Bruins' Strong 3rd Period Help Finish Off Kings, 4-2

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Milan Lucic and Chris Kelly scored less than 1 1/2 minutes apart early in the third period to break open a tie game, Patrice Bergeron scored a short-handed goal and Tim Thomas made 41 saves, leading the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

The defending Stanley Cup champions ended a four-game road losing streak and also snapped a six-game winning streak to the Kings, who fell out of first place in the Pacific Division with Dallas' victory over Calgary. Colin Fraser and rookie Slava Voynov scored for Los Angeles and Jonathan Quick stopped 22 shots.

The Northeast Division-leading Bruins are second in the Eastern Conference, 12 points behind the New York Rangers with eight games left on the schedule. The last defending Stanley Cup champion to lead its conference in points the following season was New Jersey, which captured the top seed in the East in 2000-01.