Garland scores twice as Canucks beat Golden Knights 4-3
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Conor Garland scored twice and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on Monday night.
Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, and J.T. Miller had three assists. Arturs Silovs finished with 20 saves in his third start of the season.
Jack Eichel scored twice and Noah Hanifin had a goal and an assist for Vegas. Logan Thompson finished with 26 saves.
The Canucks remain atop the Pacific Division, five points up on the Edmonton Oilers while the Golden Knights hold on to the Western Conference’s second wild card.
Both sides put their special teams to use, with Vancouver going 2 for 3 with the man advantage and Vegas 2 for 4.
The Golden Knights called for a timeout with 1:55 left on the clock and pulled Thompson in favor of an extra skater. Elias Pettersson sent a clearing attempt off the boards near the penalty box and the puck ricocheted down the ice, narrowly missing the far post of Vegas’ empty net.
Eichel opened the scoring on a power play 1:51 into the game as he fired a shot from the high slot and the puck went off the leg of Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov before sailing in over Silovs’ left pad.
Eichel made it 2-0 at 8:06 with his second of the night and 29th of the season. Jonathan Marchessault got around Pettersson and sliced a pass across to Eichel. Stationed alone at the bottom of the faceoff circle, Eichel fired a shot past Silovs.
The Canucks got on the scoreboard with a power-play goal as Hughes fired a shot toward the Vegas net and, while Thompson stopped the initial shot, Garland got to the loose puck and swept it in from the side of the crease to make it 2-1 with 8:10 left in the first. It was his 100th regular-season goal.
Hughes tied it with 5:34 left in the opening period as his shot from just inside the blue line got through traffic and beat Thomspon for his 17th.
Hanifin regained the lead for the Golden Knights on the power play at 9:33 of the second for his 13th. Tomas Hertl, making his Vegas debut after being acquired from San Jose on March 8, had an assist on the play.
Boeser tied it 3-3 with 6:50 left in the secondwith a shot from the high slot. It was his 40th of the season, marking the first time Boeser has hit the milestone.
The Canucks took their first lead of the night with 89 seconds to go in the second. Thompson stopped a shot from Miller but couldn’t hang on to the puck and Garland — playing in his 400th NHL game — came around the back of the net to tip it in for his second goal of the night and 18th of the season.
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.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL