Conor Garland scored two goals, leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night.
Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser also contributed with a goal and an assist each for the Canucks, while J.T. Miller provided three assists. Arturs Silovs made 20 saves in his third start of the season.
Garland celebrated his 400th NHL game, and his teammates sported T-shirts featuring his image, which forward J.T. Miller had made to mark the occasion.
“It’s nice to come in and everybody has a laugh in the morning,” Garland said, smiling. “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 Vegas. Logan Thompson stopped 26 shots for the Golden Knights.
Vancouver overcame an early 2-0 deficit to take the lead late in the second period and held off Vegas’s pressure in the third.
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet praised his team’s composure under pressure: “These are the moments that you look for as we go forward. When the pressure hits, you’ve got to be calm.”
The Canucks currently lead the Pacific Division by five points over the Edmonton Oilers, while the Golden Knights occupy the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
Both teams capitalized on their power-play opportunities, with Vancouver converting on two of three chances and Vegas scoring on two of four.
In the final minutes, with the Golden Knights trailing by one goal, they called a timeout and pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. Elias Pettersson’s clearing attempt nearly found the empty net, but narrowly missed.
Eichel scored with a power-play goal early in the first period, followed by his second goal later. However, Vancouver responded with goals from Hughes and Garland to tie the game.
Hanifin briefly regained the lead for Vegas in the second period, but Boeser’s goal tied the game again, setting the stage for Garland’s overtime winner.
