RALEIGH, N.C. — A few weeks ago, Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes was asked what the Stanley Cup playoffs might be like for him. After all, he is a rookie.
"I don't know," Jarvis said. "You tell me, dude."
Here's what it was like Monday:
The Hurricanes took on the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their first-round series, winning 5-1 behind the goaltending of Antti Raanta, some stout penalty killing and more than enough scoring.
Before the game, the parking lots were filled with tailgaters, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Once inside PNC Arena, they were at full throat and waving white towels.
The puck went down and the hitting and checking began. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said there would be animosity in the series, and it crept into it early.
And wouldn't you know it, a rookie had the first goal of the series — forward Seth Jarvis, No. 24.
There would be more. Nino Niederreiter quickly pushed the Canes lead to 2-0 in the second, and Teuvo Teravainen made it 3-1 in the third after the Bruins had broken through on a Taylor Hall goal. When Vincent Trocheck backhanded the puck past goalie Linus Ullmark, it was 4-1 and Andrei Svechnikov's late empty-netter finished it off.
The Bruins outshot the Canes, making it an active night for Raanta, who was making his first career playoff start. Raanta had Canes fans gasping with some of his stops.
The Bruins, in beating the Canes in the 2019 and 2020 playoffs, were nearly unstoppable on the power play. But Carolina killed off an early penalty by defenseman Brady Skjei, and penalties in the second and third periods, clearing the puck, winning draws in their zone.
The two teams had gone at it for more than 36 minutes, through a scoreless first period and into the second before Jarvis' goal. Both Raanta, who had 35 stops in the game. and Ullmark had made some sweet saves, with Raanta fighting the puck at times but making the stops.
Then, Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin got off a shot from the point. Jarvis tipped the puck down and through Ullmark's pads at 16:28 of the second and the place was very loud.
Then, it got louder. After some smart puck movement by the Canes, Niederreiter ripped off a shot from the top of the left circle. With Jordan Staal and Martin Necas in front of Ullmark, the goalie never got sight of the puck.
Make it two goals in two minutes and 10 seconds. While being outshot in the first 40 minutes, the Canes had the 2-0 lead they took into the third.
The Bruins used some hard work behind the Canes net to chop the lead in half, Erik Haula getting the puck out to Taylor Hall for a shot from the slot at 2:53 of the third.
But the Canes struck on a rush into the Bruins zone as Trocheck found Teravainen on the left wing and Teravainen beat Ullmark with a top-shelf bullet.
The Canes believed they had scored in the first period and jamming the puck past Ullmark with seven minutes remaining in the period. But the ruling was goaltender interference and no goal.
The Bruins also came ever-so-close to taking the lead in the first. Jake DeBrusk got off a shot 20 seconds into the game that Raanta struggled to stop at the post, and Raanta later had the puck get behind him and needed an assist from defenseman Brendan Smith.
