Horvat leads Canucks past Bruins in overtime

VANCOUVER -- Bo Horvat scored with 1:48 remaining in overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 2-1 victory against the Boston Bruins at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Horvat and Brock Boeser were tired at the end of a shift and thinking about a line change before getting the puck on a turnover in the neutral zone. Instead, they stayed on for a give-and-go on a slow-developing rush that Horvat finished by cutting across the top of the crease and lifting a backhand past Boston goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
"For Brock to get that puck back to me definitely was a heck of a play," Horvat said. "It's not easy coming off a (six-game), 14-day road trip and coming back and playing a team like that, and I thought we did a great job."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Canucks highlights]
Coach Travis Green wasn't thinking about the winning goal when they got the puck back.
"Screaming at them to change, then telling them great job after the goal," Green said. "They had a little juice left. Guys usually find some juice when there's a chance to score. So I was happy they stayed."
Brandon Sutter also scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves in his first start in five games for the Canucks (5-3-0), who have won four of five.
"He was dialed in, boy," Green said of Markstrom. "He looked sharp, looked focused."

Joakim Nordstrom scored, and Halak made 20 saves in his second straight start for the Bruins (4-2-2), who have lost the first three games (0-1-2) of a four-game Canadian road trip. Boston had won its previous four games.
"When you are in overtime and your goalie doesn't stand on his head to get you there, then usually you have played well enough," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I thought their goalie was really good, made some big saves for them. Our power play finally generated some stuff that we couldn't get behind him, so I give him a lot of credit. It easily could have gone our way."
The Canucks took a 1-0 lead when Sutter converted a rebound at 3:40 of the first period. Sutter won a loose puck battle with two Bruins defenders at the side of the net and swept the puck between the legs of Halak from a sharp angle.

Cassidy mixed up his forwards to start the second period, splitting up a top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak that had combined for 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) in the first seven games this season. Boston responded by outshooting the Canucks 15-5 in the second period, and hit the post twice before Nordstrom tied it 1-1 on a rush at 7:45 of the third period.
Nordstrom shot through the legs of defenseman Ben Hutton and over the glove of Markstrom from the top of the right face-off circle.
"I didn't think we manufactured anything in the first period of note, so shake them up a little bit," said Cassidy, who reunited the top line in the third period. "It was just trying to generate a little offense. I thought we were a little stagnant."

They said it

"It's just frustrating. Definitely, it doesn't go the way we wanted on this trip but we lost back-to-back in overtime, and that can go either way. I still think we were the better team after the first but we didn't score enough goals." -- Bruins forward David Pastrnak, who had his point streak end at six games
"My first four years, I [stunk] in overtime. It's definitely something I wanted to be better at this year. Brock and I have some good chemistry out there and thankfully the pucks are going in right now." -- Canucks forward Bo Horvat

Need to know

The Bruins were missing defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller, who flew back to Boston earlier in the day, and forward David Backes, who was a late scratch. Cassidy said McAvoy wasn't feeling well, and Miller blocked a shot with his hand against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. "Morning skate, [Backes] gave it a go, didn't feel 100 percent so we exercised caution there," Cassidy said. Rookie defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, 19, made his NHL debut after being called up from Providence of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis. He had one shot and was minus-1 in 12:26. … Canucks rookie center Elias Pettersson, who leads the team with eight points (five goals, three assists) in five games, missed his third straight game with a concussion but skated Saturday morning for the first time since being injured against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 13.

What's next

Bruins:At the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDSI, TSN5, NESN, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Washington Capitals on Monday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, NBCSWA+, NHL.TV)