The Hurricanes have one more chance to beat their nemesis Boston Bruins.

If the Carolina Hurricanes lose game four of the altered NHL playoffs tonight at the bubble in Toronto, they will trail in the best-of-seven series 3-1. It will be virtually impossible for them to come back on the neutral ice with no fans in the stands.

So, yes, tonight is due or die for the Canes, who might have to go without their third-leading scorer Andrei Svechnikov after what looked like a serious leg injury late in game three Saturday.

But the Bruins are even more disadvantaged. Their all-star goaltender Tuukka Rask opted out of the playoffs Saturday morning to return to his young family. And David Pasternak, their leading scorer, remains sidelined with an undisclosed injury and is unlikely to play tonight.

For much of the series, the fifth-seeded Hurricanes looked like the better team against the Bruins, who entered the resumption of the regular season as top seed in the Eastern Conference but lost all three of their games in the warm-up round and fell to the four seed.

Carolina led the first game late before Boston sent it to overtime and won early in the second extra period. The Canes were tougher in game two and pulled out a 3-2 victory, stopping a Bruins offensive onslaught in the final minutes.

In game three, Carolina dominated the opening period before giving up 12 more shots and a 2-0 lead into the third period. The Canes got a gift goal on a blunder by 35-year-old Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak but could not score the equalizer before leaving the net open in the closing minutes and falling 3-1.

Remember, Boston swept Carolina last year in the embarrassing conference finals.

Svechnikov’s injury is a serious blow, but beating the Bruins without Rask and Pasternak is doable against the veteran Halak, who hasn’t been a starting goalie in years.

So it comes down to a one-game season for Carolina, or it will be a short-lived return to the playoffs in the NHL’s strangest season of all.

 

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