Bruins Pushed to Brink After Game 5 Loss in Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Bruins are on the brink of elimination following a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series at PNC Arena. Here are some news and notes from the setback that has Boston in a 3-2 series hole:

A Tough Road

Boston, once again, came out with a solid start over the games first few minutes, but for the fifth consecutive game surrendered the opening goal when Jaccob Slavin scored from the left of Jeremy Swayman at 6:11 of the first period. Tony DeAngelo doubled Carolina's lead with a power-play marker with 7:43 remaining in the opening frame and the Bruins trailed by two after 20 minutes, a deficit that grew to four early in the third period following two goals from Seth Jarvis.
"Well, we're facing elimination," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "That's what makes me the most concerned. [Patrice] Bergeron's line had a number of good chances [early on]. Again, three times in this building and we were the better team over the first six, seven, whatever it was minutes and then they had one chance and it found its way in and that sort of gives them a lot of juice. So that part was good, but not enough.
"I don't know if up and down the lineup - we're going to need a little bit more, whether it's working hard to keep the puck out of the net, which we did up in Boston, a lot better blocking shots, finishing checks so guys can't join the rush, sorting out coverages quick. So, the first goal shouldn't happen if we're on our toes defensively too. So that concerns me. We need to get some guys going…but it's also the time of the year where they that inner drive comes through and that's what we're looking at."
The home team has now won all five games in the series with the Hurricanes taking command at PNC Arena by outscoring Boston, 15-4, in the three contests in Raleigh. Carolina has not yet trailed on home ice in the series.
"It's a tough building to play in," said Brad Marchand. "They feed a lot on the emotion that they get from the crowd. They enjoy playing here, you can see it the way they are with the fans and everything. You can see that they enjoy playing in this building, they feed off of that energy and they have pretty good matchups at home. That all plays apart.
"They're a good team. You can't discredit them. They play extremely hard, they play fast. We knew it was gonna be a tough series. They're a great team. They're competing hard out there, got to give them some credit."
On the flip side, the Bruins have outscored the Hurricanes, 9-4, at TD Garden in their two victories, a trend the Black & Gold hopes to continue Thursday night.
"Well, so far it's been a homer series, so we'd like to continue that for now," said Cassidy. "The Garden has been good to us in this series, so I think our guys will be obviously motivated. They need to be motivated to play because if we don't play well, it's over. So, there's that, first of all. Second of all, like I said, we played very well there in Games 3 and 4, so that'll be good for us, just like it was good to them."

McAvoy Returns

The Bruins did receive quite the surprise before the game with the news that Charlie McAvoy would be arriving from Boston after clearing the NHL's COVID-19 protocol. The blue liner, who was placed into protocol on Sunday morning and missed the B's Game 4 victory, did not travel with the club to Raleigh on Monday and was ruled out by Cassidy following Tuesday's morning skate.
But Cassidy said he found out around midday that McAvoy had been cleared and would be traveling to Carolina and available for Game 5.
"Well, I can tell you for the most part, the medical team, our doctors tell me he's going into protocol and then they tell me today he's coming out at about, I don't know, lunchtime," said Cassidy. "He's going to get on a private plane and he's going to be available because he got cleared. Whatever happened in between, I didn't even take any interest in because I don't know anything about the protocols. So, that's all I know.
"We were planning on playing without him. It's a nice surprise. He got taken out of the protocol to get him in the lineup. You could see that missing some time he wasn't 100 percent, but he gave it what he had and should be better in Game 6."
McAvoy respectfully declined to answer questions about the logistics surrounding his stint in COVID-19 protocol but did say that he experienced symptoms. The bluer liner played a team-high 25:14 with four hits, three blocks, and two shots on goal.
"I got sick," said McAvoy. "I went through it and made it out the other side and here we are now…I tried to show up and put my best foot forward," said McAvoy. "I just tried to give it everything I had tonight…a little tired but just working through it. On the other side of it now. I look forward to feeling better every day."

Tough Puck Luck

Cassidy would not confirm whether or not Swayman would be back between the pipes for Game 6 on Thursday night at TD Garden, saying that it will be something the coach staff discusses further on Wednesday. Boston's bench boss added that he was "comfortable" with Swayman's game, noting that he thought the netminder dealt with some "tough puck luck" in Game 5, which included a deflection on Carolina's second goal midway through the first and an own goal on the Hurricanes' third tally when a Brandon Carlo clearing attempt ricocheted off of Jake DeBrusk and by Swayman to stretch Boston's deficit to 3-0 late in the second.
"I think the second goal goes in off Charlie [McAvoy], it's a tough screen," said Cassidy. "The first one, that's what we talk about, timely saves. I mean, they got a few early on. We needed that one. I think the one we shot into our own off our own guy…so he had a little bit of tough luck, but he gave us a chance after that.
"There was a stretch there we weren't very good in front of him - mismanaged some pucks…he made some timely saves to give us a chance to stay in it. So, I'm certainly not putting this on Jeremy. We need to finish a little better. When we get our opportunities early. That's still an issue for us."