Canucks get back in win column by beating Canadiens

Casey DeSmith made 30 saves to help the visiting Vancouver Canucks defeat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Sunday night.

Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, who won after having their five-game win streak snapped Saturday night in Toronto.

Filip Hronek earned an assist in his 10th straight game, becoming just the seventh defenseman in the past 30 years with an assist streak of 10-plus games, according to NHL.com.

Mike Matheson and Arber Xhekaj scored for the Canadiens, who had opened a four-game homestand with a 3-2 overtime win against the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Jake Allen made 31 saves.

After a scoreless first period, Garland gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 6:15 of the second period when he got behind the Canadiens defense on the rush and tipped in a centering pass from J.T. Miller.

Ilya Mikheyev increased the lead to 2-0 at 9:17 with his third goal in three games. After Allen lost his goalie stick, the Canadiens cleared the puck, but Andrei Kuzmenko controlled it at center ice and quickly fed Mikheyev. He crossed the blue line and scored on a wrist shot from just above the left circle.

Joshua made it 3-0 at 17:57. Garland got his own rebound in the slot and Allen stopped his second attempt, but Joshua knocked in the rebound in traffic from just beyond the crease.

The Canadiens pulled within 3-1 on a power-play goal with 13:14 left in the third period. DeSmith made a pair of saves on Josh Anderson in tight, and then Sean Monahan poked the puck back to Matheson, who scored from between the circles. The goal came just after a 5-on-3 became a 5-on-4.

Boeser scored into an empty net at 18:30 to make it 4-1.

After Xhekaj tallied with 49 seconds remaining to make it 4-2, Phillip Di Giuseppe scored into an empty net with eight seconds left for the 5-2 final.

—Field Level Media