Hurricanes’ Michael Bunting in his element in surly battle of Stanley Cup contenders

Raleigh

Michael Bunting spun around after getting cross-checked in the back to see Logan O’Connor taking a swing at him, before unseen hands belonging to Miles Wood grabbed him around the neck and threw him to the ice. He got up furious, screaming, ushered to the penalty box most unwillingly.

He scored a power-play goal. He drew a penalty of questionable provenance. He was at the center of every flare-up. It was like Bunting answered an unexpected bat signal, rising to the occasion for the exact reasons the Carolina Hurricanes pursued him as a free agent.

It felt like the playoffs, in terms of bad blood and pace and weird stuff happening. And it felt like Bunting’s kind of moment.

“Yeah, it’s fun,” Bunting said. “It’s fun, obviously, when there’s emotion in the game and both teams are being really competitive and it kind of gets chippy. It’s kind of like a playoff atmosphere when games are like that. I always love games like that.”

For two teams that see each other twice a year, and typically without incident, the Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche played Thursday night like they still had grudges to settle from fighting a seven-game war the previous spring, perhaps previous springs, and they played like the stakes were still that high, even as the Hurricanes pulled away to an early three-goal lead thanks to a Martin Necas hat trick on their way to a 5-2 win.

The elevated temperatures among two Stanley Cup contenders appeared to put Bunting into his element, unexpected given the timing and opponent, coming a few months early against unfamiliar foes. Joel Kiviranti felt victimized by the high-stick Bunting drew on him. By the time O’Connor made his run at him halfway through the third period, it felt like it had been coming for a while.

“That was spur of the moment,” Bunting said. “I don’t even know really what happened. I turned around and saw him swinging at me and he missed and then I got in a headlock and pulled down in a scrum. I don’t really know what happened, but that’s hockey.”

With the Toronto Maple Leafs, he excelled not only at scoring goals and meshing with elite talent, but getting under the skin of the opposition. Which he did to extremes Thursday, combining finishing skill with elite-level snidery.

There hasn’t really been a ton of that from Bunting this year, who certainly was under some pressure to dial back the edge after becoming a focus of officiating attention a year ago. And his goal, the essential fifth, was only his 11th of the season. The Hurricanes haven’t exactly gotten full value for their $4.5 million.

So far. Or, based on Thursday night, yet.

“That’s his game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Whatever you have to do. A huge goal that we needed at that time. He drew some penalties. Really should have drawn another one (O’Connor) not sure how it ended up like that.”

Because Bunting wasn’t signed to beat Columbus on a Tuesday night. He was brought in to score big goals in big moments, the kind of goals the Hurricanes couldn’t score in the conference final last year. He was brought in to draw penalties, the kind the Hurricanes too often take instead in the postseason. He was brought in to instigate, when the Hurricanes in years past have too often been caught retaliating.

There’s a role to be filled there, but it’s a hard one to fill in the regular season. Except on a night like Thursday, when two elite teams brought not only skill and speed but surliness to the ice. It may not be a coincidence Bunting rose above and scored a Bunting-style goal, ghosting to an open space in the slot to convert one of Teuvo Teravainen’s career-high four assists.

“That’s my game on the power play,” Bunting said. “Just find that soft spot and try to get open and support the guys on the flanks and he was able to find me.”

It stood out, even on a night when so much else was going on, from Necas’ 17-minute hat trick to more goaltending shenanigans — Pyotr Kochetkov was pulled after his Scott Darling tribute act, giving up two goals in five seconds late in the first, only to re-enter 20 minutes later after Antti Raanta was injured, and the two goalies combined to stop all 19 shots over the final two periods.

There was Seth Jarvis leaving the game after blocking a shot with his unprotected right hand, only to be awarded a goal after he was hacked trying to score into an empty net. And there was a virtuoso lock-down performance from Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin, with Brett Pesce out sick, at even strength and especially on the penalty kill.

It was a lot to pack into a February nonconference game, but just about the right amount of nonsense for the Hurricanes in the playoffs, lacking only an Erik Haula heel turn or Charlie McAvoy’s miraculous, record-setting recovery from COVID. If those are truly the circumstances that bring out Bunting’s best, his best may yet be a few months away. But Thursday may have been a sneak preview of what the Hurricanes want, and need, from him.

“You get into it pretty quick, especially when things get rough out there,” Bunting said. “You take a hit sometimes, it gets you right into the game. That gets me going too.”

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