Bruins 3, Canucks 1
Milan Lucic returned to his hometown and scored with 4:38 remaining to give the Boston Bruins a 3-1 victory over the host Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Lucic’s 27th goal of the season came off a rebound of a Dennis Seidenberg shot, which followed a nifty David Krejci rush as Boston won its fourth straight game.
Nathan Horton scored in the second period and Patrice Bergeron added an empty-netter for the Bruins (35-19-7), who remain four points ahead of Montreal in the Northeast Division and moved to within two of Tampa Bay for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Boston’s Tim Thomas made 26 saves but allowed his first career goal against Vancouver after recording two shutouts.
Manny Malhotra scored in the first period for the Canucks (39-15-9).
The line of Horton, Lucic and Krejci had four points Saturday, and has seven goals and 17 points in its last four games.
The Canucks, whose No. 1 power play was 0 for 3 with three shots, lost for only the second time in regulation this season when scoring first (33-2-6), and fell to 22-6-5 at home.
Boston defenseman Andrew Ference left the game with an apparent lower body injury and did not return.