Canucks beat Habs to win sixth in seven games

MONTREAL — The Vancouver Canucks wasted little time getting back to dominant form a day after a tough loss in Toronto.

After Vancouver fell 5-2 to the Maple Leafs to end a five-game winning streak, Conor Garland had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 Canucks win over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.

According to goaltender Casey DeSmith, who stopped 30 shots in the win, bouncing back in a big way is just what good teams do.

"Good teams come out after a loss and play well, and I thought we did that tonight,” DeSmith said. “I thought we defended hard, and I think we've been doing that all year.

“We're a good team because we have a lot of guys who can score and put the puck in the net, so as long as we keep defending hard, we're really tough to beat."

Dakota Joshua and Brock Boeser each added a goal and an assist, while Ilya Mikheyev and Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored for Vancouver (11-3-1). J.T. Miller had two assists.

"I liked the response,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. “I thought it was a really good game, a 200-foot game by everybody.”

Filip Hronek had an assist to become the fourth defenceman in Canucks history to record a double-digit point streak.

Elias Pettersson, the NHL’s leading scorer, was held off the scoresheet to end his eight-game streak.

The Canucks didn’t need it with secondary scorers like Garland stepping up, however.

Garland, who plays on Vancouver’s third line, had an opportunity to jump up with the second and took full advantage.

The 27-year-old winger opened the scoring at 6:15 of the second period.

Later in the frame, he hustled to keep the play alive in the offensive zone and produced two shots on net, the second of which Joshua converted off a rebound to make it 3-0.

"Garland's been playing really well. The last five, six, seven games he's one of our better forwards, he's done a nice job,” said Tocchet. “I put him with (Miller) and I got lucky on that one.

"I shouldn't say lucky because he deserves to play a little bit more and I put him on that line, he got that big goal, Millsy hell of a play."

For DeSmith, the win meant a little more than usual after spending a month and a half in the Canadiens organization this off-season before Montreal traded him to Vancouver in September.

The American netminder grew up a Canadiens fan, and before the game received a jersey from the organization with his name and No. 29 on the back, the same number as Montreal great Ken Dryden.

“My dad's gonna be really excited about that,” said DeSmith. "I grew up idolizing Ken Dryden big time, I wore that in college because of Ken Dryden, but I obviously couldn't wear it in Montreal (because Dryden’s number is retired)."

Mike Matheson and Arber Xhekaj scored for Montreal (7-6-2), one night after the Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in overtime. Jake Allen made 31 saves.

Juraj Slafkovsky, last year’s first-overall selection who has struggled to produce in the NHL, was all over the puck and produced a season-high six shots on goal.

“I thought Slaf played a really good game tonight,” said Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis. “Compared (to) last year he’s much more comfortable on the ice, he touches the puck a lot more, now he’s gotta take the next step.

"When he gets those touches, how effective is he going to be with them?”

Slafkovsky has one goal and one assist in 15 games this season.

After a slow first period where the Canadiens produced most of the scoring opportunities, the Canucks poured it on in the second.

Mikheyev put the Canucks ahead 2-0 at 9:17 before Joshua padded the advantage.

“It’s tough when you give up three in a period,” said Allen. “One goal is easier to come back from than three, it was definitely not as sharp as the last couple of nights.”

After Matheson got Montreal on the board with a power-play goal in the third, Boeser scored his 12th of the season into an empty net with 1:30 remaining.

Xhekaj got one back 41 seconds later but Di Giuseppe quickly squashed any hopes of a comeback with another empty-net goal.

SOUCY LEAVES GAME

Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy left the game after blocking a shot from Slafkovsky and hobbling off the ice four minutes into the second period.

Soucy followed defence partner Tyler Myers off the ice. Myers limped off after a check in the corner on the same shift, but returned to play the rest of the game.

Tocchet said post-game that Soucy would be evaluated when the Canucks return to Vancouver.

UP NEXT

Vancouver: Hosts the New York Islanders on Wednesday.

Montreal: Hosts the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2023.