1) Koochie Time
After making just six saves, a charging David Pastrnak ended the night of Carolina's starting netminder not even eight minutes into the game's first period.
Pastrnak collided with Raanta and the netminder went down immediately, needing the attention of Canes head athletic trainer Doug Bennett before having to be helped off the ice. This prompted the entrance of Pyotr Kochetkov, a veteran of just three NHL games - all of which came within the final six days of the Canes regular season schedule.
After getting two goals of support in the next 7:43, the rookie was able to do his part from there, stopping 30 out of 32 and earning a win in relief.
2) Full Force Physicality
After the teams combined for 90 hits on Monday night, the two totaled 78 this evening.
Even following the Pastrnak and Raanta collision, there were several notable instances of the two sides coming together in dangerous ways.
Andrei Svechnikov knocked Hampus Lindholm out of the game after a flooring hit during the second period and then in the moments following Kochetkov and Brad Marchand got into it, leading to the two both receiving slashing minors. The sequence was a pivotal stretch in the contest, elevating tensions to a new level.
In total, there were 22 penalties on the night, resulting in 46 penalty minutes.
3) Capitalizing On The Man Advantage
While they had nine opportunities on the night, Carolina was able to make good on two of their power play attempts on the evening, thanks to Sebastian Aho and Nino Niederreiter. Both wound up with two goals each on the night, with both of their man advantage tallies coming during the second period.
The power play has been under a microscope since starting the month of April 0-for-17, but after scoring in three of their five final regular season games on the man advantage, the ball has started to roll their way.
Both the coaching staff and players have noted the importance of special teams in postseason play and the Canes were able to both garner power play chances from Boston tonight and cash in on them.
