Rookie sensation Ivan Demidov had a goal and two helpers, leading the visiting Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks Saturday at Rogers Arena.
Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Mike Matheson also scored for Montreal (7-3-0), with goalie Jakub Dobeš picking up the win in net, making 28 saves. Forward Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk and Conor Garland replied for Vancouver (4-5-0). Captain Quinn Hughes and Pettersson each dished out a pair of assists, while Kevin Lankinen stopped 20 of 24 shots and took the loss.
Pettersson opened the scoring 4:42 into the first period, converting a nice return pass from Filip Hronek for his second goal of the season.
The Canucks outshot the Canadiens, who had plenty of vocal fans in red Habs jerseys out in force at the game, 11-4 in the first period.
In the middle frame DeBrusk (who also has two goals on the year) tipped in a Hughes point shot at 6:43 to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead.
TIPS FOR JAKE ON THE POWER PLAY
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— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 26, 2025
Montreal captain Suzuki slotted home a nifty feed from Demidov on the power play at 15:03, slotting a shot past Lankinen just below the faceoff circle to the right of the netminder.
In the third, Montreal tied it at 2-2, also on the power play, at 1:50. Hutson’s point shot hit Demidov in front of the net, and he found an open Slafkovsky, who beat Lankinen for his fourth of the year.
Matheson gave the Habs the lead at 8:19, making a nice fake at the point before firing home his third of the season.
Demidov put the Habs up 4-2 with his second of the year at 11:09, a wicked one-timer off a feed from Alex Carrier.
Garland pulled the Canucks within one at 4-3 at 16:13, deflecting a pass from Pettersson past Dobeš from the deep slot.
The Canucks pulled Lankinen in favour of an extra attacker with more than two minutes to play, but could not find the equalizer.
The Canucks return to action Sunday (7 p.m.) as they host the Edmonton Oilers. The Habs visit the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
NOTES: Vancouver’s Lukas Reichel made his Canucks debut, after acquiring the speedy forward from the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, in return for a fourth-round draft pick. Reichel failed to register a point and was -2 on the night… Both the Canucks and Habs had three power-play chances. Montreal converted on two, while the Canucks scored on one.