Miller scores four points, Canucks hold off Canadiens

VANCOUVER -- J.T. Miller scored and had three assists and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Miller has scored 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) during a 10-game point streak for the Canucks (29-23-6), who have won three in a row and eight of their past 10 games.
"He's taken over as the catalyst and the leader," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's wonderful to see because you need that at this time of the season."
Bo Horvat and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and an assist, and Thatcher Demko made 22 saves for Vancouver in the first of seven straight home games.
"We have one focus right now and that's winning these games," Miller said. "We should try to win every game at home, especially. It's not out of the question. We'll take it one game at a time, but we need these wins. We're a desperate team. Every game from now on out should be easy to get up for."

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice and had one assist, Rem Pitlick had a goal and two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 28 saves for Montreal (15-35-7), which lost for the second time in nine games.
The Canadiens started the season 8-30-7 but are 7-5-0 since Martin St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme as coach on Feb. 9.
"We've been playing really good hockey and I think we're all very comfortable with our game and we all believe in each other," Pitlick said. "'Marty' has been talking about it from the beginning, swagger, and I think that we all understand that we can be a really good team, and we are a really good team so we're going to keep pushing forward."
Miller put the Canucks ahead 3-2 at 3:44 of the third period, coming off the bench to strip defenseman Jeff Petry coming out of the Montreal end, then sending a wrist shot over the glove of Montembeault from the top of the left face-off circle.
"I knew whoever the D-man was he would probably beat me to the net so I just tried to let rip as hard as I could," Miller said.
Lehkonen put Montreal ahead 1-0 at 12:41 of the first period by finishing a cross-ice 2-on-1 pass from Jake Evans with a wrist shot under Demko's glove.
Travis Hamonic tied it 1-1 at 13:35 with a point shot through traffic.
Brock Boeser made it 2-1 for Vancouver at 10:34 of the second period by converting his own rebound from a sharp angle nine seconds into a power play.

Lehkonen tied it 2-2 at 14:22 by knocking a loose puck between Demko's pads from the top of the crease. Lehkonen has scored eight points (six goals, two assists) during a five-game point streak.
"I feel like I've always had chances. Sometimes it doesn't go in and now it's been going in," Lehkonen said. "I try and find the open space and Jake and 'Remy' made some heck of a plays to me today and I got a couple of good shots off."
Pettersson made it 4-2 at 8:53 of the third period on a solo power-play rush. Vancouver finished 2-for-4 on the power play while blanking the Canadiens on four chances with the man advantage.
"It wasn't a Picasso," Boudreau said. "We didn't play a great game, but we played hard, and we answered the bell. When they scored, we came back and scored. Our special teams, which a lot of times this year has been really skewered for lack of production, we won that battle and that was the difference in the game."

Pitlick scored to make it 4-3 at 15:35 with Montembeault pulled for an extra attacker, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Cole Caufield.
Horvat scored into an empty net with 58 seconds left for the 5-3 final.
"We still fought, pulled the goalie early and got a big goal and then we have an offensive zone face off and I'm pulling the goalie again and I feel very confident that we can do it again," St. Louis said. "It just didn't happen."
NOTES: Evans was back in the lineup after missing one game with an upper-body injury. He was plus-2 with one assist in 14:24 of ice time. … Montreal forward Paul Byron played a team-low 9:14 in his first game back since missing four after getting hit in the head with a stick. … Vancouver defenseman Brad Hunt has scored four points (one goal, three assists) during a four-game point streak. … Horvat has scored six points (one goal, five assists) in a four-game point streak.