Bruins make Canes look silly in Game 1 win

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For the first time in the NHL post season, the Carolina Hurricanes looked outmatched.

In fact, they earned their silly moniker of “The Jerks” in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final with the Boston Bruins.

A parade of stupid penalties in the third period ended with the Bruins posting four goals in the the final frame en route to a 5-2 victory and 1-0 series lead.

In a span of 28 seconds, the Bruins turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead on power play goals from Marcus Johansson and Patrice Bergeron.

The game was over before three minutes had gone in the third period.

“I think it’s nice to get those goals,” Bergeron said, “and you know, I think we took the momentum once we did, and after that it’s kind of contagious and every line got going, and that’s what you need.”

That’s how quickly the Canes fell from heroes to jerks.

“We’re not going to win if we don’t play better than that,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had spurts, but that’s not going to be good enough, I don’t think, during the regular season. Certainly, it’s not going to be good enough at this time of the year. So we’ll regroup and try to get better for the next game.”

Tuukka Rask made 29 saves to get the win.

Sebastian Aho and Greg McKegg  scored for the Canes.

“This playoff, we’ve been successful holding leads, and we got kicked in the pants a little bit today,” Carolina captain Justin Williams said. “That hasn’t happened in a while, and we’ve got to get the next one.”

Steven Kampfer, had a goal for the Bruins as a late insert in the lineup for the suspended Charlie McAvoy.

Charlie Coyle sealed it with an empty-net goal late and Chris Wagner added an unassisted goal off a steal in the neutral zone for the final marker.

“I thought the third was the way we want to play,” Bergeron said. “I’m not going to lie: The second goal got us going, got the momentum on our side and then we got rolling. The third period was a little bit more the type of game we want to bring.”

[WATCH: Hurricanes vs. Bruins Game 1 highlights | Complete series coverage]

Petr Mrazek made 23 saves in the loss.

“I think we were playing a not-bad game but had the lead in the third and took some penalties and gave them the lead. So tough to come back from that,” Dougie Hamilton said.