Canucks edge Golden Knights, pad lead in Pacific

VANCOUVER -- Conor Garland scored two goals for the Vancouver Canucks, who came back twice to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 at Rogers Arena on Monday.

J.T. Miller had three assists, and Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver (48-22-8), which had lost four of six, including 6-3 at Vegas last Tuesday. Arturs Silovs made 20 saves for the Canucks, who hadn’t won against a team in a Stanley Cup Playoff position since March 9 (12 games).

“It gives us a lot of belief,” Garland said. “We think we’re a good team, and it's nice to beat good teams. We understand we've had a bit of a stretch here, but it's hard to win at this time of year, and it was good to have a game like that. That’s a playoff-type game.”

Vancouver moved five points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, who have two games in hand, for first in the Pacific Division.

“These are big tests,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “Stanley Cup champs over there and we had a good third (period). ... When the pressure hits, you've got to be calm. Even at the end there was some tense moments, but I thought we did a nice job.”

Jack Eichel had two goals and an assist, Noah Hanifin had a goal and an assist, and Logan Thompson made 26 saves for the Golden Knights (42-27-8), who have lost consecutive games after going 6-0-1 in their previous seven.

Vegas, which holds the second wild card from the Western Conference, remained one point back of the Los Angeles Kings for third in the Pacific.

“They’re a good team. There’s a reason that they are where they are in the standings,” Eichel said. “I thought there was stretches of the game where we controlled it, and there were moments where they obviously had momentum. It's frustrating. We had a lead and we don't get any points here, and points are important right now.”

Tomas Hertl had an assist and was minus-1 in 20:20 of ice time in his Golden Knights debut. He was playing his first game since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks on March 8 because of surgery he had on Feb. 12 to clean out loose cartilage in his left knee.

“First game after a long time and it wasn't bad, but I know I will be better,” Hertl said. “It's nice to be back, but I still got five more games to get all my legs.”

Eichel gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:51 of the first period. He skated through the neutral zone and into the high slot before scoring glove side through the legs of defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

Eichel then made it 2-0 at 8:06, shooting into an open net from the bottom of the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Marchessault.

“It was a test for us, I guess,” Miller said. “The way things have been going lately, for them to come out, get a couple on a couple of shots, we easily could have just sat back and said, ‘You know what, we'll try again next time.’ But it was a very serious and professional mindset on the bench, and it's nice to have the power play be timely for us to get us back in the game. We haven't had that in a while.”

Garland cut it to 2-1 at 11:50 of the first, scoring a power-play goal on the rebound of Hughes' point shot. It was his 100th NHL goal and came in his 400th NHL game.

“I don't take any for granted,” Garland said. “I worked pretty hard to get here, so I enjoy every day of it and hopefully there's a lot more.”

Hughes tied it 2-2 with another power-play goal at 14:26, beating Silovs low with a point shot through a screen by Garland and Elias Pettersson.

"At the end of the day, they got rewarded for getting into interior ice around the front of our net, obviously did a good job screening the goalie and finding rebounds around there,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "So, for us it's controlling those rebounds or boxing out, clearing those rebounds. We needed to do one goal better because I don't think it was a one-sided game for either team."

Hanifin put the Golden Knights back in front 3-2 at 9:33 of the second period, scoring a power-play goal of his own six seconds after defenseman Carson Soucy was assessed a tripping penalty away from the play with Vancouver controlling the puck in Vegas' end.

Boeser tied it 3-3 at 13:10 with a long wrist shot through another Pettersson screen. It was the 40th goal of the season for Boeser, who was receiving treatment after the game and did not speak to the media.

“That's hard to score in this league, 40 goals,” Tocchet said. “He was a little banged up before the game and played, and that's what I'm proud about. I think that inspired the team a little bit. It wasn't anything bad, but to see him go out there and score that big goal, I think a lot of guys were happy for him.”

Garland gave the Canucks a 4-3 lead at 18:31, burying another rebound in tight, this time off Miller's shot from the high slot. The assist was Miller's 100th point (35 goals, 65 assists), an NHL career high.

“I downplay everything, but that’s pretty special,” Miller said. “We have a lot of work to do here and I keep going back to that. It's something I can maybe enjoy in the summer.”

NOTES: Jiri Patera dressed as the backup despite Adin Hill, who missed his seventh straight game with an undisclosed injury, being on the two-game road trip. Hill skated with the team for the second straight day on Monday. ... To make room for Hertl, Vegas sent forward Brendan Brisson to Henderson of the American Hockey League and placed forward William Carrier, who has been out since March 25 with an undisclosed injury, on LTIR. ... Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is not on the road trip and will not play at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.