Hurricanes Shoot Themselves In The Foot With Needless Penalties In Second Period

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bruins entered Game 4 with the best postseason power play in the NHL and one of the best postseason power plays of all time. The Hurricanes entered Game 4 with a very bad penalty kill.

So it would stand to reason that, if the Hurricanes were hopeful to keep their season alive, they'd be extremely focused on staying out of the penalty box in order to have a chance against the Bruins on Thursday night.

If that was the plan, though, it went haywire in the second period. And it proved costly.

What has to be extra frustrating for Rod Brind'Amour's club is that neither penalty was at all necessary. In fact, both were pretty careless.

The first came 4:28 into the second period, with the score tied at 0-0. The Hurricanes simply lost track of skaters and were whistled for having too many men on the ice. It was a clear-as-day, no-doubt-about-it call, and it sent the Bruins to the power play for the second time of the evening.

And though the first Bruins' power play didn't net a goal, it didn't take long for the unit to strike this time around.

Just 18 seconds into the power play, a streaking David Pastrnak redirected a feed from Brad Marchand on the left wing. Goaltender Curtis McElhinney, who had played brilliantly to that point, bit hard on the fake shot by Marchand, leaving him well out of position and giving Pastrnak an entire net to aim at on the redirect attempt.

Pastrnak scored, and the Bruins led 1-0.

The Hurricanes, to their credit, did not fold, despite the circumstances. While they did only manage to land four shots on goal in the entire second period, the team continued playing. The remainder of the period was mostly even ... until the Canes committed another careless mistake.

This time it was Greg McKegg. The centerman drove to the net around Torey Krug but lost the puck and then ran out of room, colliding with Rask deep in the crease. It wasn't the most violent collision, but McKegg's knee contacted Rask's head. The contact constituted goaltender interference.

That penalty came with just 1:50 left in the period, with the Bruins still leading by just one goal.

But the lineseman had barely dropped the puck before the Bruins' power play could strike again.

This time it involved some tight passes from Patrice Bergeron, to David Pastrnak, and back to Bergeron. The Bruins' alternate captain fired a snap shot that hit the back of the net before McElhinney could even react to the shot.

That one proved to be the nail in the coffin for what has been a tremendous run for the Carolina Hurricanes, as the Bruins tacked on two more in the third to win 4-0 . Unfortunately for the Canes, they really only have themselves to blame for falling into that second-period hole.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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• Boston Bruins
• NHL
• Brad Marchand