Bruins edge 'Canes to halt two-game skid

Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Tuukka Rask made 33 saves to lift the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at TD Garden.

Seth Griffith and Patrice Bergeron scored first-period goals for the Bruins, who halted a two-game skid and won for the sixth time in their last eight games.

Jiri Tlusty scored for Carolina, which has lost two in a row and three of its last four after a four-game win streak. Cam Ward made 23 saves in defeat.

"We gave ourselves an opportunity ... but we just couldn't find the equalizer," Ward said. "We were pushing it right to the end. We just have to emphasize that we need to play a full 60 minutes. We can't afford to have lapses in the game."

The Hurricanes opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the game when Tlusty tipped in Justin Faulk's shot from above the right circle, but the Bruins answered with two goals before the end of the opening stanza.

Griffith picked up his fifth goal of the season off a bad Carolina turnover with 5:36 left in the period. Andrej Sekera tried a backhand pass across the slot, but fanned and Griffith was able to get a stick on the puck, knocking it off Sekera and into the net.

Bergeron put the Bruins ahead with his fourth goal in the final minute. Brad Marchand skated around the Carolina net and fed a pass into the right circle for Bergeron, who snapped it past Ward on the short side.

The Bruins scored just two goals and surrendered 11 in ugly losses at Toronto and Montreal earlier this week, but Rask made sure two were enough for his teammates on Saturday.

"We've got to build ourselves back up there, and today was a good start," said Bruins coach Claude Julien about halting the losing streak.

Rask stopped 15 shots in the first period, then had to stop only three in the second. Carolina put the pressure on the Bruins again in the third, firing 15 unsuccessful shots toward Rask, whose best save came midway through the period on a rebound chance by Victor Rask.

Ward had strong second period with 14 saves and faced only four shots in the third. The Bruins had a goal disallowed with 8:51 to play when Gregory Campbell interfered with the netminder in the crease, and Ward stopped Carl Soderberg on a breakaway with 2:24 remaining.

The Hurricanes pulled Ward with two minutes left, but could not find the equalizer despite solid pressure in the Boston zone.

Game Notes

Marchand picked up his 100th career assist ... Boston's David Krejci missed his fourth straight game with an undisclosed injury ... The Bruins won all three meetings with the Hurricanes last season and are now 6-1-0 against Carolina since the start of the 2012-13 campaign ... Carolina went 0-for-3 on the power play, failing to score with a two-man advantage for 1:43 in the first period.