Marchand, Bruins bury Canucks
BOSTON 6 VANCOUVER 3
VANCOUVER — Brad Marchand had a hat trick in the third period, including the winning goal with under eight minutes to go, as the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 on Monday.
David Backes, Zdeno Chara and David Krejci had the other goals for Boston (37-26-6), which got 26 saves from Tuukka Rask. Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak each added two assists.
Marchand, who also had an assist, now has 35 goals on the season to tie Sidney Crosby for tops in the NHL.
Markus Granlund, with two, and Alexander Edler replied for Vancouver (28-32-9), while Henrik and Daniel Sedin each picked up two assists.
Ryan Miller made 37 saves in his 700th career NHL game.
The Bruins, who are 11-3-0 since interim head coach Bruce Cassidy took over for the fired Claude Julien on Feb. 7, are now four points up on the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division after beginning a fourgame road trip on a winning note.
The Canucks are 12 points back of St. Louis Blues for the second-wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Vancouver led 3-2 after 40 minutes, but Boston came out flying after the second intermission and tied it 58 seconds into the third when Pastrnak threw the puck in front to Marchand, who fired his 33rd past a down-and-out Miller.
One of the villains from a Vancouver perspective during the 2011 Stanley Cup final that Boston won in seven games, Marchand stole the puck from Henrik Sedin in the Canucks’ zone before stepping around Edler and beating Miller with 7:57 left on the clock.
Krejci then put it out of reach with his 19th on a slick pass from Pastrnak at 16:46. Marchand completed the hat trick with 25.5 seconds left on the clock into an empty net for his 35th.
Winner of six of their last eight coming into Monday, the Bruins opened the scoring at 6:48 of the first when Bergeron followed up on his initial shot to feed the puck in front to Backes, who saw it go in off his skate for his 14th.
After missing the Pittsburgh game with food poisoning, Granlund returned to the lineup alongside the Sedins and got his first of the night at 15:47.
Drew Shore made his debut for Vancouver just two days after the forward’s season in Switzerland ended. The Canucks signed the 26-year-old on Sunday following a team-high 48-point season (24 goals, 24 assists) with Kloten HC. Shore had nine goals and 15 assists in 80 NHL games over five seasons with the Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames before deciding to go overseas in 2016-17.
Shore picked up an assist on Edler’s goal.