Hurricanes top Bruins on strength of two-goal second period

A two-goal second period was the difference as the visiting Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 3-1 on Monday night.

Jordan Staal and Mark Jankowski each scored a goal in the middle frame before Taylor Hall scored with 2:33 left in regulation to punctuate a two-point night.

Joel Nystrom dished out two assists and Pyotr Kochetkov made 29 saves for Carolina, which is 6-1-1 in its last eight games.

Kochetkov is now 4-0-0 in five games this season. He was the busiest in a 12-save third period, but Riley Tufte's power-play goal with 9.6 seconds left kept Boston from being shut out.

Jeremy Swayman made 29 saves for the Bruins, who lost for just the second time in 10 games and had a six-game home winning streak snapped.

Staal broke the deadlock with a one-handed rebound goal at 8:25 of the second. Nystrom triggered a shot from the right point to start the play, which Staal was able to chip over Swayman's pad and into the net from just outside the right crease.

Jankowski's first goal of the season doubled the Carolina lead at 13:34. After Boston star David Pastrnak just missed making a steal high in the zone, Sean Walker dished a cross-ice pass to Hall, whose shot from the left circle created a rebound for Jankowski to bury at the doorstep.

The Bruins' push on a last-minute power play in the second was to no avail, and Seth Jarvis nearly made it a 3-0 game by hitting the post on a short-handed breakaway with 43 seconds left.

Another strong Boston chance came on a short-handed rush past the halfway mark of the third, as Mark Kastelic was unable to get a shot off after Sean Kuraly's cross-ice pass on the rush.

Hall made it a 3-0 game, scoring on a drive to the net after taking a loose puck off the wall in neutral ice and storming down the right wing.

The Hurricanes nearly killed a pair of penalties in the final 5:21, but Tufte broke the shutout on a net-front, power-play goal play in the waning seconds.

Both teams were 0-for-1 on the man advantage in the opening frame. Following those opportunities, both goalies made key saves in the later stages, with Swayman getting a piece of a Walker wrist shot at one end before Kochetkov denied Morgan Geekie's close-range backhander at the other.

--Field Level Media