Marco Sturm leaned hard on David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha last night, and the Bruins still left Carolina with a 2-1 loss.

Pastrnak played 22:39, the most of any Boston forward in the game. Zacha followed at 20:53, and Elias Lindholm logged 19:17.

Morgan Geekie skated 16:49 and put two shots on goal. He finished without a point, a rare blank for a center with nine through 13 games.

Zacha scored Boston's only goal, on the power play. Pastrnak and Lindholm each earned a power-play assist, so the top unit did its job with the man advantage.

Five-on-five was a different story. Pastrnak finished -2 and Zacha went -1, while Sebastian Aho scored the game-winner for the Hurricanes.

Mike Kelly posted a single word on Wednesday, and it fits the mood around the Atlantic leaders:

Boston is still 9-3-1 and sits third in the NHL. That is not a team in crisis, and nobody should pretend it is.

Can the Bruins keep riding their top forwards?

Here's the question Sturm has to answer. When your best players log those minutes and the team scores once, heavy usage starts to look like a hammer swung at a screw.

Jeremy Swayman stopped 28 of 30 shots and took the loss. That's not the problem, and the goaltender deserves better than a one-goal cushion on a night like this.

The bigger picture still favors Boston. The Bruins have scored 49 goals and allowed 28, a +21 goal differential that backs up the record.

They are 7-2-1 over their last 10, though the streak now reads as a loss. Don Sweeney's club has been very good at home, going 5-1-0.

The road has been a touch shakier at 4-2-1, and that matters now. Boston plays at St. Louis on Thursday.

Will Sturm keep stacking minutes on his top forwards, or does he spread the load before the schedule starts to bite?