BOSTON – Brian Rolston scored with 44.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks in a matchup of the NHL’s conference leaders.

Mike Knuble, who set up the winner, scored the first goal for Boston, which improved to 8-0-1 against the Western Conference.

The Bruins pulled out the win despite some outstanding goaltending by Vancouver’s Dan Cloutier, who made 37 saves. His best came when he made a sliding stop on Nick Boynton, who broke in alone with 2:02 left in the extra period.

Jason King had a power-play goal for the Canucks. In the last minute of overtime, Knuble broke in down the left wing, circled the net and fed a pass in front to Rolston for the winning goal.

The Canucks took advantage of a defensive miscue to grab a 1-0 lead on King’s power-play goal 6:59 into the opening period. Both defenseman Boynton and goaltender Andrew Raycroft misplayed a loose puck at the side of the Bruins’ net before Daniel Sedin slipped a pass to King, who scored from the edge of the crease. It marked the 15th time in 18 games this season that the Canucks scored the first goal.

The Bruins tied it at 1-all in a wide-open second period when Knuble redirected Dan McGillis’ shot from the point for a power-play score.

Knuble’s tip caromed in off the right post.

Boston outshot the Canucks 18-12 in a second period filled with a number of scrums and some chippy play. There were 12 minor penalties and two majors called in the period.

A disallowed Bruins’ goal was upheld by a replay review early in the second period. The net became dislodged after Cloutier was knocked down by defenseman Jarkko Ruutu just before Boston’s Joe Thornton shot the puck.

Notes: Vancouver’s Artem Chubarov injured his upper body and didn’t play after the second period. … Boston left wing P.J. Axelsson’s next assist will be the 100th of his career. … Rolston needs two points for 400 in his career. … It was the only meeting between the teams this season. … Vancouver had killed 13 of 14 penalties in the previous four games, but Boston scored with its first power play. … A local rock band, Dropkick Murphys, performed in the second-period intermission. They gave a brief concert after the game.

AP-ES-11-15-03 2151EST