It has been a long time since the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes have seen each other.
They’ll meet for the final time in the regular season Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
The Bruins and Hurricanes haven’t met since splitting a pair of November games in Boston, with the hosts winning 2-1 on Nov. 1 and the visitors prevailing 3-1 on Nov. 17.
With one more point, the Hurricanes (49-22-6, 104 points) can clinch the Metropolitan Division for the first time since the 2022-23 season. They have won four of their last six games.
The Bruins (43-26-9, 95 points) have lost three games in a row, including Sunday’s 2-1 overtime setback at Philadelphia. They’re still in good shape in terms of the playoff race, but they have work to do to secure a postseason spot.
“I thought it was a huge point for us,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “I’ll definitely take that one.”
Boston is 0-2-1 on a road trip that ends in Raleigh. The Bruins have scored a total of three goals in those games.
Pavel Zacha scored the only goal for the Bruins on Sunday. Sturm said he’s a bit concerned about the total shot attempts after Boston was credited with 19 shots.
“We’ve got to find ways,” he said. “We still pass up opportunities. I don’t know, for some reason.”
Zacha said the Bruins need to be able to adjust.
“I think now we’re looking now a lot for quality of shots instead of quantity,” Zacha said. “Sometimes when it’s not going our way, I think we have to kind of switch our mindset. Going to the net, shooting more pucks, we talk about it, we just don’t do it in the games yet.”
A day off Monday has been sorely needed for the Bruins, who will have three more days off following Tuesday’s games. Sturm said the players need to be ready to take advantage of the situation.
“This is the time to show up,” Sturm said.
The Hurricanes lost 6-3 at Ottawa on Sunday. Carolina has played five straight games against playoff-bound or playoff-contending teams.
“It’s a good test for what we’re going to see,” Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall said. “(These teams) have that desperation, and we’re going to have to match that in a couple of weeks.”
Carolina captain Jordan Staal didn’t play Sunday because of undisclosed reasons, so his availability will be notable in advance of Tuesday’s game.
Despite a rather dismal performance to end the weekend, the Hurricanes have continued to receive regular production from the line of Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Hall, who notched his 300th career goal Sunday. Stankoven’s 38 points match his total from last season.
“That line’s been (a) bright spot all year, really,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They’ve never really come off it. They’ve been pretty solid, and (Hall) was good again. Hallsy gave us a goal, too, at the end, not giving up. But we can’t win with just one line. We need to have other contributors.”
First-year Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers has reached 65 points for his highest single-season total in his 11-year NHL career.
Based on Carolina’s recent rotation, it should be goalie Brandon Bussi’s turn in the nets for the Hurricanes. He didn’t play in either previous game vs. Boston
