Hurricanes take commanding Game 5 win, series lead over Bruins behind rookie Jarvis' 2-goal effort

May 11, 2022

Rookie Seth Jarvis scored twice and Antti Raanta finished with 34 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 on Tuesday night for a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C.

Defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo scored first-period goals for the Hurricanes, and Vincent Trocheck added an empty-netter.

The series has yet to see a team secure a road win. It wasn’t close to happening in this one, either, with the Hurricanes playing from in front and carrying the action in a much cleaner performance than their mistake-filled showings in Boston.

With the Game 5 win, the Hurricanes have two chances to close out the Bruins. Game 6 is Thursday in Boston, and Game 7, if needed, on home ice Saturday.

Raanta was sharp all night, highlighted by stopping a left-alone Brad Marchand at the top of the crease by going down and getting his left wrist on the puck in the first period. He carried a shutout until midway through the third period when Connor Clifton scored on a rush to make it 4-1.

Then there was Jarvis, who had a tough Game 4 when he took a puck to the groin on a slap shot by teammate Brendan Smith. He laughed it off earlier Tuesday, even while saying he was still in pain from it.

No matter, Jarvis was willing to tussle at the crease to set up both of his goals. The first came when he was knocked to the ice on the left side by Brandon Carlo, but whipped his stick around to hit the puck — which hit the right skate of Boston’s Jake DeBrusk and fluttered over Jeremy Swayman to reach the net for a 3-0 lead at 15:52 of the second.

He came through with another early in the third, reaching around Swayman to corral a puck that had slipped underneath the netminder and tapping it in at 3:31 of the third.

Carolina ran out to a 2-0 series lead with two strong home performances. But the Bruins regrouped on home ice, capitalizing on 14 Carolina penalties along with the Hurricanes appearing to lose composure by Game 4, leveling the series.

This time, the Hurricanes stayed out of the box (three penalties) to keep the game largely at their preferred even strength in a game with far fewer scuffles and post-whistle antics by both teams.

Swayman finished with 33 saves, including numerous big stops for the Bruins, and keeping them close early as Carolina asserted control.