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Thornton helps Bruins to fourth straight win

Dec 20, 2008 - 9:50 PM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Shawn Thornton helped the Boston Bruins continue their winning ways - especially at home.

Thornton scored an unassisted goal with 8:06 remaining Saturday, leading the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

It was Boston's fourth straight win and 13th consecutive on home ice.

Thornton took advantage of Joseph Corvo's turnover at the side of the Carolina net by snapping off a shot that beat goaltender Cam Ward over the right shoulder to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead.

"In on the fore check, it was kind of a dirty move," Thornton said. "I called for a reverse and (Corvo) thought it was his partner and slid it back behind the net and I was there to pick it up and I kind of brought it to the front and shot. I think it went off a stick and in."

Thornton's goal proved to be the game-winner as Ray Whitney tallied with 4:36 left in the third period to bring the Hurricanes within 3-2.

"It was nice to see (Thornton) get the winning goal," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We talk about everyone at some point playing a big role in a win and it is nice to see those guys that give our team energy and throwing hits out there get rewarded."

Stephane Yelle added an empty-net goal with three seconds left to round out the scoring.

David Krejci continued his red-hot play by breaking a 1-1 tie 3:54 into the third period.

Vladimir Sobotka skated in from the blue line to the left of Ward, and sent a crossing pass to Krejci who beat Ward up high for his 12th goal of the season.

"Vlady made a great play," Krejci said. "I called for it, but I think he saw me too."

The 22-year-old Krejci entered the contest fresh off recording his first career hat trick in Boston's 8-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

The Hurricanes opened the scoring in the first period on the power play when Pitkanen snapped took a pass from Rod Brind'Amour and beat Manny Fernandez on his blocker side to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead just 4:50 into the contest.

Fernandez made 32 saves and improved to 10-1-1 in his last 12 starts for Boston.

"Today was a tight one," Fernandez said. "We had a little bit of a scare after that first period, but good teams get up from that and push back."

Boston tied the score when Phil Kessel made a centering pass that bounced through a crowd and was collected by Marc Savard. Savard patiently made a move to his left and sent a shot into the top right corner of the net to tie the game at the 7:06 mark of the second period.

With the assist, Kessel extended his points streak to 17 games.

"They have a very balanced team, but they are pretty patient in what they do and they are pretty disciplined in how they play their system," Whitney said. "For how much offense they are generating, it is not like they are free wheeling, they are playing a pretty disciplined game and in doing that it is creating chances to score like it did tonight."

Ward stopped 32 shots for Carolina.

The Bruins' win did not come without a potential loss. Center Patrice Bergeron was helped off the ice after a collision with Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg during the second period.

Bergeron tried knock Seidenberg off the puck at center ice, but his head collided with the defenseman's shoulder. Bergeron then fell to the ice where he lay face down for several minutes before being helped off the ice.

"The doctors are looking at it, they have not given us any indication as far as the severity of it," Julien said. "I think everyone saw that it was a collision at center ice.

Right now we are not able we are not able to give you a verdict. They have not diagnosed it. I know he was here after the second period and I do not know what they have done with him since."

Bergeron missed all but 10 games last season due to a Grade 3 concussion, suffered in October when he was driven face first into the rear boards by Philadelphia Flyers' defenseman Randy Jones.