Hurricanes 2, Bruins 1

 

Fight! During the first period of last night's 2-1 Bruins loss to the Hurricanes, Carolina goon Nicolas Deslauriers dropped his gloves and got into a boxing stance against the Bruins' Tanner Jeannot. The fight lasted nearly a full minute as the two exchanged punches and the refs could only look on. It was the 98th fight in Deslauriers' NHL career; for his 100th fight, he'll probably get a free tankful of gas at Buckees or something. No one "won" the fight. No one ever really "wins" a fight, there are only losers. 

Why was Deslauriers so upset? Who knows what goes on his his little fight-or-flight brain, but Pavel Zacha had just scored a power-play goal and the Bruins were leading, 1-0, against the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes. How dare the Bruins take the lead? And on Carolina's home ice at that? It was probably just too much for Deslauriers to accept and he just had to throw down.

Turns out Zacha's goal was the only Bruins goal of the night. The Hurricanes scored late in the first and then gain in the third, and even a pair of late-game power-plays didn't let the Bruins see the back of the net for the rest of the night. The Hurricanes won, 2-1.

The Bruins fall to 9-3-1 on the season but are still in first place in the Atlantic Division at 19 points. Four teams (Montreal, Ottawa, Florida, and Toronto) are behind then with 16 points each. Boston remains in second place in the Conference, behind Carolina's 22 points.

The Bruins next game is Thursday night in St. Louis against the Blues (5-6-1). Puck drops at 8:00 pm Eastern.