THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — Milan Lucic scored his team-leading 27th goal of the season Saturday to give the Boston Bruins a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in a battle of division leaders.
Lucic snapped a 1-1 tie with his fourth goal in as many games with 4:38 remaining in regulation time.
The Vancouver native was on top of Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo to knock in the rebound off a shot by defenceman Dennis Seidenberg and snap a 1-1 tie.
Nathan Horton and Patrice Bergeron, into an empty net, also scored for the Bruins (35-19-7), who their fourth straight on the a six-game road trip.
Boston remains four points ahead of Montreal in the battle for the Northeast Division lead and has two games in hand over the Canadiens.
Manny Malhotra scored the lone goal for Vancouver (39-15-9), which lost for the second time in three home games.
Lucic, who scored only nine goals in an injury-plagued last season, also drew an assist on Bergeron’s goal.
The Canucks lead Philadelphia by one point in the overall standings and are five ahead of Detroit in the battle for the Western Conference lead.
Both the Flyers and Wings have a game in hand on Vancouver.
Malhotra scored the only goal of a close-checking first period between the league’s two stingiest teams.
His got his third goal in six games by backhanding his own rebound behind netminder Tim Thomas after Christian Ehrhoff’s shot hit Raffi Torres, creating a goalmouth scramble.
Malhotra’s scoring surge has come after the third-line centre endured a 22-game goal drought.
The Bruins had the best early chance but Luongo stuck out his right pad to foil Horton at the side of his crease.
Thomas, who entered the game with a goals-against average under two, also reacted quickly with his right pad in the opening period, denying Daniel Sedin on his doorstep.
Horton tied the game midway through the second period when he took Milan Lucic’s pass from behind the net and knocked his own rebound behind a sprawling Luongo.
Veteran defenceman Tomas Kaberle, in his third game since being obtained in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs, got the second assist on the play, his first point as a Bruin.
NOTES: It was the only meeting between the two teams this season … Boston continues its road swing Sunday in Edmonton … veteran defenceman Shane Hnidy was in Vancouver after signing a one-year contract with the Bruins. He hasn’t been cleared to play since suffering a shoulder injury in the Phoenix Coyotes’ training camp exactly one year ago. … Vancouver winger Jeff Tambellini, who hasn’t scored for 23 games, missed his third straight contest as a healthy scratch.