The Carolina Hurricanes are trailing the Boston Bruins once again, after losing Game 3 of their first round series yesterday by a score of 3-1.
In my opinion, this was the third game in a row where the Bruins were the better team. They outshot the Hurricanes 39-30 and have outshot them 114-84 in the series.
Carolina got off to a good start and were generating chances, especially on their early power plays. They controlled the game in the first period but then really struggled at even strength after that. Jaroslav Halak didn’t miss a beat after getting called into action and he performed better than Tuukka Rask did in the first two games of the series.
I’ll say again that Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen are scaring me when they’re on the ice together. They keep getting caught out of position and it’s resulting in some quality chances for the Bruins.
Petr Mrazek had a strong game but I’d be a bit surprised if the Hurricanes don’t go back to James Reimer for Game 3. Considering Reimer has the only win of the series so far and the two goalies have been playing in rotation for the last five games, I’d bet on Reimer starting Game 4.
Adding to the loss was the fact that Andrei Svechnikov was injured and may not return to the playoffs.
Rod Brind'Amour, on whether Andrei Svechnikov might return in this series or the playoffs: "I would highly doubt it."
Brind'Amour hadn't received any news from the MRI though.
Losing Svechnikov is a really, really big blow for the Hurricanes. Carolina has relied on their top line for a huge chunk of their offense thus far and there’s really nobody who can replace him. If it were up to me, I’d maybe want to slide Teuvo Teravainen over to the left side then bring Martin Necas up to the top line but then the second line could struggle. No matter what the Hurricanes do, Svechnikov’s absence will be felt.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
With Andrei Svechnikov out, who should play with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen?
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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