Casey Mittelstadt scored the opening goal and assisted on Viktor Arvidsson’s eventual game-winner, leading the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon.
The game was scoreless after two periods. Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman (27 saves) made nine stops in each period, holding a shutout until the final three minutes of regulation.
Charlie McAvoy assisted on both goals for Boston, which has won three straight and four of its last five games.
Alexander Nikishin scored the late Hurricanes goal, while Frederik Andersen made 20 saves.
Carolina has lost three of its last four.
The Hurricanes had a 28-22 edge in shots on goal. Both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play.
The Bruins broke the deadlock 1:27 into the third. Mittelstadt cut through center ice and towards the net, where he slotted home a cross-crease pass from McAvoy at the left post. Swayman made a stop on Nikolaj Ehlers at the other end of the ice before the play started.
Arvidsson doubled the Boston lead at 5:05. After a McAvoy blocked shot, Arvidsson flew down the right wing and buried Mittelstadt’s lead pass with a top-shelf wrister off the rush.
Nikishin broke Swayman’s shutout bid in the waning minutes, burying a slap shot from the high slot through the screen of a Boston defender. Mark Jankowski won the puck and sent a pass out of the right wing corner.
Neither team scored in the first two periods despite a high-event opening frame in which the two goaltenders combined to make 20 saves. Boston had an 11-9 edge in first-period shots.
Carolina’s power play more than halfway through the first resulted in quality chances for both sides. After Andersen stopped Mark Kastelic on a shorthanded break-in, Swayman stayed sharp at the other end including a point-blank denial against Jackson Blake.
