Boeser scores in OT as Canucks edge Bruins 3-2

VANCOUVER — In the battle for top spot in the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins needed more than 60 minutes to determine a winner.

Brock Boeser’s second goal of the game, scored on the power play, completed a late rally that gave the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday at Rogers Arena.

Filip Hronek had Vancouver’s other goal, while Jesper Boqvist and Danton Heinen scored for Boston.

With the win, Vancouver retained first place overall at 38-16-6 for 82 points. The Bruins slipped to 34-12-13 for 81 points.

Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves for the Bruins, while Thatcher Demko stopped 20 of 22 shots he faced for the Canucks.

Both teams have struggled on the power play in recent games, and those woes continued. In regulation, the Bruins went 0-for-4, while the Canucks were 0-for-1. Boeser’s overtime tally snapped a 1-for-29 stretch of futility or Vancouver with the man advantage.

Boston came into the game with a record of 3-3-3 since the NHL All-Star break, and went to overtime or a shootout in five of their last six. After sending six players and coach Rick Tocchet to All-Star weekend, Vancouver went 4-1-1 before logging four-straight losses heading into Saturday’s game.

Both goalies stood tall in a scoreless first period, where the Bruins outshot the Canucks 10-9. David Pastrnak led the way with three shots for Boston, including a point-blank power-play chance from the left faceoff circle late in the frame.

In the second period, the Bruins built a 2-0 lead. Jesper Boqvist opened the scoring at 5:27. After a neutral-zone faceoff-win by Justin Brazeau, playing just his third NHL game, Boqvist broke in alone and laid a sweet deke on Demko for his third of the year.

Just under six minutes later, Danton Heinen of Langley, B.C., doubled the lead at 11:15, driving to the net and backhanding a loose puck out of the crease and over the goal line.

In the third, the Canucks spoiled Jeremy Swayman’s shutout bid with 7:11 remaining. Boeser fired a wrister to the short side. Nikita Zadorov and J.T. Miller drew the assists.

Then, with Demko on the bench for the extra attacker, Hronek fired a bomb from the blue line to tie the game with 1:11 remaining in regulation. Miller and Elias Pettersson collected the assists.

The Canucks received their second power play of the game in overtime, after Boston was whistled for too many men on the ice at 1:09. That led to Boeser’s overtime winner.

NOTES

The Canucks and Bruins both played their fourth game in six nights on Saturday. … Defenceman Matt Grzelcyk returned to the Boston lineup after missing one game with a lower-body injury. … Vancouver winger Dakota Joshua missed his sixth game with a broken hand. … ‘The Green Men,’ popular fixtures at Canucks games in the early 2010s, made a return to their seats next to the visitors’ penalty box. …. Playing his third NHL game, Surrey, B.C. native Arshdeep Bains made his home-ice debut for Vancouver, the team he supported growing up.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Monday.

Canucks: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2024.

Carol Schram, The Canadian Press