Mikheyev made it 2-0 at 3:00 when he took a pass from Pettersson for a partial break and scored five-hole.
Drake Batherson cut it to 2-1 at 18:15. He intercepted a clearing attempt from Vancouver defenseman Ian Cole, skated in alone and finished a deke on the forehand over DeSmith’s glove.
“It’s tough, obviously. I don’t know what the exact answer is,” Batherson said of the home slump. “Obviously, we’re working hard. I think it’s just a matter of getting bounces and just playing a full 60 minutes. But for the most part, we’ve been right there and clawing back in games.”
Zub’s point shot deflected in off Pettersson to tie it 2-2 at 10:58 of the second period. Zub missed the previous seven games with a concussion.
“Obviously, with the addition of Zub, you’re significantly better,” Smith said. “You can see the difference when he moves the puck, how much he has the puck.”
Miller’s wrist shot from the left face-off dot gave the Canucks a 3-2 lead at 18:08.
“It wasn’t our A-game, obviously,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “Give Ottawa a lot of credit; they’re a fast team. They rimmed a lot of pucks and we had a tough time on the rims, but [Miller’s] goal was big because they were coming. We had some good parts of the game near the last second half, but winning some games and not having our A-game, we’re going to take the positives on that right now.”