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Krejci helps Bruins snap skid, topple Hurricanes

Feb 18, 2009 - 3:49 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- David Krejci netted a shorthanded goal and added an assist as the Boston Bruins snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-1 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Rookie Blake Wheeler, Chuck Kobasew and defenseman Shane Hnidy scored for Boston, which entered the game with a 0-2-2 mark.

Patrice Bergeron added an empty-net shorthanded tally and All-Star Tim Thomas finished with 31 saves for the Bruins, who swept the four-game season series with the Hurricanes, outscoring their foes by a 18-6 margin.

"Whenever you're in a slide as a team, you want to go back to doing the little things - that's throwing pucks at the net and crashing the net," Hnidy said.

"We needed to get some goals. It came easy for us at the beginning of the year, and in this slide, sometimes the bounces don't go your way. We threw pucks at the net and fortunately we got some goals tonight. We were rewarded."

Matt Cullen scored and Cam Ward turned aside 29 shots for Carolina, which honored retired defenseman Glen Wesley prior to the game.

"At home, for whatever reason, we haven't played very well," Hurricanes left wing Ray Whitney said. "It is embarrassing. It's frustrating to have your fans boo you when you leave the ice. Not that it's not warranted. Certainly frustrating and a little bit humiliating."

With Boston nursing a 2-1 lead with 3:48 remaining in the third period, Krejci skated in on Ward and backhanded a shot past the netminder for his 20th goal of the season.

"I just tried to shoot under (Ward's) arm," Krejci said.

Kobasew, who missed the team's previous two games with a leg injury, provided insurance 60 seconds later and Bergeron added an empty-net tally with 51 seconds remaining to seal the win.

"I felt good the last two games, but the puck was just not going in," Bergeron said. "Tonight was the night, all I needed was no goalie. I'll take anything right now. It's good to be back in the scoring column. I'm doing everything I can to help the team."

Cullen opened the scoring with 8:57 left in the first period after deflecting Whitney's centering feed past Thomas for his 15th goal of the season. Whitney was credited with his team-leading 28th assist of the campaign.

With his team on the power play, Wheeler leveled the contest with 2:35 left in the session after cleaning up a rebound and tucking it past Ward for his 17th goal of the season.

"It wasn't a bad period. We were keeping everything to the outside," Bergeron said of his team's play in the first period.

"They got some power-play time. I thought we played well on the PK. The goal gave us some energy to finish the game."

Hnidy gave Boston the lead 5:34 into the second period after wiring a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff past a screened Ward for his third goal of the campaign.

"We've given up some leads, so we wanted to come out strong in the third," Hnidy said. "We were ready to finish them off with a solid third period."

As far as the losing skid, Boston's P.J. Axelsson admitted that he felt the team kept its emotions in check.

"I don't think we ever pushed the panic button," Axelsson said. "I just know we had to be desperate out there tonight. We back on the winning track and now that we have a couple of days between where we can take from it and get better."