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Canucks ease past dismal Maple Leafs

Mar 15, 2015 - 4:06 AM Vancouver, BC (SportsNetwork.com) - Derek Dorsett posted a goal and two assists to power the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Chris Higgins, Jannik Hansen and Shawn Matthias all lit the lamp, while Eddie Lack made 28 saves for the Canucks, who rebounded from Thursday's 4-0 loss to the Kings to win for the third time in their last four games.

"We had a good start," Vancouver head coach Willie Desjardins said. "It was a tough game all the way through."

Phil Kessel scored on a penalty shot and Jonathan Bernier allowed all three goals on 34 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped five of their last six.

Higgins started the scoring with 3:16 left in the opening stanza as he accepted Brad Richardson's feed from behind the net and tapped it in from the top of the crease.

The Canucks increased their lead with two quick goals in a span of 32 seconds early in the second period.

Dorsett wristed a shot from the left circle off a 2-on-1 for a short-handed marker at 6:09, while Hansen hammered home a rebound after Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul knocked Ronalds Kennis into Bernier for a 3-0 lead.

"The guy was on top of me so I really couldn't do much," Bernier said of Hansen's goal. "Obviously, I would like that one back."

With less than nine minutes to play, Trevor Smith broke in on a partial breakaway, but Lack made a sliding pad save to keep his shutout bid intact.

Moments later, Kessel was awarded a penalty after he was hooked from behind on a breakaway. He skated up into the slot, deked to his left and lifted a backhander over Lack to put the Maple Leafs on the board.

Toronto pulled Bernier with over three minutes to play, but Matthias scored on the vacated cage to account for the final score.

Game Notes

Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri returned to the lineup after missing three games due to disciplinary reasons ... Defensemen Kevin Bieksa and Yannick Weber and forwards Richardson and Higgins all returned to the Vancouver lineup. Bieksa missed 22 games with a broken finger, Weber was out two games with an upper-body injury, Richardson was absent for 24 games due to a foot injury and Higgins missed three games with an undisclosed injury ... The Canucks improved to 24-5-2 when scoring first this season ... Toronto went 0- for-6 on the power play.