BOSTON — Jarome Iginla scored a pair of goals, backup goaltender Chad Johnson made 29 saves and the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins won their eighth straight, 5-1 over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon.

Milan Lucic had a goal and two assists, Torey Krug and Chris Kelly each scored a goal and David Krejci added three assists, his first coming as he was falling to the ice on Lucic’s score.

It’s Boston’s longest winning streak since a 10-game stretch in November 2011.

Alexander Semin had the goal and Cam Ward made 36 saves for the Hurricanes, who lost for the eighth time in 11 games.

Johnson, playing with regular goalie Tuukka Rask getting the day off, is 8-0-1 in his past nine starts.

Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk had to be helped off the ice favoring his right leg after going off-balance into the boards midway into the third period. He was back about a minute later and ended up blocking a shot before limping off on his next shift.

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Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead on Lucic’s goal 15:28 into the opening period. Krejci was falling after being tripped on what would have been a penalty on Eric Staal, but he pushed the puck ahead to Lucic. The winger then snapped off a quick shot inside the right post into a wide-open area with Ward over near the other post.

Lucic then set up Iginla to make it 2-0 at 17:24 of the second. The Bruins’ rugged winger outworked defenseman Jay Harrison for the puck in the corner, hustled to it behind the net and sent a pass out front to Iginla, who fired a wrist shot inside the far post over Ward’s glove.

Semin ended Johnson’s shutout 3:53 into the third when his shot caromed off the stick of Boychuk and bounced into the net.

Kelly’s score made it 3-1 at 12:49 and Iginla scored his team-leading 23rd goal 13 seconds later, firing a wrister past Ward from the slot. Krug scored in the closing seconds.

Johnson had a key save late in the second after Boston made it 2-0 when he made a right pad stop on Staal at the end of a two-on-one break.


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