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BHN Talking Points

Talking Points: Andersen, Canes Shut Out Boston Bruins

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3 years ago

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Boston Bruins

RALEIGH, NC – Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena that finishes off the B’s getting swept in back-to-back road games in Florida and Carolina.

GOLD STAR: The Boston Bruins have seen Freddie Andersen standing on his head before and they saw it again on Thursday night. Andersen stopped all 33 shots he faced in a shutout performance against the Bruins and was brilliant when he needed to be, and a little lucky at other times when the B’s fumbled some chances around the net. His best save came in the first period when he managed to extend a leg pad and hold the line on a Taylor Hall bid as the left winger tried to jam one inside the post. It looked it should have been a sure Bruins goal, but Andersen kept the B’s off the board until the Hurricanes could take advantage of a few fortunate bounces. Andersen was the biggest reason behind the win for the Canes.

BLACK EYE: The power play is dreadful right now. The top unit is forcing plays and having a lot of trouble setting up in the offensive zone and Boston’s best players are missing on easy chances around the net when they do arise. None was worse than Taylor Hall simply missing on a point-blank, wide-open chance after a Brad Marchand dish, and simply shooting the puck out of the net with Andersen down and out while struggling to recover. That was Boston’s best chance on the PP, but instead they blew a pair of 5-on-3 chances and finished 0-for-5 on the power play during the game. It was an issue in last night’s loss to the Panthers as well, so there is clearly some work to be done with the PP unit right now.

A second BLACK EYE given to this big, red and round yutz behind the visiting penalty box at Canes games.

TURNING POINT: The Bruins were trailing 1-0 and still playing with some pretty good competitiveness against the Hurricanes in the second period. But they lost some bite when a second friendly fire goal went in against the B’s, this time a Nino Niederreiter centering pass that instead bounced off Derek Forbort’s skate and floated past a surprised Jeremy Swayman. Once the Hurricanes were up by two goals with a flaccid Bruins PP not getting the job done, there was very little chance the B’s were going to be able to climb back into this game. Perhaps at some point they will regain that feeling they can always come back, but right now they don’t have the offensive gusto to come back from deficits.

HONORABLE MENTION: While he finished minus-2 for the evening, Jake DeBrusk has actually been playing consistently well for the Bruins. He had a breakaway chance that he wasn’t able to put the finishing touches on early in the game and has continued to create scoring chances for himself and his linemates early in the season. DeBrusk finished Thursday night with a team-high five shots on net and eight shot attempts overall and has looked good playing an up-tempo game with Erik Haula when they’ve been paired together on the third line. These are all good signs that DeBrusk is finding some consistency and attacking the net with regularity each and every night.

BY THE NUMBERS: 7-1 – the aggregate amount that the Bruins were outscored in a pair of “measuring stick” games against the undefeated Panthers and Hurricanes this week.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I don’t know if their guy whacked my stick a little at the end or I just literally shot it out of the net. A bit of a mistake, but if you notice we’re a little tight gripping the sticks. If everybody, myself included, is feeling uber-confident that’s an easy tap-in.” –Taylor Hall, talking about missing an open net in the third period.

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