Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins: Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 3 Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/6/2022

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3 -- Hurricanes lead 2-0

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: TD Garden, Boston, MA

Where to watch: TNT, NESN, Bally Sports South

DraftKings: Bruins -135, Hurricanes +110

BetMGM: Bruins -125, Hurricanes +105

Caesars: Bruins -130, Hurricanes +110

Alright, so here’s the thing. I am fully aware that it’s a best-of-7 series. I am well aware that it takes four wins to advance to the next round. I get that the Boston Bruins are not out of this, and part of me thinks to lean on them in Game 3 because the home crowd will do its part.

But holy cow I don’t think many anticipated the Carolina Hurricanes to blow the doors off the Bruins through two games. Yes, I get that the Hurricanes have outscored the Bruins TWENTY-SIX TO FOUR THIS SEASON and that this might have been widely expected, but not so much to this extent, I feel.

The Hurricanes lead the best-of-7 series 2-0 with Game 3 at TD Garden in Boston on Friday.

Carolina is coming off a 5-2 win over the Bruins in Raleigh, but the goalie situation in Carolina makes this more interesting than I think we anticipated. Pyotr Kochetkov came in for relief on Antti Raanta, made 30 saves and shut the door on the Bruins.

The Hurricanes are already down Freddie Andersen, and with the status of Raanta up in the air, it might be looking more like the rookie gets the call for Game 3.

"We've got faith in the kid," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We've seen him. It's not like we're just throwing him in. The guys responded in the way they played in front of him, but he responded in the way he played. There's a lot of faith in that group with our goalie."

Even though the scores were similar in the first two games, it couldn’t have gone any different. Linus Ullmark played well for the first period and a half, the Bruins were the aggressors on offense, and the Hurricanes couldn’t get much going until midway through in Game 1.

Game 2? Completely different. The Canes struck quick with two goals in the first period, got two goals from Sebastian Aho, and Kochetkov came in with no fear and even cost Brad Marchand $5,000. What a time.

"We've gotten some plays off tips and things like that," Brind'Amour said. "We've gone months when we couldn't get one of those. Right now it's working for us."

The Bruins, as we talked up top, don’t have many goals on this Carolina team. No matter who is in net, they absolutely can’t score and it’s troublesome. Perhaps they should’ve used those investments in getting Hampus Lindholm to getting some sort of ammunition on the forward line.

By the way, all the best to him after getting ROCKED by Andrei Svechnikov.

"Their special teams were good tonight," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I thought our power play was better, produced. And then it comes down to discipline. We were in the box a lot tonight, and you have to look at that and see what was warranted, what wasn't, but that can't continue either."

Safe to say this is an important game for the Bruins. For all the years Boston has tormented Carolina in the playoffs, this appears to be the Canes’ time. However…

I’m going to take the benefit of the doubt and say the Bruins at least bounce back for Game 3. There’s no way the likes of Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak don’t figure out how to score at home. If Kochetkov is the starter, you better believe they’re coming at him with everything. Bruins win 4-3

Hurricanes are 7-3 this season after three straight overs.

Hurricanes are 30-7 this season when scoring at least three goals in consecutive games.

Bruins are 12-3 this season when giving up three goals or more in consecutive games.

Bruins:

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Jake DeBrusk

Taylor Hall -- Erik Haula -- David Pastrnak

Trent Frederic -- Charlie Coyle -- Craig Smith

Nick Foligno -- Tomas Nosek -- Curtis Lazar

Hampus Lindholm -- Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk -- Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton

Jeremy Swayman

Hurricanes:

Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis

Max Domi -- Vincent Trocheck -- Teuvo Teravainen

Nino Niederreiter -- Derek Stepan -- Jesper Fast

Jordan Martinook -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Martin Necas

Ian Cole -- Tony DeAngelo

Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce

Brendan Smith -- Ethan Bear

Pyotr Kochetkov