BOSTON (Ticker) -- If this was a measuring stick, the Boston Bruins came out just inches ahead of the Vancouver Canucks.
Brian Rolston popped Mike Knuble's centering feed over Dan Cloutier with 45 seconds left in overtime as the Bruins won a battle of conference leaders, 2-1, over the Vancouver Canucks.
After defenseman Ian Moran kept the puck in at the left point, he fed Knuble, who skated around the net to the right goalpost. One of three Bruins left alone in front, Rolston chipped a backhanded pass into the net.
"I didn't get a whole lot of wood on it, but luckily enough, it chipped over him," Rolston said. "It was a big win for us."
Knuble also scored a power-play goal for the Bruins, who have won four straight to increase the top point total in the Eastern Conference to 25. Vancouver lost its third in a row but still shares the lead in the West with 23 points.
Both teams were ready to play, knowing their place in the standings. The game featured three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, a second-period fight and 12 minutes in roughing minors.
"They have a great hockey team and we played hard for three periods," Rolston said. "There was intensity from the beginning to the end."
"This was a good game tonight, and we knew it was going to be a good game," Canucks coach Marc Crawford said. "Our guys were up for it and they battled hard."
Jason King scored his rookie-best 10th goal for the Canucks, who fell to 7-38-7 in Boston, even with one of their most explosive teams in recent years. They are 23-65-15 in the all-time series.
Cloutier stopped 37 shots. He also was penalized for roughing midway through the second period for waling away at Travis Green following a collision in the crease. Cloutier's teammate, Todd Bertuzzi, had pushed Green from behind.
"They're a team that likes to crash the net and I was ready for that all night," said Cloutier, one of the NHL's more fiery goalies.
Rookie Andrew Raycroft made 23 saves for the Bruins, improving to 6-2-1. He got caught up in the emotion of the game, especially after Rolston scored.
"It was a lot of fun out there tonight," he said. "And it was much sweeter to win."
King opened the scoring on the power play 6:59 into the first period, but Knuble capitalized with the man advantage midway through the second.
Boston outshot the Canucks, 39-24, but Cloutier kept it close with several superb saves. One came on Glen Murray's rocket from the right wing in the final minute of regulation.
"Cloutier was outstanding tonight," King said. "He came up with some amazing stops and kept us in the game."
"We all wanted to play well, just because they're such a good team," Cloutier said. "And obviously they were better than us in pretty much every aspect of the game tonight."
