Ward's shutout completes Canes sweep of Bruins

BOSTON – Cam Ward made 47 saves — 22 in the first period and 20 in the third — Brandon Sutter had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes finished their first season-sweep of the Boston Bruins with a 3-0 victory on Thursday night.

The Hurricanes, who won all four meetings with the Bruins, are 15-25-9 against the rest of the NHL and are last in the Eastern Conference. Carolina outscored Boston 14-5 in the season sweep, the franchise's first over Boston, dating to the days when the team was the Hartford Whalers.

Eric Staal scored in the first period, Tuomo Ruutu converted Sutter's rebound in the second, and Sutter added a goal 3:13 into the third.

Ward, 11-11-2 against the Bruins, posted his third shutout of the season and 19th of his NHL career — including three over Boston.

Despite the high number of shots, the Bruins had few quality scoring chances and were booed by the home crowd.

Tuukka Rask made 28 saves and lost his third straight start. Boston lost in regulation for the third time in its last 20 home games and second in the past 10.

The Bruins are 4-4-1 in their last nine overall — including two losses to Carolina — and were blanked for the third time this season, all at home.

Ruutu hit defenseman Johnny Boychuk in the corner to start the play that resulted in Staal's goal. As Boychuk was trying to get up, Jiri Tlusty got the puck to Staal for a one-timer at 11:51 of the first. Carolina had the lead despite the Bruins matching their season high for shots in a period.

Staal, who has struggled this season, has 18 points in 15 games.

Boychuk missed the rest of the period but was back for the second.

It was the second time this season the Bruins had 22 shots in a period, and they allowed only eight for Carolina.

The Hurricanes outshot the Bruins 14-5 in the second period and cashed in on a mixup between defensemen Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid to make it 2-0. Sutter stole the puck from Ference and was stopped by Rask. Ruutu made a nifty move past McQuaid after picking up the rebound and swept in his 16th goal of the season on the backhand.

NOTES: Bruins RW Nathan Horton, who sat out the last four games of the Stanley Cup finals because of a concussion, missed his third straight game because of another concussion following a hit from Philadelphia's Tom Sestito on Jan. 22. "He's still where he was a few days ago, like I said feeling better but not well enough to get to that stage of working out," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. ... McQuaid was in the lineup despite being questionable because of a lower body injury. Ference returned after serving a three-game NHL suspension. ... Carolina D Jaroslav Spacek was struck by a slap shot by Boychuk midway through the second period, but wasn't seriously injured. . The Hurricanes started a stretch of five of seven on the road.