Swayman, Bruins edge Hurricanes for 3rd straight win

BOSTON -- Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 at TD Garden on Saturday.

It was Swayman's first start since allowing seven goals in a 7-2 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

"Really good," Bruins coach Marco Sturm said of Swayman. "It doesn't really surprise me. I expected him to be just like he was today -- outstanding."

Casey Mittelstadt had a goal and assist, and Viktor Arvidsson had a goal for the Bruins (7-7-0), who have won three in a row and four of five. Charlie McAvoy had two assists.

"It was important for us," Swayman said. "We wanted to end this homestand the right way, and we played a complete game today, which is something we can really build on. It's good to have momentum with three (wins) now and feeling good about our game and moving forward."

Alexander Nikishin scored, and Frederik Andersen made 20 saves for the Hurricanes (7-4-0), who have lost three of four.

"We actually got better as the game went on," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "The first period, they only had 11 shots on net, and five in the third, so we did a lot of good things. The problem is the two (goals) that we gave up, our 'D' got a little too aggressive, got caught and it cost us."

Mittelstadt gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 1:27 of the third period. McAvoy jumped into the play, received a pass from Pavel Zacha, kicked it from his skate to his stick and fed Mittelstadt, who scored from in front for his fourth goal of the season.

"It was nice to get one early in the third and play with the lead," Mittelstadt said.

Sturm has told his offensive-minded defensemen how he wants them to play in the offensive zone, and McAvoy's assist was a perfect example.

"I don't want them to lead the rush," Sturm said. "I want them to join the rush, and that's a big difference. Sometimes Charlie's on the forecheck a lot, even this season we've had 'D' on the forecheck all the time, it doesn't matter which 'D' it was – no, not with me. I want them to join the rush, not lead the rush … it's when to do it, and how to do it and he definitely picked the right time today."

Arvidsson increased the lead to 2-0 at 5:05. Mittelstadt lifted the puck out of the defensive zone, allowing Arvidsson to chase it down and create a partial breakaway. His wrist shot from the right face-off circle beat Andersen to the stick side.

"You frustrate the other team to force plays, and if you play good defense, you're going to get opportunities and teams are going to get frustrated and try to make plays they usually don't do and that's when you can catch them on 2-on-1s, or breakaways," Arvidsson said. "We did that today. We played a really good team and played a really solid game."

Nikishin cut the lead to 2-1 at 17:11 with a slap shot from the slot and Andersen pulled for an extra skater.

"We didn't create enough," Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said. "We have to be more aware. A lot of times in the offensive zone and they're just flipping [pucks] out and taking off and creating chances off of that … in this league, being down two with 10 minutes left is hard to come back."

Overall, the Bruins played a sound defensive game, which proved crucial against the Hurricanes.

"It was really good today," Sturm said. "It was very noticeable and we needed to play that way against a team like that. We wanted to have a good start. We wanted to slow them down, especially in the first. We needed good structure and today was probably one of the best games we've played structure-wise for 60 minutes."

NOTES: McAvoy's first assist was his 249th surpassing Dallas Smith for sixth most in Bruins history. … McAvoy became the fifth defenseman in Bruins history with 70 career multi-point games, joining Ray Bourque (388), Bobby Orr (255), Brad Park (97) and Zdeno Chara (83). … Bruins forward Morgan Geekie had his six-game goal streak end. … Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis, who exited a 6-2 win against the New York Islanders on Thursday after blocking shot, was in the lineup and had five shots on goal in 17:20 of ice time.