Canucks hold court over lowly Leafs with 4-1 win

Vancouver Canucks left wing Chris Higgins celebrates his teams goal past Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier during the first period of NHL action in Vancouver, B.C. Saturday, March. 14, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

VANCOUVER -- Derek Dorsett had a goal and two assists for the first three-point game of his career Saturday as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1.

Chris Higgins, Jannik Hansen and Shawn Matthias, into an empty net, also scored for Vancouver (39-25-4), while Eddie Lack made 28 saves.

Phil Kessel replied for Toronto (27-37-6), which finished 0 for 6 on the power play.

Jonathan Bernier made 31 stops for the Leafs, who were coming off a 6-3 loss against the Calgary Flames on Friday and have just five wins over its last 32 games.

Vancouver bounced back after a 4-0 defeat on home ice to the Los Angeles Kings two nights earlier and blew the game open while leading 1-0 in the second period with goals 32 seconds apart.

The Leafs had a number of chances on a power play, including Tyler Bozak's shot that rang off the crossbar, but the Canucks broke back on a 2-on-1 the other way, with Dorsett burying his sixth of the season at 6:09 just as the penalty expired.

Hansen then made it 3-0 moments later into a gaping net after Ronalds Kenins was pushed into Bernier.

Toronto had a 5-on-3 man advantage for 25 seconds as part of its four straight power plays in the period, but was unable to get anything past Lack despite some lengthy stretches of sustained pressure.

Canucks forward Zack Kassian and Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf were involved in an altercation after the whistle with 3:27 left on the clock. One of the linesmen tumbled to the ice under Kassian, who was given two minutes for roughing, a ten-minute misconduct and a game misconduct, while Phaneuf escaped with a minor.

Lack, who continues to carry the workload in the Vancouver crease with No. 1 goalie Ryan Miller still out with a knee injury, made a nice save on a Trevor Smith short-handed breakaway with under nine minutes to go in the third, but lost his shutout bid when Kessel beat him with a nice backhand on a penalty shot with 7:22 left for his 24th.

But Matthias put any thoughts of a comeback to rest with his 17th into an empty net with under three minutes to go.

The Leafs haven't won in Vancouver since 2003 and trailed 1-0 after the first period. Canucks forward Brad Richardson -- back in the lineup after missing 24 games with a foot injury -- centred out to Higgins from behind the net, and he buried his ninth of the season upstairs on Bernier at 16:44.

With a solitary road win in their last 19 games coming into Saturday, the Leafs had a decent chance to tie things up with just over a minute left in the period, but Kessel's shot off the rush just flashed wide.

Bernier then had to be sharp in the dying seconds, snapping his glove out to stop Kevin Bieksa on a scramble in front.

Notes: Higgins suited up for the Canucks after missing three games with a lower-body injury. ... Bieksa was back in for Vancouver after sitting out the 22 games with a broken hand. ... Nazem Kadri, who was scratched for three straight games after showing up late for a team meeting, returned to Toronto's lineup.