Here are Joe Haggerty's Talking Points from the Bruins' dominant 6-2 win in Game 2 over the Hurricanes.
GOLD STAR: Matt Grzelcyk isn’t always a big hero when it comes to goal-scoring, but he had the offensive game of his life in Game 2 with a pair of goals, including the first one that got the ball rolling for the Black and Gold. Grzelcyk finished with the two goals in 18:21 of ice time, had a couple of shots on net, a couple of hits and a couple of blocked shots. It was Grzelcyk as the trailer on the first goal when he somehow found a hole to shoot for on Petr Mrazek that leaked through the Hurricanes goalie, and then it was Grzelcyk again later on that once again scored as the trailer on a PP goal after Charlie Coyle dropped a pass to him. This time he backhanded a shot past Mrazek from the slot in another goal allowed that was on the softer side, but credit the Bruins D-man for scoring them.
BLACK EYE: Petr Mrazek allowed six goals on 25 shots to the Bruins and was routinely terrible in his Game 2 loss. He was so aggressive between the posts that he was often pulling himself out of position and giving the Bruins wide open looks at the net once things started getting scrambled in front of him. Mrazek has now allowed 10 goals on 52 shots in the first two games of this series for a .808 save percentage, which is about as bad as it gets when it comes to playoff goaltending. It was somewhat surprising that Rod Brind’amour didn’t pull Mrazek during the blowout loss, but apparently he doesn’t often pull his goalies during games. Maybe he should rethink that position.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins were already up 3-0 in the second period when Justin Williams and Brad Marchand got tied up in a confrontation. Marchand got his stick caught up around Williams’ shoulders and then the Hurricanes captain grabbed Marchand’s face and unsnapped the chin strap to his helmet before letting him go free. Williams was then called for holding, and Marchand proceeded to give him a mocking “C” on his shoulder and then started giving him directions to the penalty box. The Bruins scored on the ensuing PP to make it 4-0 and the Hurricanes looked ultra-defeated at that point in time with their Captain getting suckered by Marchand for the penalty and PP goal. That’s a tough one for the Hurricanes to swallow.
HONORABLE MENTION: Charlie Coyle was a playmaker for the Bruins notching three assists along with a plus-3 rating and setting up a bunch of goals for the Bruins. He also played the power forward-type game with puck possession while using his 6-foot-3 body to shield away would-be attackers from the Hurricanes. He finished with just a couple of shot attempts and one hit in the game, but he also won 12-of-15 face-offs in a contest where the Bruins dominated puck possession, dominated Grade A scoring chances and dominated a Hurricanes team that really can’t compare to them in terms of roster quality and depth. Coyle has been a difference-maker for the Bruins in the playoffs.
BY THE NUMBERS: 3 – the number of assists for Torey Krug, who became only the fifth Bruins defensemen in franchise history to do that two different times in the playoffs. Hint: Most of the other guys were pretty big names.
Boston Bruins
Find the latest Boston Bruins news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Boston.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Sometimes you’ve got to eat a poop sandwich. It doesn’t taste good, and you have to chew on it for a little bit, and we’ll have to do it for a couple days and get the taste out of our mouths next game.” –Hurricanes captain Justin Williams on the Canes getting humbled 6-2 in Game 2, and doing back to the drawing board down 2-0 in the series to the Bruins.