RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Aaron Ward scored two goals – including the go-ahead score late in the third period – to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.

Ray Whitney and Oleg Tverdovsky added goals to help the Hurricanes return from the two-week Olympic break with yet another home win. The game also marked Carolina’s third win against Boston this season, with all three coming by 4-3 scores.

Carolina, which leads the Eastern Conference with 84 points, improved to 25-5-1 at home this season.

Marco Sturm, David Tanabe and Sergei Samsonov scored for the Bruins, who have won one of their past six games.

With the game tied at 3, Niklas Nordgren corralled the puck along the boards on the left side and sent a pass toward the crease. The puck slid through Boston’s defense to Ward, who skated in on the right side and fired a shot past Tim Thomas with 4:24 left.

Ward also scored early in the second period, taking a pass from Rod Brind’Amour and beating Thomas from outside the right circle for a 2-1 lead.

But the Hurricanes didn’t protect that lead, with the Bruins scoring two goals in 23 seconds – both coming off turnovers – to push ahead midway through the period.

Tanabe scored while trailing on a 2-on-1 push to tie it after Carolina turned it over in the offensive zone. Then, after a Carolina turnover in its own end after the faceoff, Samsonov faked to draw goalie Cam Ward out then pushed the puck behind him on the left side for a 3-2 lead at 11:53 of the period.

Carolina tied it on Whitney’s power-play goal. He took a between-the-legs drop pass from Cory Stillman and beat Thomas from between the circles 31/2 minutes into the third.

Notes: Boston’s P.J. Axelsson sustained an apparent left knee injury late in the second period when he fell awkwardly on a hit by Ward along the boards. Axelsson did not return. … The game marked a homecoming of sorts for Tanabe, who was Carolina’s first-round draft pick in 1999 and spent four seasons with the team before being traded in 2003. … Erik Cole’s assist on Tverdovsky’s goal pushed his point streak to five games.

AP-ES-03-01-06 2146EST