Charlie McAvoy scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves for Boston (46-18-15), which had its four-game winning streak end.
The Bruins are first in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Tuesday.
“I loved our first (period). I thought we were really physical, I thought we were engaged,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “Second period, I thought they came out and they pushed hard. They were over top of us. I thought their checking skills were superior to ours and it led to a lot of us playing in our [defensive] zone.”
Martin Necas appeared to score for Carolina on a sharp-angled shot at 1:59 of the first period, but the goal was waved off after an official review.
Svechnikov did gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 10:55 of the second period, scoring his third career lacrosse-style goal, which is tied with Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras for the most in the NHL. Play continued for a few seconds after the puck quickly bounced out from the back of the net, but officials eventually confirmed the goal.
“I’m always going to try the move. I wish I could celebrate a little bit more in a fun way,” Svechnikov said. “No one realized it was a goal, I guess it was just me, but it just came out so hard, and obviously I’m happy to score that third one.”
Teuvo Teravainen pushed it to 2-0 at 13:05, tapping in Svechnikov’s centering pass on the doorstep.
“They’re well-coached and they have a great team,” Swayman said. “We just have to accept that. It’s obviously not something we want to do in our home barn, but I think it’s good for us moving forward understanding that no team’s going to be soft on us just because there’s four games left in the season. So, it’s our job to get punched in the face and get back up.”
McAvoy cut it to 2-1 at 16:56 with a one-timer from the left circle.
“We’re not a volume shot team to begin with, but I think we had some decent looks and some good rush opportunities,” McAvoy said. “So, I wouldn’t say that it was a complete lull night offensively. Obviously, we only get one, but some good looks, some odd-man rushes, we just didn’t score.”
Jake Guentzel extended it to 3-1 at 10:14 of the third period. His shot from the left side of the net slipped past Swayman and sat on the goal line, and Bruins forward Pavel Zacha's attempt to clear the puck went in off Swayman’s right leg.
Seth Jarvis scored a short-handed goal to make it 4-1 at 13:22, finishing the rebound of his initial shot off the rush with a wraparound. It was his 30th goal of the season, the first time he's reached the mark.
“There’s a couple games left, and we got to make sure we’re turning in the right direction,” Guentzel said. “Three games coming up, and we can’t take the foot off the gas. We got to make sure we’re ready to go.”
NOTES: Guentzel extended his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists). He has 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 15 games since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 7. … The Hurricanes reached 50 wins for the third consecutive season. It's the first time a team has accomplished the feat since the Detroit Red Wings had four consecutive 50-win seasons from 2005-06 to 2008-09.