Canes at Bruins

Having been recalled on an emergency basis, Fraser Minten’ make’s Boston Bruins debut is imminent. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound, left-shot center acquired from Toronto in the Brandon Carlo deal had played 15 NHL games with the Maple Leafs this season and four ahead of those last season. He has 2-2-4 career totals, giving him a ways to go to catch Wayne Gretzky and Alexander Ovechkin.

Seriously, though, No. 93’s appearance in the pregame warm-up for tonight’s game against the playoff-bound Carolina Hurricanes is encouraging from a standpoint of the future is now.

The Hurricanes are virtually locked in second place in the Metropolitan Division. With only a handful of games remaining, it’s very difficult for the Canes to move up or back in the standings.

The Bruins escaped official playoff elimination today when the Devils beat the Rangers, but if Montreal takes a point out of its home game tonight against Philadelphia, then the Bruins are out. Likewise is the case if the Bruins don’t win tonight. Any combination of those outcomes and the deal is sealed.

The fans in TD Garden are festive tonight, as seems to be the trend when the tired season-ticket holders start giving them away. Lots of first NHL games get logged in April.

Freddy Andersen against Jeremy Swayman tonight.

Teams take the ice for the game, and the Minten era begins … Minten, by the way, is the first Bruin ever to wear 93. Take that, Petr Nedved.

FIRST PERIOD

Minten’s line (with Marat Khusnutdinov and Vinni Lettieri) started the game. Minten shows nice defensive instincts to disrupts transition plays in the middle of the rink, but his line got caught for three consecutive icings, as the Hurricanes bounced back from early Boston pressure to dominate the middle of the opening period.

It is simply amazing how David Pastrnak can turn nothing into something.

Late in the period he lost the handle on a possession and, trapped at the left point, he made a turn-around play to the net that almost connected with a teammate.

In recent games, Pastrnak has invented penalties on opponents that way Larry Bird used to up-fake Celtics’ foes. The guy never stops inventing the game of hockey and, just as importantly during the garbage time of the current season, never stops competing.

Morgan Geekie (my vote for the Bruins’ nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy) scored with 1:11 remaining in the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. The Bruins poured it on, and Elias Lindholm redirected a pass under Andersen to make it 2-0 with 12.8 seconds left in the frame.

The Bruins’ last two-goal lead was during their 4-0 win at Tampa Bay on March 8, the first game after the trade deadline.

SECOND PERIOD

The scoreboard has a ton of info, most of it incidental, but the Hurricanes are on the board for one hit in the first period. (The Bruins got in 10.)

Jeremy Swayman with three humdingers in the first two minutes of the second period.

Sebastian Aho shows what he thinks of the wave and gets sent to the penalty box. Bruins to the powerplay…

Pastrnak does it again. Carolina wants a penalty after Aho went spinning to the ice, but the Bruins’ defacto captain collects the puck and, from a sharp angle, finds the spot. 3-0 Boston.

Nikita Zadorov sets off a road at TD Garden when he flattens Taylor Hall at center. How soon they forget.

Hall looked like he had one in the bag with 5:20 left in the second, but Swayman somehow got it.

The Hurricanes surged to a 25-18 shots advantage at second intermission, but the Bruins were the only team that scored, so it’s a 3-0 game after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

Pastrnak again, this time batting a deflected pass out of the air across Andersen’s lunging body and into the far side to make it 4-0.

This seems to be one of those nights for the 46-25-4 Hurricanes, who are 7-3-0 in their last 10 coming into this one.

Pastrnak needs one more for 40 this season. It would be his fifth 40-goal season as a NHLer.

Swayman has 35 saves and eight minutes to a shutout.

Pasta is isolated with 4:42, and he fakes out Andersen for his hat trick and his 40th goal of the season. That’s five 40-goal campaigns for Pasta. 5-0.

Signing off from here folks.

Bruins win one. Team effort. Great game by Swayman. Still 4:39 between him and a shutout.

Drive safely.