The Bruins desperately needed a win, and that’s exactly what they got Friday night in Game 3 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Hurricanes.
Boston defeated Carolina 4-2 at TD Garden thanks to an incredible game from “unsung hero” Derek Forbort, some secondary scoring and the top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak finally breaking through.
The series now is 2-1 in favor of the Hurricanes with Game 4 set for Sunday afternoon.
Here are four takeaways from Friday’s win:
Jeremy Swayman looked strong
The rookie goalie made his first Stanley Cup Playoffs start between the pipes and made 25 saves. Swayman came up big on Carolina’s five power plays to keep it off the board. He had a simple mindset going into Game 3.
“Do everything you can to win. Simple,” Swayman told reporters after the game, per video provided by the team. “That was special. The only other time I had was last year when COVID allowed fans to come in, so that was electric. But it’s a great experience every time you walk into a full building here and playoffs is a whole other level. It was so great to get the win in front of our hometown (fans) tonight.”
There were some timely saves made in the win, something head coach Bruce Cassidy harped on after losses in Games 1 and 2.
“I thought he played great, he made some huge saves at timely moments of the game where it could’ve changed the outcome,” Brad Marchand, who had a goal and two assists in the win, told reporters. “He seemed to be very composed. It’s a high-pressure game (Friday). We knew the magnitude of the game, and he came in, he was prepared. But I think that’s what we kind of expected from him.”
Swayman earned high praise from Cassidy and will get the start for Game 4.
Derek Forbort was a difference-maker
Forbort had a game-high nine blocked shots and played 23:07. The defenseman was incredible, to say the least, on the penalty kill and was just a blocking machine all night. The Bruins probably don’t win Game 3 without Forbort, whom Cassidy called one of the “unsung heroes” of Friday.
With the loss of Hampus Lindholm for Game 3, it was nice to see someone on the blue line step up and put their body on the line.
“He’s one of those guys that plays the game that guys don’t want to play. He sacrifices every night for the group. Puts his body in harm’s way,” Marchand told reporters. “You have to be able to have guys that are willing to put their bodies on the line every night and risk getting hurt every night if you wanna go deep. He’s a huge reason (we won).
“He blocks some really good opportunities from that team over there. He has all year. He’s the reason we’re in the position we’re in. He’s a big reason we won tonight. And a huge reason why the PK was good at big moments tonight. Gotta give him a ton of credit.
“Sometimes those guys that eat pucks don’t get the credit they deserve. It’s great that he’s getting that recognition because you don’t win without guys like that.”
Offense!
The Bruins offense came alive — twice on the power play — to help lift them to a win.
Charlie Coyle injected life into the team with his game-tying goal before Taylor Hall, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand added goals of their own.
“When (DeBrusk) and (Coyle) made that play shorthanded to get us back in the game, it just changed our whole demeanor,” Marchand told reporters. “We’ve kind of been playing catch-up all series, and it felt good to know that we can come back in those situations, and we can respond the way we have in the past.”
For Marchand in particular, it was nice to see him light the lamp after going through a bit of a scoring drought to end the regular season. His go-ahead goal marked the first time the Bruins had a lead over the Hurricanes not just all series, but during their three games in 2021-22.
“I felt engaged,” Marchand told reporters. “It’s kind of been a while since I felt that. I think the importance of the situation that we were in hit us all. The guys just seemed like they were prepared when they got to the rink (Friday).”
Bruins have life
The Bruins were in danger of heading into Game 4 and facing elimination, and even despite the ‘Canes scoring first, Boston never gave up and played to its strengths all night. Carolina had its way with the Black and Gold going 3-0-0 in the regular season, but there’s a reason people say that regular season stats don’t matter when it comes to the playoffs.
“Obviously, they had the edge on us during the regular season, but the playoffs is a whole different animal,” Pastrnak told reporters. “It’s two great hockey teams facing each other in the playoffs.”
Now the B’s look to make it a 2-2 series Sunday. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on NESN.
