Bruins’ early lead holds up

RALEIGH, N.C. — Mark Recchi and the Boston Bruins instead moved closer to giving the Carolina Hurricanes a different kind of knockout punch.

Recchi had a goal and an assist, and the Bruins beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2, on Tuesday night to even the Eastern Conference semifinals and force a decisive Game 7.

Marc Savard scored before leaving in the third period because of an apparent leg injury.

Steve Montador and Chuck Kobasew also connected, Patrice Bergeron had two assists and Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots in his second straight victory.

The top-seeded team remaining in the playoffs led 2-0 barely five minutes in and made it stand to win its second straight since falling behind 3-1 in the series. Its reward: A trip back to Boston for Thursday night’s Game 7.

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. Their first losing streak of the playoffs has put them in danger of blowing a 3-1 series lead for the first time in franchise history.

Then again, Game 7s are nothing new for Carolina. Each of the Hurricanes’ previous three playoff series dating to the 2006 Stanley Cup run also went the full seven games, and they won all three.

Cam Ward stopped 15 shots and gave up four goals for the second straight game.