"They're a good team, they create a lot," Miller said of the Islanders. "I was on the right side of the puck tonight for sure, I got some good bounces but I thought I was seeing the puck pretty well."
Canucks coach Willie Desjardins was happy with the end result but said his team gave the Islanders too many opportunities.
"You're not going to win a lot of games when you give up 40 shots but in saying that, I think we have good goaltending," Desjardins said.
Miller made 21 saves in the third period. He stopped Josh Bailey from the slot 1:46 into the period. Less than two minutes later, he stopped Calvin de Haan's slap shot and the rebound, which deflected off the boards and went under Miller's pads. Miller also robbed Okposo from point-blank range with less than six minutes remaining.
"That's going to happen throughout the year," Okposo said. "You're going to have some games where you run into a hot goalie. We played three pretty good hockey games this week and got five out of six points. He stole it for them."
Canucks captain Henrik Sedin sustained an upper-body injury late in the first period and did not return. He was hit into the boards by Islanders forward Mikhail Grabovski, who got a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. Sedin played six shifts and saw 5:12 of ice time.
"It's one of those things where it doesn't feel too bad when you are on the ice but when you come in [the locker room] and you wait a little bit, it gets a little stiff and tough to move around so I don't think I could have continued playing," Sedin said after the game. "We'll see [Monday]. It's going to be borderline [playing against the New York Rangers on Tuesday]."
The Islanders (24-15-6) earned a point when Ryan Strome beat Miller from the left circle through a screen with 50.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 1-1 after Miller had stopped New York's first 45 shots. The Islanders outshot Vancouver 22-4 in the third period.
"We played a strong game," Islanders forward Matt Martin said. "We had a lot of shots, a lot of opportunities, ran into a really good goaltender and just couldn't get the bounce. ... These games happen sometimes. Sometimes you can dominate a hockey game and come out on the losing side."
Rookie defenseman Ben Hutton scored his first NHL goal in the second period to give the Canucks (19-17-10) a 1-0 lead. Hutton, at the left circle, took a pass from Daniel Sedin, who was behind the Islanders net, and put a one-timer past Jaroslav Halak at 9:46. Hutton was playing in his 39th NHL game.
"That was a great game tonight," Hutton said. "Got my first goal. It felt good and it was a pretty important one, too. ... [Miller] was great tonight. I am going to say he stole that game for us. ... He was great tonight and he has been great all year."
The Islanders had 94 shot attempts; Vancouver had 51. Halak finished with 25 saves.
"I'm not disappointed in the effort. This is a tough league to win in every night," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said.
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech missed the game with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. Scott Mayfield dressed in his place. The Islanders are also without defenseman Johnny Boychuk (upper body) and Travis Hamonic (lower body).
