Miller's OT goal leads Canucks past Sharks 5-4

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- — J.T. Miller scored with 2:21 remaining in overtime after Vancouver allowed a tying goal in the final second of regulation, giving the Canucks a 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

“To give it up with less than a second left was pretty upsetting,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “But we got the two points. I don’t know if we deserved it, but sometimes those are the games you need to get a jump start.”

Vancouver appeared set to win it in regulation when Conor Garland scored with 5:37 remaining and then the Canucks cleared the puck out of their own zone with less than 10 seconds to go.

But the Sharks made one last rush and Alexander Barabanov tied it with 0.6 seconds remaining, forcing Vancouver into overtime.

Miller then ended it when he beat James Reimer from the top circle on a delayed penalty to give the Canucks their third win in four games.

“It was a little deflating," Garland said of allowing the late goal. “We had a good talk before overtime to refocus and get one. ... Those are big points for us.”

Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes and Vasily Podkolzin also for Vancouver. Thatcher Demko made 24 saves.

Timo Meier had two power-play goals and Logan Couture also scored, but it wasn’t to prevent San Jose’s winless streak to stretch to five games. Reimer made 22 saves.

“All I care about is the team’s points and we’ve got to get some wins here,” Meier said. “Tonight we got a point, but in the last few games, we didn’t play our best. So we’ve got to start now or else it’s going to be a long, long season. I think we’ve got to fix things. Tonight I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

The Canucks thoroughly dominated the first period, outshooting the Sharks 15-4 and scoring twice in the final 5:06.

The first came when Miller slid a slick pass to Boeser, who beat Reimer up high from in close for his 15th goal of the season. That gave Boeser his third goal in two games against San Jose this season.

Vancouver added on late in the period when Jake Middleton sent a clearing attempt right to Hughes, whose knuckling shot from the point bounced off the ice and beat Reimer.

The Sharks found their game in the second period and got back into it thanks to a fortunate bounce. Couture's centering pass knocked off defenseman Tyler Myers' stick and into the net for the first goal.

Then after Podkolzin restored the two-goal lead for Vancouver, Meier beat Demko from the circle on the power play to make it 3-2 headed to the third.

Meier then added his 23rd of the season and second of the game on the power play 45 seconds into the third off a good pass from Tomas Hertl to tie the game.

“I think if we play the way we did the last two periods, we’re going to get our fair share of points down the stretch," coach Bob Boughner said. "But we’ve got to start on time.”

COVID UPDATE

Hughes and winger Matthew Highmore both returned from the COVID list for the Canucks after missing the previous three games.

Highmore tested positive more than two weeks ago, while Hughes went into protocol on Feb. 7.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Host Anaheim on Saturday night.

Sharks: Host Vegas on Sunday night.

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