Ward secured his fourth career playoff shutout while goals from Joe Corvo, Matt Cullen and Eric Staal gave the underdog Hurricanes a huge lift heading back to Raleigh for Game Three on Wednesday.
"He is our rock," Staal said of Ward. "He needs to play well every night in order for us to have a shot at winning, and he did that tonight."
Ward preserved the shutout with 16 saves in the third period, including big stops on shots by Boston's Michael Ryder and Dennis Wideman during a Bruins ' power play.
"We needed to respond to them and have a big effort tonight, and I thought we played well," Ward told reporters after his second playoff shutout in four games.
Corvo and Cullen scored in the second period, Cullen on a short-handed tally before Staal added an empty-netter with 28 seconds to play.
The goals were the first of the playoffs for both Corvo and Cullen.
"We played a more patient game," Corvo said. "In the last game we wanted to score two goals in one shift. We were pressing and guys were getting anxious. We just kind of relaxed tonight."
The loss ended a five-game playoff winning streak for the top-seeded Bruins , who swept the Montreal Canadiens in their first-round series and beat the Hurricanes 4-1 Friday.
Carolina had a potential fourth goal waived off with 0.2 seconds to go in the second when a shot by Chad LaRose hit the crossbar and rolled along the goal line.
Video review failed to produce conclusive evidence to overturn the call, the NHL said on its website (www.nhl.com)
