Talking Points: Boston Bruins Drop Third Straight In Carolina

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Sunday night.

GOLD STAR: Boston Bruins killer Sebastian Aho once again was doing some damage for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Black and Gold. In this one he scored the first goal of the game after creating a turnover against David Pastrnak at the blue line that turned into a one-man rush at the other end where he made a slick move on Linus Ullmark. Aho finished with the goal, four shots on net, six shot attempts, one hit and four takeaways in 18:57 of ice time. Aho also got involved at the physical end of it as well nearly dropping the gloves with Brad Marchand in a sequence that earned both players matching penalties for the rough stuff.

Brad Marchand and Sebastian Aho exchange pleasantries. pic.twitter.com/aGQpIHib66

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) January 29, 2023

BLACK EYE: David Pastrnak has been phenomenal for long stretches of the regular season, but he was not good against Carolina on Sunday. His turnover at the offensive blue line (which somehow wasn’t a turnover on the stat sheet) set the tone when it allowed Sebastian Aho to score on a breakaway, and really gave a preview of what was going to happen for the rest of the game. Pastrnak was kept off the scoreboard and held to four shots on net, and was once again overpowered by Jordan Staal for the clinching empty netter after his shot went way wide on a PP possession with the goalie pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage in the third period. Pastrnak was far from alone in having a rough game, but he really was not good against Carolina.

TURNING POINT: The Boston Bruins had a pair of power play possessions in the third period while trailing and that could have been the moment when they really made a push. Instead they failed to score on one of the possessions and then ended up giving up the empty net goal on the second one when coach Jim Montgomery opted to keep Linus Ullmark out of the net for the 6-on-4 advantage. That was the backbreaker that came after another backbreaker when Seth Jarvis beat Brandon Carlo in a one-on-one battle for a loose puck before burying a backhanded breakaway.

HONORABLE MENTION: While he wasn’t tested a ton, Frederik Andersen did the job for the Hurricanes stopping 25-of-26 shots in the game and keeping the Boston Bruins at bay whenever they tried to get anything going offensively. That being said, the Bruins didn’t exactly pepper Andersen at any point and that’s obvious when a defenseman like Hampus Lindholm leads the team with five shots on net during the game.

BY THE NUMBERS: 3 – the number of losses in a row for the Boston Bruins, who are now officially in their first slump of the regular season.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I thought they checked us right out of the rink. They competed hard and that turned into a lot of odd-man rushes. Two of the goals they scored came right out of turnovers.” –Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, on NESN during the postgame.