backhanded finish from the blue line.

Now the Hurricanes will look to find a way to replicate their home performance on the road, as the series will shift back to Boston for game six.