Garland produces two points as Canucks beat Canadiens 5-2

MONTREAL — Conor Garland had a goal and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Sunday night.

Dakota Joshua, with a goal and an assist, Ilya Mikheyev, Brock Boeser and Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored for Vancouver (11-3-1), which lost 5-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Filip Hronek had an assist to become the fourth defenceman in Canucks history to record a double-digit point streak. Elias Pettersson, who entered the game as the NHL’s leading scorer, was held off the scoresheet to end his eight-game streak.

Goaltender Casey DeSmith stopped 30 shots. DeSmith spent a month and a half in the Canadiens organization this off-season before Montreal traded him to Vancouver in September.

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.

Vancouver went 0-for-2 on the power play. Montreal was 1-for-2.

After a slow first period, the Canucks poured it on in the second.

Garland opened the scoring at 6:15 of the second period by tipping in a centring pass from J.T. Miller with his backhand for his second goal of the season.

Montreal’s Christian Dvorak appeared to answer under two minutes later with a wrist shot from the high slot that beat DeSmith. However, the play was ruled offside after a coach’s challenge to keep the score 1-0 Vancouver.

Mikheyev added to the Canucks lead at 9:17 after walking into the Canadiens zone and firing a shot past Allen, who lost his stick moments earlier.

Joshua made it 3-0 with two minutes left in the period. He scored off a rebound after multiple shots from Garland, who hustled to keep the play alive in the offensive zone.

Matheson scored on a Canadiens power play at 6:46 of the third period with a shot past DeSmith after a scramble in front of the net.

Sean Monahan nearly cut the lead further with a chance in front, but couldn’t get his stick on the puck in the blue paint.

Story continues

With the goalie pulled, Boeser scored his 12th of the season into an open cage, making it 4-1 with 1:30 remaining.

Xhekaj got one back for Montreal 41 seconds later, but Di Giuseppe added another into an empty net to end the game.

SOUCY LEAVES GAME

Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy left the game after blocking a shot from Juraj 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.

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.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press