The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics took over the Boston sports scene once again Tuesday night. The Bruins visited Raleigh, North Carolina to take on the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Celtics were at home at TD Garden welcoming in the Detroit Pistons.
At PNC Arena in Raleigh, the Boston Bruins got the tying goal and game winning goal from Brad Marchand to pick up a 3-2 road win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Boston (7-3-2) had to battle back from a pair of one goal deficits to pick up the two points. Michael Ferland scored a first period powerplay goal to make it 1-0 Carolina. David Pastrnak tied it with a powerplay goal his 11th of the season 12:22 into the second to make it 1-1. Former Bruins Dougie Hamilton put the Canes back up a goal with yet another powerplay goal at 18:33 for a 2-1 Carolina lead. The Bruins tied it once again with just 18 seconds left in the middle period on a pretty flurry, as the Hurricanes had a partial breakaway on one end that was broken up by a backchecking Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron then sent a saucer pass to the attacking blue line that found Marchand, who walked in and slapped one past Carolina goalie Scott Darling finishing off a streak of four powerplay goals to start the game and evening things up 2-2. Marchands game winner came on a great individual effort in the third period, as he got to a loose puck along the boards and was squeezed off by a Hurricane defenseman, but kept his footing and took the puck around the back of the net and stuffed it in on a wrap around as he was falling to the ice. Carolina dips to 6-5-1 in the loss.
Jaroslav Halak made 42 saves for the win in the Bruins net, while Darling took the loss stopping 28 of 31 Boston shots. Boston went 2-5 on the powerplay, while Carolina was 2-4. Bergeron finished with a three point night with three assists. Boston travels to Nashville to battle the Predators on Saturday at 8 pm.
After sending the Detroit Pistons to their first loss of the season on Saturday in Detroit, the Boston Celtics faced the same opponent on Tuesday night at TD Garden. The results were the same however in a much closer contest, as Kyrie Iriving scored 31 points to lead Boston to their third straight win 108-105.
Boston (5-2) led a majority of the first half but not by more than eight points, before Detroit played a strong second quarter to take a 58-56 halftime lead. The Celtics regained the lead by six in the third quarter, then took their biggest lead with an 8-0 run at 81-67 and led 81-70 at the end of three. The hosts continued to hold an eight to 12 point lead in the final quarter, before the Pistons made one more run. A technical foul on Boston coach Brad Stevens led to a free throw that cut the lead to a single point with 4:21 left. Leading by four late, Bostons Jaylen Brown nailed a huge three pointer to make it 101-94 C’s with just 1:07 remaining. Key foul shooting down the stretch (5 for 6) in the final moments helped the green improve their home record to 2-1 early in the season. Boston will host Milwaukee Thursday night at 8 pm.
Irving added five rebounds and five assists to his game high in points. Jayson Tatum had 16 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Brown had 14 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Al Horford added 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Blake Griffin led 4-2 Detroit with 24 points, 15 rebounds, and three assists. Andre Drummond had 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Reggie Bullock added 16 points.
