RALEIGH, N.C. — It was a game that had bad blood and real blood, big hits and brutal hits, and there could be more to come.
The Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins engaged in a playoff game Wednesday that had all the elements of two teams that really don't like each other. Respect each other? Yes. But like? No, not at all.
The Hurricanes emerged Wednesday with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of the first-round series and will take a 2-0 series lead to Boston for Games 3 and 4. They also could go into TD Garden with a rookie goalie starting and facing both a hostile Bruins crowd and Bruins team.
Everything changed in a flash Wednesday, the series going from heated to hated. It happened as fast as Bruins forward David Pastrnak could throw his hands into the face of Canes goalie Antti Raanta.
Pastrnak, crashing the net in the first period, initially attempted to slow down as he approached the cage, as if to avoid Raanta. But Pastrnak threw up his hands, hitting Raanta in the mask, leaving him down and bloodied at 7:47 of the first period.
Game on. In came rookie goalie Pyotr Kochetkov. The PNC Arena crowd became fully engaged. So did the Canes, who took a 2-0 lead on goals by Jesper Fast and Sebastian Aho, who scored twice in the game.
The second period was a continuation of collisions and nasty scrums as Carolina added to the lead. The Canes' Andrei Svechnikov leveled defenseman Hampus Lindholm with a megaton hit behind the Boston net — the replays on the big scoreboard drawing as many gasps from the crowd as the hit itself.
Moments later, Kochetkov and Marchand were going at it on the other end — a push, a whack of the stick. The rookie did not back down from the veteran as both were called for slashing.
With so many players crowding into the penalties boxes, the Canes were able to build a 4-1 lead on power-play goals by Aho and Nino Niederreiter. The goal by Niederreiter came late in a 5-on-3 advantage after the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron had scored on a power play, popping a rebound past Kochetkov.
Bergeron would score again in the third period as the Bruins tested Kochetkov, pulling goalie Linus Ullmark with 4:30 left in regulation for a sixth attacker and having a two-man advantage after a Canes penalty. But Nino Niederreiter's empty-net goal finished it off.
There would be more nastiness in the third as the Bruins' Derek Forbort high-sticked Teuvo Teravainen in the face for a double minor.
The Canes ruled Raanta out with an upper-body injury and that would be worrisome for Carolina with goalie Frederik Andersen out with a lower-body injury. Jack LaFontaine, who was called up this week from Chicago of the AHL to serve as the third goalie, quickly dressed and watched from the locker room.
Kochetkov spent most of the season in Russia's KHL and then with the Wolves in the AHL before the call came from Raleigh as an emergency callup. Kochetkov went from backup to starter when Raanta was injured on a three-game road trip, starting against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers after relieving Raanta against the Islanders.
Kochetkov was the winner in all three games. Now he has experienced the NHL playoffs for the first time.
