RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Boston Bruins found an effective way to end their lengthy losing streak by facing a team that's stuck in a similar slump.

Zdeno Chara scored a power-play goal with 3:11 left in overtime and the Bruins snapped a five-game slide with a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

"I'm hoping this is a corner we can build on," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "It's one little baby step in a critical time of the season for us."

Chara took a pass from Marc Savard behind the right circle and one-timed the puck past Cam Ward, sending the defending Stanley Cup champions to their fourth straight loss, their third straight on home ice and their sixth in seven games.

"Marc made a good pass, and I just wanted to try to put the puck on the net as hard as I could," Chara said. "I heard a crossbar and wasn't sure if it went in or out. ... This one came our way and got in."

Glen Murray scored two goals, including his team-leading 26th, and Brad Boyes added a goal for the Bruins, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit with two goals in the second period.

"The game was on the line a number of times, and we found a way," Lewis said.

Erik Cole scored two goals for Carolina and Rod Brind'Amour tied it with 3:12 remaining in regulation. Tim Thomas made 34 saves for Boston.

Murray's second goal of the game put Boston up 3-2 with about 13 minutes to play.

Brind'Amour tied it by scoring with a 5-on-3 advantage with 3:12 to play. He took a cross-ice feed from Ray Whitney on the right side of the goal and hammered it past a clearly agitated Thomas.

"We have to smarten up. The (foolish) penalties that we take are totally unacceptable," Lewis said. "All we did was kill penalties."

Cam Ward turned aside 29 shots for Carolina, which finally got some production from its power-play unit, scoring the game-tying goal with a two-man advantage and finishing 1-for-10 with the extra attacker. The Hurricanes entered the game 2-of-29 with the man advantage during their previous six games.

"We're not winning. Seems like every time we make mistakes, it's in our net," Brind'Amour said. "We're just not getting the big play when we need it -- power play, penalty kill, it's just not happening."

Cole got the Hurricanes' offense going early with two goals in the first period.

He put Carolina up 1-0 about four minutes into the game when he beat Thomas with a short wrist shot. He then extended the lead to two when he chipped a rebound high past Thomas for his first two-goal game since Jan. 6.

"It was a 'Let's get one (goal) and go from there' kind of mood" between periods, Thomas said.

Murray pulled the Bruins to 2-1 with a power-play goal 30 seconds into the second when he tipped a rebound past Ward. Boyes tied it with 52.2 seconds left in the period when he shot out of the penalty box, took the puck on a breakaway and wristed it past Ward.

"I actually thought our second period was much better than our first, but we couldn't seem to find the back of the net," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said.

Notes

Murray has a five-game points streak. ... Carolina leads the season series 2-1. ... C Eric Belanger and defensemen Andrew Hutchinson and Anton Babchuk were scratched for Carolina. ... LW Marco Sturm and C David Krejci missed the game for Boston. ... The game was the nightcap of a basketball-hockey doubleheader at the RBC Center. Earlier in the day, North Carolina State upset No. 3 North Carolina 83-79.