Bruins rally past Hurricanes in OT, extend point streak to 17

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins extended their point streak to 17 games in their fourth straight win, 4-3 in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes at TD Garden on Tuesday.

David Krejci scored the game-winner at 1:46, and Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves for the Bruins (40-17-9), who have won their past eight home games. Boston, which leads the Toronto Maple Leafs by three points for second in the Atlantic Division, is six games away from tying the longest point streak in its history, 23, from Dec. 22, 1940-Feb. 23, 1941 (15 wins, eight ties).
The Bruins' last regulation loss was 3-2 to the New York Rangers on Jan. 19. They rallied Tuesday after trailing 2-0 midway through the second period, then again after losing a 3-2 lead midway through the third.
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Bruins highlights]
"We believe in ourselves," Boston forward Jake DeBrusk said. "We always have. But it's nice to get results, especially this time of year when every point matters."

Sebastian Aho scored two goals, and Curtis McElhinney made 34 saves for the Hurricanes (36-23-7), who had won five in a row and four straight on the road. Carolina is third in the Metropolitan Division, tied in points with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We did come back," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were down in the third, so it was nice. The effort I thought in the third was great. That was a good period for us. But at the end of the day, we were up and we've got to find a way to not let them get back into the game."
In overtime, DeBrusk stole the puck from Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk on the forecheck near the goal line and passed to Krejci in the slot.

"He took the puck from the guy, then made a great spin around and pass for me," Krejci said. "He just kind of put it on my tape and I had the momentum going on the other side, the goalie went the other way, so [DeBrusk] made it really easy on me."
Aho scored at 6:30 of the first period when Calvin de Haan's shot went off his left skate and then Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara's skate to make it 1-0. The Hurricanes forward scored his second goal of the game at 1:10 of the second period on a breakaway.
Chris Wagner scored on a rebound of a Brandon Carlo shot at 12:28 to cut the Carolina lead to 2-1.
DeBrusk tied it 2-2 on the rebound of a Krejci shot at 18:12.

"They're going to come with a push," Hurricanes captain Justin Williams said. "We've got to find ways to lock that down. In the last 10 minutes of the second, they really took it to us. … A lot of things we can clean up."
Patrice Bergeron scored shorthanded at 2:45 of the third period to give Boston a 3-2 lead. Bergeron scored on a one-timer from the slot on a 2-on-1 with Brad Marchand, who skated end-to-end after a steal in the defensive zone.
Williams' one-timer from above the right circle tied it 3-3 at 12:17.

They said it

"We had a chance to finish the game on the PP many times and couldn't. In my opinion, that cost us the game." -- Carolina forward Sebastian Aho on the Hurricanes going 0-for-5 on the power play
"Earlier in the year, when we weren't scoring, I don't know if we would have had the same confidence to get back in the game. Now we know we're getting our goals, so I think guys stick with it better." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy

Need to know

Bruins forward Marcus Johansson and Hurricanes forward Micheal Ferland each left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury. … With his goal, Bergeron passed Wayne Cashman for sixth place on Boston's points list with 794. ... Aho has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a six-game point streak. … Halak is 5-0-2 in his past seven games.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, FS-CR, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, NESN, FS-F, NHL.TV)