Cam Ward claims club-record 131st win, Hurricanes beat Bruins 5-1

Ward sets team wins mark in Carolina’s victory

RALEIGH, N.C. — Cam Ward broke the franchise victory record, and Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.

Ward, who entered tied with Arturs Irbe atop the Hartford/Carolina’s victory list, made 27 saves for his 131st victory with the Hurricanes and helped them snap a six-game regular-season losing streak against Boston.

Ray Whitney and Brandon Sutter each had a goal and an assist, Eric Staal and Chad LaRose also scored and Joni Pitkanen had two assists for the Hurricanes. They scored three goals in 6:36 span and led 5-0 in the opening minute of the third period.

David Krejci scored for the Bruins, who have their first five-game losing streak in more than two years.

The Hurricanes also escaped the NHL’s cellar. They have 39 points — one more than Edmonton.

Tim Thomas stopped 11 shots and was replaced by Tuukka Rask with 8:58 left in the second after allowing four goals. Sutter beat Thomas from close range to make it 4-0 after he took a feed from Whitney, who had used a highlight-reel juke to get past Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Zdeno Chara.

By then, the Hurricanes were well on their way to their first regular-season victory against Boston since Feb. 12, 2008. Carolina didn’t claim any points against the Bruins last season, but did eliminate them in overtime in Game 7 in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Rask finished with four saves and allowed LaRose’s goal in the opening minute of the third for Boston, which has its longest losing streak since dropping six straight from Dec. 18-29, 2007.

This one was all Carolina, with Jokinen playing a part in the first three goals.

He did most of the hard work on Carolina’s second goal, splitting two Bruins to chase down Pitkanen’s long pass down the center of the ice and then drew Thomas’ attention before backhanding a pass at the last instant to Staal. Carolina’s new captain then buried the puck into an open net to make it 2-0 about 4½ minutes into the second.

Making matters worse for Boston, defenseman Matt Hunwick was called for hooking during that sequence to give the Hurricanes another power play. The Bruins killed it, but 3 seconds after Hunwick left the penalty box, Jokinen snapped the puck past Thomas to make it 3-0.

Jokinen also contributed to Whitney’s goal, which got the rout started about 8 minutes in. After Thomas left the net open with an ill-advised poke-check attempt, Whitney tapped it in for his 16th goal and fourth in his last five home games.

NOTES: Both Staal and Whitney have points in five straight games. … Before the game, the Hurricanes called up G Justin Peters and scratched Ward’s backup, Manny Legace, with vision problems.