RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Sometimes it's easy to forget Josef Vasicek is just learning to play in the NHL.

Vasicek scored the go-ahead goal with 2:41 left to break a 12-game streak without a point as the Hurricanes won an important game in the playoff race.

"He has pulled that move probably 150 times a day in practice," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said of Vasicek's hesitation move and then wrist shot that beat John Grahame.

"What great composure for a 20-year-old at that point in the game," Maurice added. "Instead of getting jumpy he held on to it and made a great shot."

Vasicek's eighth goal of the season and first since Jan. 18 – also against Boston – came 1:55 after Brian Rolston tied the game for the Bruins 3-3.

Marek Malik added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds left on a length-of-the-ice shot before Boston's Kyle McLaren closed the wild game with goal with 10 seconds remaining.

The win moved the Hurricanes within one point of the Bruins for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"Our objective was to win this hockey game and nothing short of that was going to be good enough for us," Carolina captain Ron Francis said.

Carolina, which has played two fewer games than the Bruins, won the season series with Boston 3-1 – an important tie-breaker come playoff time.

Jason Allison and Bill Guerin scored in a span of 2½ minutes late in the second period to tie it at 2-2 and the Hurricanes took a 3-2 lead with 8:42 left as Rod Brind'Amour slid the puck between the legs of Grahame.

That set up the wild final three minutes of the physical game.

"This was a playoff game for both teams," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "Losing one like this always hurts – they hurt for a while."

The Bruins are 1-2 to start their six-game road trip and now play at Colorado, Dallas and St. Louis – three Western Conference powers.

"I'm surprised that so many of our guys couldn't bring their A-game to the arena today," Boston coach Mike Keenan said. "We just had too many people not participating.

"They either haven't learned, or won't learn, or can't learn, or aren't good enough to learn what it takes to play at this kind of intensity level."

After a scoreless first period, Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley intercepted the puck in his zone and broke out 2-on-1 with Willis, sliding a pass to his winger who backhanded one high over John Grahame 4:42 into the second.

Willis' two points gave him 31 on the season, moving him into second among NHL rookies.

The third-most penalized team in the NHL then gave the Hurricanes a two-man advantage midway through the period when Andrei Nazarov took a double minor for cross-checking and roughing, and seconds later Jason Allison was called for high-sticking.

Jeff O'Neill scored his 29th goal just 20 seconds into the Allison penalty as the Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead and appeared to have the momentum. O'Neill's goal was his 13th on the power play, tying him for third in the league.

But the Hurricanes failed to score over the final 1:40 of the two-man advantage and the Bruins closed strong with a pair of goals from the team's top scorers in the final 3:20 of the period.

Allison walked in front all alone and batted his own rebound out of the air and past Arturs Irbe for his 24th goal of the season.

Boston then tied it with 50 seconds left in the period off a faceoff as Guerin beat Irbe on the short side from the top of the circle for his team-leading 31st goal.

Game notes
Grahame was the fifth goalie used by Boston this season. ... Wesley's assist on the first Carolina goal gave him 22 career points in 30 games against his former team. ... O'Neill has 23 goals in his last 32 games. ... Irbe was back in net for Carolina after missing Friday night's game against Phoenix with a groin injury.

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