Bruins fall short in 2-1 loss to Hurricanes

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Oct 27, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The early season Battle of the East Beasts lived up to its expectations at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.

But the Boston Bruins learned what made the Carolina Hurricanes the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Canes outshot the B’s 30-15 but while Carolina was indeed the better of the two teams, the lopsided shot clock was a bit misleading. Still, the B’s suffered their first regulation loss since losing at home to the Ottawa Senators on October 13, snapping an eight-game point streak (7-0-1).

The Canes took their first lead of the game at 10:14 of the third period on a rush goal from Sebastian Aho.

The B’s had a chance to even the game on two power plays in the final five minutes and, on the second one, they pulled the goal for a 6-on-4. They had their chances but, on their best one, goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stoned David Pastrnak on a turnaround shot from the low slot to thwart their last best chance and the Canes hung on for the win.

The B’s got the start they wanted. Andrei Svechnikov was whistled for slashing the stick out of JJ Peterka’s hands 1:01 into the game and, 30 seconds later, the B’s had the first lead of the game.

Operating along the goal line, Pastrnak fed Elias Lindholm on the inside of the left circle. With his back to the net, Lindholm whirled around and sent a blind pass to Pavel Zacha, who stepped out on the right side of the net and simply let the puck his his stick blade for his third goal of the season. Kochetkov had no chance.

The B’s had opportunities to expand the lead. They had two more power plays which were fruitless and Morgan Geekie, stuck on one goal for the season, had three chances that would not go.

Later in the period, the two heavyweights in the game, Tanner Jeannot and Nic Deslauriers, staged an epic bout. Both combatants landed heavy shots but neither went down and the bout was eventually called due to exhaustion on the part of both fighters.

Coach Marco Sturm had said on Monday that his very promising rookie defenseman Frederic Brunet might be hitting a little bit of a wall. The coach had replaced him on the second power play with Mason Lohrei. And then in the final minute (51.9 seconds left), Brunet was victimized by a couple of veterans.

Behind his own net, Brunet could not find an outlet pass and held onto the puck a little too long. He coughed it up to Nikolai Ehlers, who dished it to Jackson Blake. Blake, who’d taken two minors in the first period, skated parallel with the goal into the slot, flipped the puck over Marat Khusnutdinov’s stick and tucked it past Jeremy Swayman, who was otherwise excellent in the first period (11 saves).

The Canes’ team speed can be a handful and the B’s got a taste of it early in the second. Puck pressure caused a Will Borgen turnover in the neutral zone and Fraser Minten had to take a tripping penalty.

Soon after the B’s killed that off, Carolina exploded for a 2-on-1 and Swayman had to make great toe save on Eric Robinson.

The Canes dominated much of the second period, holding an 8-2 shot advantage, but Swayman remained sharp, keeping the game even.

The B’s nearly took the lead with 4:04 left in the period when Mark Kastelic fired a puck into the crease. With the net wide open and the puck bouncing, Matt Poitras took a swipe at and missed before Jesper Kotkaniemi swept it out of harm’s way. It went to Hampus Lindholm, who could not get it through a maze of players and past Kochetkov.

It was deadlocked at 1-1 after 40 minutes, but the B’s dug themselves a hole for the start of the third. First, Nikita Zadorov took a tripping penalty with 36 seconds left in the second. Then shortly after that, Lindholm took another tripping penalty.

That would give the Canes 1:25 of 5-on-3 to start the third period. The B’s, however, did a great job of killing it off. But creating scoring chances remained a challenge.

Poitras finally created a chance, and a glorious one, with about 10:50 left in the third. He stole the puck in the offensive zone from Deslaurier, made a terrific move to his backhand and had Kochetkov badly beaten. But with a wide open net at which to shoot, Poitras’ backhander clanged the post.

Then with just a little more than a minute later, the Canes finally got the go-ahead goal from Aho with 9:41 left in the third. After Lohrei tried to penetrate into the offensive zone, the Canes gained control and went on the counter-attack. William Carrier’s pass into the middle just eluded the desperate, diving sweep check attempt by Lohrei and Aho was able to sweep it under Swayman.

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