In a First Round Eastern Conference Playoff series that ended up seeing the road team not win a single game, Max Domi scored his first two career playoff goals on Saturday evening as the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Boston Bruins with a 3-2 Game 7 win at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In an uptempo and physical first period, as the whole series has been, it would be Carolina striking first. Teuvo Teravainen spun off a check and got to the front of the Boston net, where he received a great pass from Domi in the low slot to the right of goaltender Jeremy Swayman tapping it in at 18:36 for a 1-0 lead. Taylor Hall got called for a four minute high sticking penalty just 26 seconds later, for a Hurricanes powerplay that would carry over to period two.
Carolina had a few good chances on that powerplay at the beginning of the second period, including hitting one off the post and also being turned away on a couple good saves by Swayman. Just after the extra man expired, Domi came from the corner to scoop up a loose puck after a deflected shot and tucked it into the net for the eventual game winner for the Hurricanes at 3:14 and it was 2-0. Boston just 1:50 later cut it back to a one goal deficit when a puck came right to the stick of Jake Debrusk in the low slot who slammed it in to make it 2-1. Trent Frederic nearly tied it for the B’s later in the period, but hit the post. Just 13 seconds later at 10:33, Domi fired home a one-timer from the edge of the right faceoff circle for his third point of the day and a 3-1 ‘Canes advantage.
Carolina showed why they were the best defensive team in the regular season, crowding the neutral zone in the third period not allowing Boston find any offense to try to get back in the game. The Bruins had their first powerplay of the evening with 6:27 left, but didn’t even get one shot on net. They pulled Swayman with 2:40 to go, and did get an extra attacker goal with just 22 seconds remaining when a Hurricanes defenseman broke his stick and a shot from the point got deflected right to a wide open David Pastrnak who fired it in. The B’s got control in the Carolina zone in the final seconds, and had a chance in front of goalie Antii Raanta but couldn’t find the equalizer.
Swayman made 28 saves in his fifth career playoff start, all consecutive starts in this series. Charlie McAvoy had two assists, while Patrice Bergeron and Hall had one helper each. Boston ends their season with a final record of 54-30-5, forcing the Game 7 by winning three of four games after losing the first two. Domi, who had no career playoff goals in 16 games, led the way with two of them and also adding an assist. Teravainen had a goal and an assist, while Jaccob Slavin added two assists. Raanta made 27 saves. Carolina (58-23-8) will face the NY Rangers in the second round. NY came back to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 in overtime after being down 3-1 in that series.
