Conor Garland scored twice to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night.
Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser each contributed a goal and an assist for the Canucks, while J.T. Miller added three assists. Goaltender Arturs Silovs made 20 saves in his third start of the season.
Playing his 400th NHL game, Garland was honored by his teammates, who wore T-shirts featuring his image to commemorate the milestone.
“I mean, I wish it weren’t me on it,” Garland said with a smile. “It’s nice to come in and everybody laughs in the morning. It’s a big game for us tonight and it relieves some stress.”
Jack Eichel scored twice, and Noah Hanifin added a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights. Logan Thompson stopped 26 shots.
The Golden Knights jumped to an early 2-0 lead, but the Canucks battled back, taking the lead late in the second period and holding off Vegas in the third.
“These are big tests for you. Stanley Cup champs over there, and we had a really good third,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “These are the moments that you look for as we go forward. When the pressure hits, you’ve got to be calm. There were some tense moments even at the end, but I thought we did a nice job.”
Vancouver remains atop the Pacific Division, five points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, while the Golden Knights hold onto the Western Conference’s second wild card.
Both teams used their special teams, with Vancouver going 2 for 3 on the power play and Vegas 2 for 4.
The Golden Knights called a timeout with 1:55 left in the game and pulled Thompson for an extra skater. Elias Pettersson nearly scored an empty-netter, but his clearing attempt missed the far post.
Eichel opened the scoring 1:51 into the game on a power play, firing a shot from the high slot that deflected off Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov and over Silovs’ left pad. He doubled the lead at 8:06, finishing off a pass from Jonathan Marchessault at the bottom of the faceoff circle.
Vancouver got on the board with a power-play goal as Hughes fired a shot that Garland swept in from the side of the crease for his 100th regular-season goal.
Hughes tied the game with 5:34 left in the first period. His shot from just inside the blue line beat Thompson for his 17th goal of the season.
Hanifin regained the lead for Vegas on the power play at 9:33 of the second period, with Tomas Hertl assisting in his Vegas debut after being acquired from San Jose.
Boeser tied it 3-3 with a shot from the high slot at 6:50 of the second period, marking his 40th goal of the season.
“I thought it was a pretty even game,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “At the end of the day, they got rewarded for getting into interior ice around the front of our net, obviously did a good job screening the goalie and finding rebounds around there. So for us, it’s controlling or boxing out, clearing those rebounds.”
The Canucks took their first lead with 89 seconds left in the second period when Garland tipped in a rebound for his second goal of the night and 18th of the season.
Chants of “Con-or Gar-land!” echoed through Rogers Arena midway through the third period and again when he was named the game’s first star.
“I might be the worst player ever to have their name chanted in a stadium,” Garland said with a smile. “But no, it’s obviously cool. That’s the reward of playing in a Canadian market, playing in a big market like Vancouver.”
UP NEXT
- Golden Knights: At Edmonton on Wednesday night to finish their regular-season road schedule.
- Canucks: Host Arizona on Wednesday night to finish a two-game homestand.