Jaroslav Halak, who was a late replacement for Tuukka Rask, stopped 29 shots as the Boston Bruins overcame a roster adjustment to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 in game three of their first round NHL playoff series on Saturday.
Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand each had a goal and an assist and Sean Kuraly scored the other goal for Boston, who took a 2-1 series lead over the Hurricanes.
David Krejci had two assists for the Bruins, who are to play game four against Carolina in the best-of-seven series today.
Boston goaltender Rask opted out of the rest of the playoffs because of personal reasons.
The move was announced 90 minutes prior to the start of the game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
“I want to be with my teammates competing, but at this moment there are things more important than hockey in my life, and that is being with my family,” Rask said.
Halak, of Slovakia, had played in only the opener of the first five games for Boston since the season resumed earlier this month after being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are not going to change the way we play no matter who is in net,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We can’t be worried about who’s out of the line-up. We have to worry about who is in the lineup.”
Carolina’s Nino Niederreiter scored with 13 minutes, 30 seconds to play in the third period when Halak’s turnover from behind the goal resulted in an easy shot into the empty net, cutting the Bruins lead to 2-1. Swiss forward Niederreiter was in the lineup after he was scratched in Thursday’s game two.
Goalie Petr Mrazek made 36 stops for the Hurricanes.
In other games on Saturday, it was:
‧ Coyotes 4, Avalanche 2
‧ Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2
‧ Knights 2, Blackhawks 1
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