Bruins rally past Hurricanes in Game 4, extend Eastern First Round lead

The Boston Bruins scored four goals in a 6:51 span in the third period to rally for a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday.

Jake DeBrusk scored twice, Connor Clifton had a goal and an assist, and Brad Marchand scored in a third straight game for the Bruins, the No. 4 seed in the East. Jaroslav Halak made 16 saves.

Boston, which won for the second time in three games without forward David Pastrnak (unfit to play), extended its lead in the best-of-7 series. Teams that have a 3-1 lead are 278-29 (90.6 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL series.

"We have a ton of character in our room," Marchand said. "We didn't plan on coming back in the first minute of that (third) period. We always say it's a process. We continue to build every shift. That's what we did. We just continued to impose our will and play our game."

WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Hurricanes highlights]

James Reimer made 29 saves for Carolina, the No. 5 seed, which was outshot 16-2 in the third.

"That finish, obviously, I've never seen anything like it," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We've got to be better. I don't know what else to tell you. We've got a proud group in there, and I'm sure they'll bounce back."

Game 5 is in Toronto, the Eastern hub city, on Wednesday (4 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, NESN, FS-CR).

The Bruins scored at least four goals while allowing two or fewer shots in a playoff period for the second time (since 1959-60). They scored six times while allowing two shots in the third period against the Hartford Whalers on April, 11, 1991. The Edmonton Oilers are the only other NHL team to do so, scoring four while allowing two shots to the Chicago Black Hawks on April 24, 1983.

DeBrusk made it 2-1 at 7:26 of the third period, shooting into an open net after knocking the puck away from Reimer, who skated out into the slot in an attempt to play the puck. Clifton tied it 2-2 at 10:10 on a one-timer from the right circle.

Marchand gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 11:40, scoring five-hole on a breakaway, and DeBrusk scored on a wrist shot from in close to make it 4-2 at 14:17.

"Anytime you can contribute in a win, it's huge," DeBrusk said. "I just wanted to kind of, No. 1, try to find my game and help the team. Kind of got lucky on that first one, I'd like to say, and then it was a great play by my linemates on the second one. We rallied to win."

Teuvo Teravainen got the Hurricanes back within 4-3 with 1:27 remaining on a spinning backhand, their first shot of the period.

"[The third] was, quite frankly, as ugly a period as I've seen us play," Carolina forward Justin Williams said. "I mean, you have to take ownership of it. … Really, the whole period was certainly not what we're accustomed to. We got it handed to us."

Williams gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with a wrist shot from above the left face-off circle at 9:17 of the first period, and Jordan Martinook made it 2-0 with a wrist shot at 12:08 of the second period.

Halak, who was beaten on each goal under his glove, was making his second straight start for Boston since goalie Tuukka Rask opted out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday.

"I think they're both pucks he typically saves," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Both stoppable pucks. … At the end of the day, we kept playing. You've got to play through some stuff. These guys in the room know you win as a team, you lose as a team.

"I'm sure they wanted to pick [Halak] up and, eventually, the puck bounced our way. So hopefully get some work in tomorrow and be a little sharper in Game 5."

Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal left after taking a hit from Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy at 9:53 of the third period. Carolina was already playing without forward Andrei Svechnikov, who was injured late in the third period of Game 3.

There was no update on Staal following the game. As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

"He's a huge part of our team, but … it was going the wrong way before [Staal] got hurt," Martinook said. "I don't know, we're a broken record right now. But the mindset wasn't there. … I guess we need to dial everybody in in the intermission more. We need to lead the way and it wasn't there for us."

NOTES: The Bruins' fastest span of four goals scored during a playoff game was in Game 6 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, when they did it in 4:14 of the first period in a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks. … Halak is the first Bruins goalie other than Rask to start two games in a playoff series since 2012, when Tim Thomas started seven games against the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report