Nathan Horton was attended to for several minutes by medics and stretchered off the ice after a late hit to the head by Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome.

An inspired Boston responded, with Andrew Ference and David Krejci each having a goal and an assist during a four-goal second period.

Mark Recchi scored two goals and Tim Thomas made 40 saves for the Bruins, who turned a big win into a blowout with four more goals in the final 8½ minutes of the third period against beleaguered Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.

Boston emerged from its offensive slump after Horton's injury.

"It's always tough when a guy goes down," said forward Brad Marchand, who scored a short-handed goal in the second period. "We really wanted to get this win tonight for him.

It's a very tough situation, and everyone is worried about him, but it definitely gave us motivation to win." Daniel Paille added another short-handed goal in the third before Recchi, Chris Kelly and Michael Ryder _ who finished with three points _ scored in the final 2½ minutes as the Bruins emphatically avoided a daunting 0-3 series deficit.

Boston had managed just three goals in its previous 10 periods. The Bruins hadn't scored more than five goals in a finals game since 1970, on the way to their most recent championship.

They were one goal shy of equaling the finals record of nine goals, set by Detroit in Game 2 of the 1936 series and matched by Toronto six years later in Game 5. The eight goals were the most scored in a finals game since 1996.

Jannik Hansen scored with 6:07 to play for the Canucks, who finally hit a major bump in their late-season roll toward their first Stanley Cup title.

"In the playoffs, a loss is a loss, if you lose in OT or you lose like we did tonight," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said.

Game 4 is Wednesday in Boston.

The excitement of Boston's first home finals game in 21 years turned into unease just 5 minutes into Game 3.

After Horton passed the puck, Rome left his feet to deliver a hard shoulder check to Horton's upper chest and head. Horton appeared to be unconscious after he landed flat on his back, his arm reaching up into empty space in a tell-tale sign of a heavy concussion.

"It was a blindside hit that we've talked about taking out of the game," Bruins coach Claude Julien said.

"That's my view on it. Let the league take care of it.

We're trying to clean that part of the game out." Medical personnel spent several minutes attending to Horton, who scored the Bruins' winning Game 7 goals in the first round against Montreal and again in the Eastern Conference finals against Tampa Bay.

"I never want to see any player leave in that situation," Vigneault said. "The hit seemed to be a little bit late. ... That was a head-on hit, player looking at his pass. It was a little bit late. I don't think that's the hit the league is trying to take out.» Rome got a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct, with at least one fan throwing a towel at the Vancouver bench while Rome went to the dressing room.

The Boston crowd rose and cheered several minutes later when a scoreboard message told them Horton could move his arms and legs when he was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Boston fans already were upset with the Canucks after two bad-tempered games in Vancouver, including Alex Burrows' apparent bite on Patrice Bergeron's finger during Game 1.

The bite was still on the minds of both teams, with players from both teams taunting their opponents by pointing their index finger at another player's mouth.