Pettersson, Miller help Canucks score 6, hold off Devils

J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson each had two goals and an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks held off the New Jersey Devils for a 6-4 win at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday.

Pettersson moved up from the second line and over from center to wing to play with Miller and Brock Boeser to start a game for the first time since they played together in the 2021-22 season.

“It's been a while,” Miller said. “We get a couple shifts now and then together, but none of the goals were fancy. They were all going to the net, making plays. We had people driving the net to open up plays and you get rewarded sometimes.”

Dakota Joshua had a goal and an assist, Quinn Hughes had three assists, and Boeser had two assists for the Canucks (25-11-3), who are 9-2-2 their past 13 games. Thatcher Demko made 21 saves in his 100th NHL victory.

Vancouver led 5-2 early in the third period before New Jersey cut it to 5-4 with 7:06 remaining.

“I liked a lot of our game today,” Miller said. “I just think that's a classic case of sitting back a little too much with the lead and they have a ton of talent over there, so they're going to make plays. We’ve got to find a way to find a happy medium of staying aggressive but being in our structure to where we don't give them so much time and space.”

Colin Miller scored twice, and Erik Haula had a goal and an assist for the Devils (21-15-2), who had won two straight. Brendan Smith had two assists, and Nico Daws made 36 saves.

New Jersey played without top-line center Jack Hughes after he sustained an upper-body injury late in a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

“When you're a little short-handed, you got to find different ways,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “But I thought that second half, they gave it everything they had to try to get back in the hockey game and that's all you can ask really.”

Vancouver outshot New Jersey 17-5 in the first period, and Pettersson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with a goal 41 seconds into the second period, deflecting a Filip Hronek point shot over Daws’ blocker.

“Their energy was incredible to start the game,” Ruff said. “We didn't win enough battles."

J.T. Miller made it 2-0 at 3:33 on a rebound after extended pressure in the Devils end, including a Hronek slap shot that knocked defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler out of the play, and the game, with a broken left foot.

“Jonas is not OK,” Ruff said. “Jonas broke his foot with that shot, so he'll be out.”

Miller scored again to extend it to 3-0 at 4:37, converting a cross-ice pass from Pettersson on a rush with a one-timer over Daws’ glove from the right face-off dot.

“Just us playing hockey,” Pettersson said when asked about rediscovered chemistry with Boeser and Miller. “Obviously, we played a ton back in the day, so just trying to work hard, make plays and be reliable for each other.”

Colin Miller cut it to 3-1 at 6:43 with a slap shot from above the right circle past Demko low blocker side.

Haula made it 3-2 at 19:37, taking a cross-ice pass from Jesper Bratt and shooting past Demko’s glove from the top of the slot.

Conor Garland pushed it to 4-2 after scoring 12 seconds later at 19:49 on a wraparound off the rush.

Pettersson made it 5-2 at 2:35 of the third period after Boeser found him cutting alone into the slot for a quick shot under Daws’ pads.

“Our line got it handed to us by their top line,” Haula said. “I don't know how to explain it better."

Colin Miller cut it to 5-3 at 11:07 on another low-blocker shot from the top of the left circle before Nico Hischier made it 5-4 at 12:54.

The Devils had a chance to tie it on the power play but managed only one shot. Joshua came out of the penalty box and scored into an empty net at 18:49 for the 6-4 final.

“I liked the grind,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “Yeah, we gave up a couple of goals, they got back into it and then we had to kill a huge penalty and we withstood the storm there. So to get the two points after killing that penalty was big."

NOTES: Devils forward Graeme Clarke was plus-1 with one hit in 9:32 of ice time in his NHL debut. … It was the 69th multipoint game for Quinn Hughes, who passed Alexander Edler for the most ever by a Canucks defenseman. … Demko passed Jacob Markstrom for sole possession of fifth on the Vancouver wins list. … Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy had an assist and was plus-2 in 20:19 after missing 23 games with a broken foot from blocking a shot Nov. 12. He replaced Nikita Zadorov, who is day to day with an undisclosed injury sustained in a 2-1 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.