Hurricanes find stride in Game 5, take series lead in Eastern First Round
Take control against Bruins by keeping emotions in check, staying disciplined
"I'd say you're wrong," he said.
It was hard to argue. After the Hurricanes got outplayed by a Boston Bruins team that had found its stride while at home in Games 3 and 4, they returned to PNC Arena and rediscovered the game that had initially put them in command of the Eastern Conference First Round series.
They revived their 5-on-5 play. They stymied the Bruins top line. They controlled their emotions.
They did exactly what they had to do.
And they won Game 5, 5-1, putting them on the verge of the second round. The Hurricanes lead the best-of-7 series 3-2, with a chance to advance in Game 6 at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, SN360, TVAS, NESN, BSSO).
"We know how we've got to play," DeAngelo said. "Penalties got us out of our game last game. Take eight] penalties, you're not going to have success. … When we're on our game 5-on-5, we're very confident that we're going to come out on top. And we were all over the puck tonight."
***[RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Bruins series coverage]*
It started with DeAngelo, who had struggled with his discipline in Game 4, as did the Hurricanes as a whole, taking eight penalties. DeAngelo had found himself in arguments with Brad Marchand, had thrown his stick into the net at the end of the game. He had been on the wrong side of the line.
In Game 5, though, the defenseman seemed nearly transformed, using his offensive gifts to the tune of a goal and two assists, and tamping down the less desirable parts of his game.
"You can always expect that from him," forward Seth Jarvis said. "He's so fiery, so competitive, that everyone knew he was going to be coming out hot. To have a game like he did was huge for us."
That ethos suffused the entire team, which was so good defensively at even strength that it forced Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy to break up his top line to start the third period. The line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak weren't getting anything like the looks or chances they had gotten in Boston, so he tried returning Jake DeBrusk to that line and moving Pastrnak back with Taylor Hall.
It didn't work. Nothing did.
But perhaps the most impressive performance was not that of Jaccob Slavin, despite his brilliance on defense, or Antti Raanta, despite his near perfection in net, or even DeAngelo. No, that honor might have gone to Jarvis, the 20-year-old whose body was still hurting from the less-than-desirable shot he took in Game 4.
He admitted before the game that he was still in pain. And yet, there he was, in front of the net, ready to again sacrifice his body.
"I don't care. If I get hit again, I get hit again," Jarvis said.
He paused.
"Well, I say that now," he added.
He scored twice, the third goal, at 15:52 of the second period, and the fourth, at 3:31 of the third. It was the second power-play goal of the night for the Hurricanes -- DeAngelo scored the other, at 12:17 of the first -- and it was what truly put the Bruins away.
"He's a feisty little guy," DeAngelo said. "He gets in there, he's all over the place. Even when guys try to hit him, he seems to come out of the pile with the puck. He takes contact. He actually initiates it half the time. I don't think he cares about getting hit."
There was a moment where it seemed like the game might swing a different way. Raanta was called upon early, including robbing Marchand with a glove save on a backhand chance 2:52 into the first period. It might have been Boston's best chance of the game.
Because after that, the Hurricanes got the first goal, at 6:11 of the first, by Slavin. It was the fifth time in five games in the series in which the Hurricanes have scored first, and eighth time in eight games including the regular season.
They took off from there, eliminating the mistakes they had made in Boston, playing to their strengths and their talent.
So, coach Rod Brind'Amour was asked, was that how he drew it up?
"It's all about the result," Brind'Amour said. "And obviously it's a good result."
