The Boston Bruins were not looking to play in a measuring-stick game, but there was plenty to take away from their first regulation loss in over three weeks.  

The Bruins (9-3-1) lost 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes (10-2-2) at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Tuesday night. Pavel Zacha scored the lone Bruins’ goal just 91 seconds into the game, and Jeremy Swayman finished with 28 saves. Jackson Blake and Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina, while Pyotr Kochetkov improved to 8-0-0 on the season.

“Overall, [I] didn’t mind our game. I think we had a good jump from the start,” Marco Sturm said to reporters in Raleigh. “The goal right away helped too a little bit, but there’s just small things, the small little details, puck management. They just did it a little bit better than us, but other than that, I thought we played a pretty good road game.” 

Zacha’s goal, which came on the power play, got the Bruins off to a strong start against the defending Stanley Cup champions. They held onto that lead until the final minute of the first period, but a Frederic Brunet turnover led to Jackson Blake’s goal, and Mason Lohrei lost control of the puck, which sent the Hurricanes down the ice for Aho’s game-winner. 

“When I say puck management, we have way too many turnovers,” Sturm said. “Not everyone was willing to play that style that you have to play against a playoff [team] and a champion like that. When we do it, we just have to be patient enough.”

The Bruins also had some trouble generating offense against Carolina. They finished with 15 shots on goal, and two of those came in the second period. The Bruins went 20:39 without a shot on goal, spanning from Fraser Minten’s shot with 12:19 remaining in the second to Mark Kastelic’s shot with 11:40 to go in the third. During that stretch, Matt Poitras had a golden opportunity, but rang iron with a wide-open net in front of him. 

The Hurricanes are known for their style of play. It’s been the case for as long as Rod Brind’Amour has coached the team. They forecheck aggressively and play tight man-to-man coverage, making it difficult for opponents to find time and space with the puck.

“They do it very well; they learned. I mean, again, when you go through a playoff series like they did and won it in the end, they know how to do it,” Sturm said. “We’re just not there yet. And hopefully we learn and got something out of it today.” 

“They play so fast, and they’re so in your face,” Mason Lohrei said. “I think it’s just about getting it and making the first option and trusting the next guy to make a hard play, and that’s at times how we got up the ice and saw some good things from it. They’re definitely hard to play against, but I think with the way that we always talk about playing, it shouldn’t be an issue.” 

The Bruins relied on their penalty kill a few times on Tuesday, and they were effective at the right time. Nikita Zadorov and Hampus Lindholm, both of whom are trusted penalty killers for Marco Sturm, took tripping minors late in the second. The Hurricanes started the third period – a 1-1 tie – on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:24, but could not capitalize. 

“Next man up. Everybody just comes together to get the job done, and they got it done there and gave us a chance to go get the lead in the third there,” Tanner Jeannot said postgame. “They’ve been doing it all year and going to continue to.”

Those penalty kills can swing momentum. The Bruins knew that, too, but they could not capitalize after the long kill. 

Jeremy Swayman, in his third loss of the season (7-2-1), finished with 1.30 goals saved above expected, according to Natural Stat Trick. He limited the damage, keeping the Bruins in the game with key stops throughout the night, including six saves on high-danger shots. 

“He was great, like always. They had some opportunities even early on to score that second goal, and he was big again,” Sturm said. “Again, we made a couple too many mistakes, and he was always there for us. He was, for me, always normal; he’s [been] playing great all year long, and he did it again today.” 

The loss ended the Bruins’ eight-game point streak and handed them their first regulation loss since October 5. Ahead of the game, Sturm would not call this a measuring-stick game, and the Bruins were not going to let one loss overshadow what they had accomplished over the point streak. 

“I think Z said it when we were in the locker room, like, ‘We’re such a great team, and you’re not going to win them all,’” Lohrei shared after the game. “Obviously that’s a really good team over there, too, but I think when we were at 5-on-5 and when we were playing our game, I think we controlled good parts of that game.” 

“You just got to take the positives, and we’ll move on and be ready to win in St. Louis.” 

The Bruins’ two-game road trip concludes on Thursday night in St. Louis. They will face old friends Jim Montgomery, Brandon Carlo, and the St. Louis Blues (5-6-1).