Miller, Canucks defeat Canadiens in OT for fourth straight win

MONTREAL --J.T. Miller scored at 2:01 of overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks their fourth straight win, 3-2 against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Friday.

After Montreal's Josh Anderson was stopped on a breakaway, Miller drove down the left side and cut across the front of the net to score on a backhand past Jake Allen. Miller had been on the ice since the face-off to start overtime.
"I was on the ice for a really long time, but I wasn't really doing a whole lot," Miller said. "I still felt fresh, so it was one of those things where I knew I was going against a forward, and then when I got by the first guy (Tomas Tatar), that's a heat-of-the-moment move (to get past forward Nick Suzuki) that doesn't happen very often."
Suzuki scored a power-play goal for the Canadiens to tie it 2-2 with 57 seconds remaining in the third period and Allen pulled for an extra attacker. Suzuki took a pass from Jeff Petry and scored from the right face-off circle on a wrist shot that went in off the left post.
"No problem at all," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "They got a power-play goal. Nobody flinched."

Thatcher Demko made 29 saves, and Adam Gaudette and Nils Hoglander scored 4:12 apart in the second period for Vancouver (16-16-2), which is 7-1-0 in its past eight games, all started by Demko.
Corey Perry scored a power-play goal for Montreal (13-8-9), and Allen made 25 saves in his 300th NHL game. The Canadiens have lost four of five.
"We've got to give credit to the guys, too, they're not packing it in," Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme said. "They're going at it, and the last game we came back with two goals (to tie it in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday). And tonight we came back, and we could have tied it before, we had some good chances, but we tied it in the last minute. So the guys never quit, they go all out."
The teams play again here Saturday to finish the back-to-back set, which opens a six-game homestand for Montreal.
"We're playing the right way," Miller said, "and if we believe in our game, have faith in our system and we play the right way most nights, we're going to get the results."
Gaudette tied it 1-1 at 2:25 of the second period when he drove to the net and redirected Antoine Roussel's pass from the left boards past Allen's glove. Roussel returned after missing three games because of an undisclosed injury.
Hoglander gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead at 6:37 when he tipped Nate Schmidt's pass from the right point in the slot.
"For me it's just putting it in an area [where] he can get his stick on it," Schmidt said.

Perry put the Canadiens ahead 1-0 at 4:15 of the first period when he tapped in the rebound of Petry's shot off the left post.
"I thought we had a really good start," Suzuki said. "We were putting pressure on them a ton. That second period we were turning the puck over in the neutral zone too much. I thought our power play was good, our penalty kill was good, but just finding that two points is going to be huge for us, and coming down the stretch all of these points are going to be important."
NOTES: The Canucks have not defeated the Canadiens in regulation in more than five years and have not won at Montreal in regulation in more than 14 years. The Canadiens are 13-0-4 in 17 games against the Canucks, including 5-0-3 this season, since a 5-1 loss at Vancouver on Oct. 27, 2015. Montreal is 10-0-4 in 14 games against Vancouver at Bell Centre since the Canucks won 4-0 here on Jan. 16, 2007. … Forward Jimmy Vesey had two shots and two blocked shots in 18:13 of ice time in his Canucks debut after being claimed off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. … Petry has scored 11 points (five goals, six assists) in eight games against the Canucks, the most in one season by a Montreal defenseman. J.C. Tremblay scored 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in six games against Vancouver in 1971-72.