The story of Game 1 of the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Boston Bruins belongs to goaltender Antti Raanta.
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The masked “Canes” man saved 35 pucks in a 5-1 win on Monday.
It was the first time that the 32-year-old Finn started a career playoff game, he who came in relief in the playoffs twice in the uniform of the Arizona Coyotes (2020) and three times with the Rangers of New York (2016).
“For me, this was my first start in the playoffs in the National League,” said Raanta, whose comments were translated by NHL.com.
“I was just trying to focus on the things that allowed me to be successful. It was working fine. But it’s only one game, one victory. Now we have to regroup and prepare for the next game.”
“Their goaltender made the saves and there were pucks in front of the net that we couldn’t take, but the chances were there,” noted Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy.
“Raanta is paid to play too and he has done a good job. He kept them in the game from the start. We were ready to play, but we were unable to find the back of the net quickly.
An important goal
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour obviously highlighted his goaltender’s performance, but he also identified his team’s third success as a very important factor in his team’s gain.
In the third period, after the Bruins had reduced the gap to one goal, Teuvo Teravainen gave a more comfortable cushion to his team.
“Teravainen’s goal was very important for us,” Brind’Amour said. We couldn’t generate anything and they kept attacking. It calmed things down for the rest of the game.”
Vincent Trocheck put a definitive end to the hopes of the Boston skaters afterwards to bring the score to 4 to 1. In front of the losers’ cage, Linus Ullmark totaled 20 saves in 24 shots.
“The fourth goal didn’t change anything,” Cassidy said. Ullmark will tell you that’s a bad goal to allow, but at the time it was 4-1, so we’re not going to blame Ullmark. No matter who will be the goaltender for us, you have to be able to fight to get the puck.
With this statement, the Bruins pilot suggests that he may trust Jeremy Swayman, Wednesday night, for the second duel of the series.