Recap: Canes Edged by Bruins

Sebastian Aho extended his season-opening point streak to 12 games, but the Carolina Hurricanes were on the wrong side of a 3-2 decision against the Boston Bruins.
Micheal Ferland and Dougie Hamilton scored power-play goals for the Hurricanes, but Brad Marchand tallied a pair of goals, including the game-winner in the third period.
Here are five takeaways from tonight's game.

One
The margin for error in the National Hockey League is slim, as the Hurricanes discovered again in their three-game homestand finale against the Bruins.
A hard-working, shorthanded defensive play at one end of the ice, a sloppy change by the Canes, a pass down the ice and a power-play goal, all in the blink of an eye. Tie game. Late second period. The lead that the Hurricanes had, gone, the momentum, vanished.

"We took a couple penalties in a row," Hamilton said. "It swings that quick. That's hockey."
"Bad decision. Change. We took a breath. I'll give Bergeron a lot of credit. He came back, saved a goal, zipped it up, then they get a goal," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We've got to learn that you can't take a breath on the ice. That's what happened, and that cost us the game. If we're up 2-1 going into the third, I think we're in better shape. We've got to learn from it and keep moving forward."
That was Marchand's first goal of the game, and he would add the game-winning dagger in the third period, as he motored along the far wing and scored on a wrap-around.
"Not the outcome we wanted. I thought we played a good game," Scott Darling said. "They're a good team, but tough to lose that one."
"The margins are tight here. We're right there, but it can go either way. Right now, it's going the other way. A mistake here or there is costing us games," Brind'Amour said. "We just have to stick with it and get rid of those mistakes. … Those are killing us."

Two
The story through the first 40 minutes: special teams at both ends of the ice. A 2-2 tie score after two periods was the result of two power-play goals for either team. For the Canes, that was good news (a power play converting at 50 percent through two periods) and bad news (a penalty kill also converting at 50 percent through two periods).
It took all of eight seconds for the Hurricanes to convert on their first power play of the game. The Canes controlled the puck off the offensive-zone faceoff, and Valentin Zykov kicked it out to Aho, creeping in from the point. Aho sent a wrist shot toward traffic at the net, and through the chaos, Ferland whacked the puck in the net for his 100th NHL point.
It was another offensive-zone faceoff win that led to the Canes' second power-play marker of the game. As he does more often than not, Jordan Staal won the draw cleanly (he was 10-for-16 at the time and finished 14-for-24) back to Hamilton for the one-time rocket.

"We're working away at it. To get rewarded is nice," Hamilton said. "Too bad it came when we didn't have any 5-on-5 goals. Hopefully better next game with 5-on-5 goals and power-play goals."
Three
Third October's a charm for Aho.
After recording five assists in each of his first two Octobers in the NHL, Aho had a historic one in 2018.

Not only did he find the back of the net in October for the first time in his career (four times, in fact), Aho also added his name to franchise and league record books. Aho now holds the franchise records for the long season-opening point streak and the longest assist streak at any point in the season. He also tied an NHL record, becoming just the third player in league history to record an assist in each of his team's first 12 games of a season, joining Wayne Gretzky (1982-83 with EDM) and Ken Linseman (1985-86 with BOS). Elite company, including Ron Francis, who was the previous record holder for the franchise record season-opening point streak.
Four
Darling made 28 saves on 31 shots in his regular-season debut after he missed the first three-plus weeks with a lower-body injury.
"I'd like a second chance at that first goal," he said, referencing David Pastrnak's sharp-angle power-play tally in the second. "It was a close game. Disappointed with the outcome."

Darling's highlight stop of the night came in a scoreless first period, when he sprawled across the crease to deny Jake DeBrusk's scoring chance.
"He made some real big saves. We had some breakdowns, and they had a couple shorthanded chances. He held us in there," Brind'Amour said. "We've just got to find ways to score a few more goals."
Five
The Hurricanes finish October with a 6-5-1 record (13 points). They currently sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division, but that's a constantly fluid situation this early in the season.
So far, not bad. But, not great either.
"I'm not happy where we're at, for sure. Nobody would be happy with the record. I'm happy with the level of compete. I'm happy with a lot of things. But at the end of the day, we're here to win hockey games, so we've got to find a way to get over that hump," Brind'Amour said. "We've got to nip that in the bud right now and figure out ways to win."
Up Next
The Hurricanes will hit the road at the outset of November for a four-game road trip that will take the team through Arizona, Vegas, St. Louis and Chicago.
"Day off tomorrow," Hamilton said. "Then go back to work and hopefully win some games."