Demko stands tall, Miller scores in OT as Canucks defeat Senators

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J.T Miller scored in overtime and goaltender Thatcher Demko made 44 saves as the Vancouver Canucks downed the Ottawa Senators 3-2 Monday night.

Miller beat a defenceman and then deked Joey Daccord for the winner.

Colin White, whose errant pass led to Vancouver’s second goal, tied the game at 2-2 with 2:10 remaining with a one-timer from the slot with the Ottawa net empty.

Ottawa outshot the Canucks 46-28.

The Senators, playing their second game in as many nights, had their chances -- often helped by some sloppy Canucks play. But their power play fizzled on four opportunities during regulation time.

Ottawa outshot Vancouver 18-9 in the first period and hit the goalpost twice, but headed to the dressing room trailing 2-0. The two teams meets again Wednesday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Jayce Hawryluk and Tanner Pearson also scored for Vancouver (14-16-2).

Josh Norris also scored for Ottawa (10-20-2).

The Canucks, kicking off a four-game road trip, arrived having won four of their last five including a 2-1 victory over the visiting Oilers on Saturday. Vancouver won the previous three meetings with Ottawa this season, outscoring the Senators by a combined 16-3 in the January series.

Ottawa was coming off a 4-3 win Sunday over visiting Toronto. But it had lost five of its previous seven, including three straight in Edmonton.

Daccord started in the Ottawa goal for the second straight game in place of No. 1 Matt Murray, who suffered an upper-body injury in the warmup prior to Sunday’s game against Toronto.

The 24-year-old Daccord, a seventh-round draft pick out of Arizona State, posted his first career NHL win with a 33-save performance as Ottawa held on to edge the Leafs 4-3. He was good again Monday.

The Sens recalled goaltender Filip Gustavsson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators as backup. Goaltender Marcus Hogberg, the normal No. 2, is on the injured reserve list.

The Canucks had their own injury problems. Elias Pettersson, Tyler Motte, Antoine Roussel and Jay Beagle all missed Monday’s game.

Demko, who has been outstanding of late, started in goal for the Canucks for the sixth straight game and ninth in the last 10.

Miller hit the goalpost some four minutes into the game on Vancouver’s first shot on net after a giveaway by Ottawa defenceman Thomas Chabot. At the other end, Sens rookie Tim Stutzle unsuccessfully tried to recreate the backhand pass across the goal to linemate Drake Batherson that resulted in a goal Sunday.

Ottawa started fast, outshooting the Canucks 9-2 in the early going. Demko was saved by a quick whistle when the puck squeezed through his pads into the net.

But Vancouver scored first at 10:14 of the first with Hawryluk poking the puck in during a goalmouth scramble after a Canucks faceoff win led to a Jordie Benn shot from the point. It was the first of the season for the former Senator.

Late in the period, a Vancouver turnover on an Ottawa power play led to Brady Tkachuk firing a shot off the post.

The Canucks made it 2-0 at 18:49 of the first after White, fighting for the puck behind his net, for some reason dumped the puck into the slot to a grateful Pearson for his sixth of the season. Batherson hit the goalpost as the period ended.

Demko made a fine pad save to deny Tkachuk from in-close on the power play early in the second.

Ottawa cut the lead to 2-1 at 3:52 of the second after defenceman Artem Zub made a fine play to keep the puck in at the Vancouver blue line, sending it over to Stutzle. The German rookie’s ensuing shot hit the post but Norris hammered the rebound home for his sixth of the season.

The Sens hit the crossbar late in the second, this time on Nick Paul’s blue-line shot. Ottawa’s Austin Watson headed to the dressing room after taking a Nate Schmidt shot in the throat. He soon returned to action, his neck reddened by the contact.

Norris nailed Hawryluk in the boards at the Ottawa bench but escaped punishment.

The shot count was 29-16 in Ottawa’s favour after 40 minutes.

Daccord made a fine stop on Bo Horvat from in-close seven minutes into the third to keep Ottawa in touch as the Canucks began to close the gap in shots.