BOSTON — Boston Bruins Coach Claude Julien decided it was time to load up with offense.
It worked.
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David Krejci scored 1:28 into overtime to lift the surging Bruins to a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Coming off a tough shootout loss to St. Louis on Thursday, Julien chose to play his top line together.
Skating with his usual linemates and only one defenseman, Krejci scored into an empty net after Jarome Iginla broke in alone, forcing goaltender Cam Ward to come way out to try and cut down an angle. Iginla then dropped a pass to Krejci, who fired a wrister over a sprawling Ward for the winner.
“We haven’t had much luck lately in shootouts,” Julien said. “I just thought it was important to get a line out there and give us a better chance. It paid off.”
Reilly Smith and Zdeno Chara also scored for Eastern Conference-leading Boston, which beat the Hurricanes for the second time this week and improved to 7-1-2 in its last 10 games.
Iginla knew Krejci had an opening and kept waiting for him to shoot.
“I was thinking, `Put it in. Put it in,” ’ he said. “He showed great patience.”
Krejci credited Iginla for setting him up so well.
“I kind of had an easy job to do,” he said. “I just had to put it into a top open net.”
Bruins backup goaltender Chad Johnson, playing just his fourth game of the season, made 22 saves in place of the resting Tuukka Rask.
Patrick Dwyer scored a short-handed goal and Andrej Sekera had one on the power play for the Hurricanes, who lost their fourth straight.
The Bruins had a 38-24 shot advantage. They won 4-1 in Carolina on Monday night.
With the Hurricanes trailing 2-1 and skating short-handed after a bench minor for too many men on the ice, Dwyer collected a loose puck near center ice, broke in alone and slipped a backhander by Johnson’s blocker, tying it with 8:50 to play.
Boston moved ahead 2-1 on Smith’s goal at 13:31. Smith collected the rebound in front after Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason blocked Carl Soderberg’s shot, he shifted to his backhand and slipped a shot into the net past Ward’s glove.
The Hurricanes were held without a shot for nearly the opening 12 minutes of the second. Chara’s power-play goal had tied the game 1-1 late in the opening period.
With the Hurricanes’ Manny Malhotra in the box with a double minor for high sticking, Chara collected the rebound of Milan Lucic’s shot in front and slipped a shot into an open net.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead on Sekera’s power-play goal just under six minutes into the game.
CANADIENS 3, PENGUINS 2: Max Pacioretty scored two goals and host Montreal stretched its winning streak to three games.
SENATORS 4, RED WINGS 2: Clarke MacArthur scored two goals and Ottawa won at Detroit, with Bobby Ryan scoring the tiebreaking goal on a two-man advantage with 16:09 remaining in the third period.
FLYERS 5, ISLANDERS 2: Matt Read scored two goals, Steve Mason made 36 saves, and streaking Philadelphia won at home.
MAPLE LEAFS 2, CAPITALS 1: Joffrey Lupul scored the shootout winner and James Reimer made 49 saves to lift host Toronto over Washington.
WILD 3, JETS 2: Charlie Coyle scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give Minnesota a victory at Winnipeg.
RANGERS 2, PREDATORS 0: Cam Talbot had to stop just 17 shots to record his second consecutive shutout as New York won at Nashville.
BLUES 6, STARS 1: Brian Elliott made 33 saves in only his fifth start of the season and host St. Louis got goals from six players against Dallas to win its third straight game.
DUCKS 4, COYOTES 2: Dustin Penner scored two goals as Anaheim handed Phoenix its first regulation loss at home.
The Ducks extended their record to 3-0 against Phoenix.
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