Hurricanes, who held 3-1 series lead, lose 4-2 to top-seeded Bruins to force Game 7 in Boston

Bruins, once down 3-1, force Game 7 against ‘Canes

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are down to their last chance to pull off the biggest upset in the Eastern Conference.

It wasn’t long ago that their semifinal against the top-seeded Boston Bruins seemed all but over. That was before Boston reeled off two straight wins — including a 4-2 victory Tuesday night — to square things.

And now the Hurricanes, who once led the series 3-1, are headed back to Beantown for a Game 7 they hoped they’d never have to play.

“It seems like whenever you counted us out was when we played our best,” Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour said. “So I’m sure everyone’s counting us out right now.”

There was no shortage of contributors for a Boston team trying to rally from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in the Original Six franchise’s history.

Mark Recchi had a goal and an assist. Marc Savard scored before leaving in the third period with a minor leg injury. Steve Montador and Chuck Kobasew added goals, Bergeron had two assists and Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots in his second straight victory.

“Basically, I’m trying not to let them get anything to feed off of,” Thomas said.

The Bruins led 2-0 barely 5 minutes in and made it stand. The reward: A trip back to Boston for Thursday night’s decisive game, their first at home since losing in the first round to Montreal in 2004.

“From the time we fell behind 3-1 in the series, our goal was to create a Game 7,” coach Claude Julien said. “We’re there now. … Getting to Game 7 is one thing. Now we’ve got to decide what we’re going to do with it.”

And there wasn’t even any need to retaliate for what they considered a sucker punch thrown by Carolina’s Scott Walker near the end of Game 5.

Matt Cullen and Sergei Samsonov scored for the Hurricanes, who picked a bad time for their first losing streak of the playoffs. The good news for them: Their previous three playoff series also went the full seven games, and they won all three.

“I believe in this hockey team. I really do, and sometimes that means you say unkind things to them because you expect more and better out of them,” said coach Paul Maurice after his postgame speech was described, perhaps sarcastically, by defenseman Tim Gleason as “uplifting.”

At Anaheim, Calif., Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist and Jonas Hiller made 38 saves as the Ducks forced a Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan added assists for the Ducks, who built a two-goal lead in the second period and managed to shut down the Red Wings until Johan Franzen brought Detroit within a goal with 2:25 to play.

Game 7 will be in Detroit on Thursday, with the winner moving on to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference finals.

Led by their top line of Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan, the Ducks matched the Red Wings’ up-tempo attack stride for stride. The Red Wings had clinched their last eight playoff series wins with victories on the road, and seemed poised to do the same after outskating and outshooting Anaheim 78-45 in consecutive wins in Games 4 and 5.

But the Ducks returned to the form that carried the team to a league-best 10-2-1 mark in the final weeks of the season, then through a first-round upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks.