TORONTO — In his second game back in the lineup, Dougie Hamilton broke the ice and provided the Carolina Hurricanes with a third-period game-winning goal Thursday night in the team’s 3-2 victory against the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs first-round series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
The Carolina defenseman ripped a blast that beat the glove of Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask to push the Hurricanes ahead with 11:30 remaining. The set-up came on a feed from Martin Necas, who from behind the Bruins’ net, placed a pass into Hamilton’s wheelhouse for a one-time shot.
Necas and Andrei Svechnikov notched two points apiece, netminder James Reimer made 33 saves, and the Hurricanes evened the series at one game apiece. The teams meet for Game 3 at noon Saturday.
Hamilton, who broke his left leg in January, made his return to the ice Wednesday in Game 1 of the series following an almost seven-month layoff. Hamilton played the first three seasons of his NHL career for the Bruins.
Necas orchestrated Carolina’s second goal with a pass from the side boards to the slot, setting up Svechnikov for the finish and a 2-1 second-period lead.
Svechnikov’s marker came less than 90 seconds after Teuvo Teravainen wristed a power-play goal into the top left corner of the net for the Hurricanes’ first goal, tying the game 1-1.
Brad Marchand banged a rebound into the net in the closing seconds of the second period to tie the game for the Bruins. David Krejci scored a late first-period goal on a Boston power play.
A day after he was fined $25,000 for comments about officiating in Game 1, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour was visibly frustrated on the bench with officiating in Game 2.
Carolina put a puck in the net earlier in the third period, but the goal was immediately waved off for goaltender inference on the Hurricanes. Brind’Amour challenged the call, but it was upheld after replay review.
