In Boston, the Bruins thoroughly controlled the play in a Sunday matinee, and defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2.
“I think early on, they tested us for sure. On our breakouts, I don’t think we were as clean as we wanted to be,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Getting some momentum here will be a positive. … It’s great to even [the series] and get back into it, but we haven’t won anything other than getting it back to even.”
The Game 4 win tied the series at 2-2.
Game 5 is on Tuesday in Raleigh.
Carolina was called for 18 minutes of penalties, and Boston went 2-for-9 on the power play.
The Hurricanes were scoreless in five chances.
Brad Marchand hit for a double, including once off the power play.
“To be honest, [five points] doesn’t mean anything, personally,” Marchand said. “At the end of the day, if you have 10 points individually, and you lose, it doesn’t matter. If you have no points, and you win, you’re just as happy. So it doesn’t matter in our room who scores or who puts up points. It’s a team win or loss.”
Jake DeBrusk scored the other power play goal for the Bruins.
Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves in the Boston win.
Marchand also collected three assists in the win.
Brett Pesce scored to give the Canes an early 1-0 lead in the game.
“That felt good, but not as good as I would have liked after the game,” Pesce said. “[Staal], what a pass. It fell right on to my stick, and I just tried to get it to the net. Thankfully, it went in.”
Patrice Bergeron tied it, 1-1 before the end of the opening frame.
“It’s tough. They’re too good a team to just give them goals. We have no chance if that’s going to happen,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It starts over now. We’ll just regroup. You should have emotion right now, it should hurt, and it should bother you. Then tomorrow you start fresh, and you’re excited we’ve got another game to play.”
Jordan Staal restored the Carolina lead in the middle frame.
Marchand his for his power play strike early in the third period to tie the game, 2-2.
“I think it was a great effort, overall. We talked about taking it a game at a time, even when we got down 2-0 [in the series]. It’s all about the next game. Here we are, and now it’s all about Game 5,” Bergeron said. “You have to build some momentum and confidence. We did that in Game 3 and tried to carry that into this afternoon.”
David Pastrnak scored what proved to be the winner in the third period, for a 3-2 lead.
“I didn’t have it covered, but I felt like if you can take the goalie out his balance, and then score, it should be goalie interference,” Raanta said. “I had a good conversation with the referee, and it is what it is. It’s one of those where you just have to regroup and get back to work. It’s frustrating.”
Marchand added an empty net goal for the 5-2 final.
Antti Raanta made 23 saves in the Hurricanes loss.
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