Like the Montreal Canadiens, the Canucks have been shining since they changed coaches. Wednesday in Vancouver, JT Miller totaled four points and the local favorites prevailed 5-3.
Millier notably scored the goal that gave the Canucks the lead for good early in the third period after stealing the puck from Jeff Petry in the neutral zone. He allowed Bruce Boudreau to increase his record to 21-8-4 since taking charge of the team.
The Bleu-Blanc-Rouge ends its trip to Canada with a 3-2-0 record. Driver Martin St-Louis suffered his fifth loss in 12 games (7-5-0).
Still Lehkonen
Artturi Lehkonen is having a great time and he showed no signs of slowing down against the Canucks. The Finn scored twice, picking up at least one point in a fifth game in a row. He has six goals and seven points during that streak.
The indiscipline, however, cost the Canadian dearly, who yielded twice in four sequences in numerical inferiority. Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson beat Samuel Montembeault in similar circumstances, while Travis Hamonic lifted the Rogers Arena crowd 5 against 5.
Rem Pitlick gave some hope to the Canadian in the final moments of the match by reducing the gap to a single goal, but his teammates were unable to complete the comeback. Bo Horvat put the finishing touches on an empty cage.
Montembeault eventually made 28 saves, against 22 for Thatcher Demko.
In short
Jake Evans and Paul Byron found their place in the formation. Michael Pezzetta and Mathieu Perreault were left out by St-Louis.
The Habs will briefly return home to host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. He will then be in Philadelphia the next day to cross swords with the Flyers.