Bruins beat Hurricanes 4-1 in matchup of playoff-bound teams

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — David Pastrnak and Danton Heinen each had a goal and an assist in the first period and the Boston Bruins beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Thursday night.

Brad Marchand had the game’s first goal for the 400th of his career, Hampus Lindholm added an empty-netter and Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves for Boston.

The Bruins won their third game in a row and moved four points in front of the Hurricanes, who have a game in hand, in a matchup of Eastern Conference playoff-bound teams. Boston finished a six-game road stretch at 4-2-0.

“You have to be able to win on the road,” Marchand said. “It’s the way you want to play. You want to play these tough games coming down the stretch.”

It was the first loss in more than five months for Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, who had gone 7-0-0 since returning to action following a health issue that kept him off the ice since early November. He made 24 saves.

Andersen, in his 100th game as a Hurricane, fell to 11-2-0 this season.

Carolina’s Jake Guentzel scored on a 5-on-3 power play in the second period, but the Hurricanes were left without a point for just the second time in their last 11 games.

“We let their best players kind of get behind us and give them all that open ice,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They’re not going to give us too much after that.”

Marchand, in his 1,024th game took Morgan Geekie’s pass to go in on Andersen, who initially blocked the shot, but the puck got under his pads and into the net just 2:12 into the game. He had gone 10 games without a goal.

“Kind of the elephant in the room,” Marchand said about reaching a milestone. “Nice to get it and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

It was Marchand’s 19th goal this season. Geekie, a former Hurricane, increased his career-high assists total to 20.

Pastrnak skated in patiently from the left side and wasn’t challenged before popping the puck over Andersen from close range for his team-leading 47th goal of the season.

Heinen one-timed a pass from Pastrnak for his 16th goal, giving the Bruins a 3-0 edge less than 11 minutes into the game.

“In the first period, we executed really well,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Caught them on some odd-man rushes, made some high-end plays.”

Swayman stopped all nine shots he faced in the third.

“It is important to us when we do get leads that we maintain them,” Swayman said.

Guentzel lifted the puck over Swayman, who was laying across the crease, to score at 15:12 of the second. Guentzel has 25 goals this season, including three in 12 games since joining the Hurricanes in a trade from Pittsburgh.

The Bruins played without winger Justin Brazeau, who was injured Tuesday night in Nashville and returned to Boston for evaluation. He hadn’t missed a game in more than a month.

Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast was back on the ice after missing six games with an injury.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Host Florida on Saturday.

Hurricanes: Host Washington on Friday night.

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Carolina Hurricanes' Stefan Noesen (23) moves the puck away from Boston Bruins' Andrew Peeke (52) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jake Guentzel, second from right, celebrates his goal agains the Boston Bruins with Evgeny Kuznetsov (92), Stefan Noesen (23), Dmitry Orlov (7), Brady Skjei (76) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jake Guentzel (59) shoots against Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) with Stefan Noesen (23) nearby during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jack Drury (18) gets a pat from Brent Burns (8) after Drury was involved in a fight during the first period of the team's NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand (63) talks with Andrew Peeke (52) during the first period of the team's NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand (63) slips the puck past the stick of Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) for a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Boston Bruins' David Pastrnak (88) slips the puck past Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) into the top of the net while Hurricanes' Seth Jarvis (24) looks on during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Jack Drury (18) and Boston Bruins' Johnny Beecher (19) fight during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Boston Bruins' David Pastrnak (88) celebrates with teammates after his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Boston Bruins' David Pastrnak (88) slips the puck past Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) into the top of the net while for a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

GIRDWOOD, Alaska (AP) — Three skiers who had flown by helicopter to a remote mountain range were swept away by an avalanche and likely killed under the weight of snow nearly as deep as a 10-story building, Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday.

If the deaths are confirmed it would be the deadliest U.S. avalanche since three climbers were killed in a slide in Washington’s Cascade Mountains two years ago.

While Alaska troopers had been able to assess the site, “based on the information provided by the operator, unfortunately, we do not believe that any of the three missing persons survived the avalanche,” Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers, said in a text to The Associated Press.

The slide caught three heli-skiers late Tuesday afternoon in the Chugach Mountains near the skiing community of Girdwood, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Anchorage, said McDaniel. Heli-skiers use helicopters to reach mountains in remote backcountry areas where there are no ski lifts, and then they either ski or snowboard down.

Guides from the heli-skiing company attempted to locate the trapped skiers using avalanche beacons and identified a probable area where they were buried, at a depth of 40 feet (12 meters) to nearly 100 feet (30 meters), McDaniel said.

“The guides were unable to recover the three skiers due to the depth. Due to considerable avalanche risk in this area and limited daylight, no further recovery operations were conducted on March 4,” he said.

Weather conditions as of midday had not allowed state Department of Public Safety aircraft to reach the site, McDaniel said. It was rainy, windy and foggy in Girdwood, with snow at higher elevations.

“We are constantly evaluating weather conditions with the goal of making it out there” Wednesday, he said.

The heli-ski operator was Chugach Powder Guides, McDaniel said.

The three victims, all male, were clients from out of state who were skiing with a guide on a run that was known to the company, Tracey Knutson, the company spokesperson, told the Anchorage Daily News.

As the slide began, Knutson said, witnesses saw the men deploy their avalanche air bags — inflatable vests that are meant to keep avalanche victims above or close to the surface. A fourth person in the group was not caught in the avalanche, which began at about 3,500 feet altitude and ended at about 700 feet, she said.

Three guides “were on scene immediately initiating rescue response and an emergency alert,” Knutson said. They picked up three signals from the men’s emergency beacons, she said, the lowest at nearly 45 feet beneath the surface, but decided that the victims could not be immediately recovered.

The company's website describes it as one of the original heli-ski operators in Alaska.

The avalanche site was 8 miles (13 km) northeast of the airport in Girdwood, in an area along the Twentymile River, according to the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center.

An ongoing avalanche concern for the region in recent weeks has been a weak layer of snow buried two feet or more beneath the surface, said Andrew Schauer, lead avalanche forecaster with the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center.

The center’s forecast for the Turnagain Pass area, which includes the Girdwood region, on Tuesday listed as “considerable” the avalanche danger at higher elevations. The forecast warned it would be “easy to trigger an avalanche up to 2′ deep” and added, “the safest option is to avoid steep slopes.”

More snow and wind Wednesday was adding weight and “and making avalanches a little bigger and more likely,” Schauer said. A foot or more of new snow with strong winds was expected at elevations above 1,500 feet or so, he said. Conditions were expected to remain dangerous even after the storm system passes.

A foot or more of new snow was expected at elevations above 1,500 feet or so, he said, with strong winds expected.

The center is urging people to avoid being right on or below steep slopes, he said. Conditions are expected to remain dangerous even after the storm system passes, he said.

Girdwood is the skiing capital of Alaska, and home to the Alyeska Resort, at the base of Mount Alyeska, where people downhill ski or snowboard amid stunning views of Turnagain Arm. At the top of the mountain is the Seven Glaciers Restaurant, named for its view.

Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.

Colorado experiences the most avalanche deaths, with 325 people killed since 1950. Alaska ranks second, with 172 deaths in that time period, according to the center.

In 2021, Czech billionaire Petr Kellner and four others died in a helicopter crash during a heli-skiing tour near Knik Glacier, in the Chugach Mountains just north of Anchorage. A year later, a heli-ski guide scouting an area for clients died when an avalanche carried his body nearly 1500 feet (457 meters) down a mountain, Alaska State Troopers said at the time.

Prior to this week's accident, 15 people had been killed across the U.S. by avalanches this winter. Among them were 10 backcountry skiers and snowboarders, four people on snow machines and a ski patroller, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

The most recent was last Friday in Washington state, where three snowmobilers were caught in a slide that buried and killed one person and injured a second in the Harts Pass area. One person was killed in an avalanche in central Colorado on Feb. 22. Authorities in Grand County responded to what they described as a skier-triggered avalanche in a steep area known as “The Fingers” above Berthoud Pass.

Elsewhere, three people died in avalanches Feb. 17 — one person near Lake Tahoe and two backcountry skiers in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. On Feb. 8, a well-known outdoor guide was caught in an avalanche in Utah and was killed.

Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.

The Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska, is shown Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

A sign on Alyeska Highway points to winter tourism businesses in Girdwood, Alaska, on Wednesday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

The community welcome sign sits outside Girdwood, Alaska, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

An avalanche swept away and buried skiers deep in Alaska's backcountry on Tuesday, authorities say. (AP Graphic)

FILE - A chunk of ice floats past the Portage Glacier near Girdwood, Alaska, on June 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, file)