Bruins Blow Out Hurricanes To Take 2-0 Lead In Eastern Conference Final
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins are now just two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final. And they arrived there with authority.
Playing on home ice on Sunday afternoon, the Bruins opened up a 3-0 lead early in the second period before turning the game into a full-fledged blowout in the third period, winning by a score of 6-2.
The game was scoreless through most of the first period, until Marcus Johansson toured the offensive zone and dished to Matt Grzelcyk. The Bruins' D-man fired from the left faceoff circle and beat Carolina netminder Petr Mrazek for the first goal of the game.
The Bruins doubled the lead before the first period expired, when Jake DeBrusk scored on a third-chance opportunity just 6 seconds into a power play.
Carolina captain Justin Williams was in the box for tripping at the time.
The Bruins built upon that lead just 3:46 into the second period, when Connor Clifton twirled around the Carolina net to find space for a deflected pass from Marcus Johansson. Clifton scored into a vacated net to make the score 3-0 in favor of the home team.
It was the first career goal for Clifton, who played in 19 regular-season games and was playing in his 10th playoff game on Sunday.
Grzelcyk, who scored just three goals in the regular season, scored his second of the game 17:57 into the second period late in a power play, giving Boston a 4-0 lead.
The lead ballooned to 5-0 on a David Backes goal from the doorstep just 70 seconds into the third period, and a Danton Heinen goal just after Boston killed a penalty made the score 6-0 with 15:28 left to play.
Carolina finally got on the scoreboard 11:17 into the third period, when Justin Williams redirected a point shot by Justin Faulk past Rask. Teuvo Teravainen scored in the waning minutes of the game, after Rask failed to clear the zone and left his net.
Rask made 21 saves in the game.
Game 3 will be played Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET in Raleigh.