Daniel Sedin pops overtime goal as Canucks beat Canadiens 3-2

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After it was over, the song that boomed from the victors' locker room was Macklemore's Thrift Shop. "This is," goes the spicy chorus, "awesome."

All through October, as the Montreal Canadiens piled up wins, the underpinnings seemed … shaky. The team, winning eight of 10 games, ceded the first goal in eight games – and did so again on Thursday night in Vancouver. Montreal's puck possession through October has been so-so, and it was again the case Thursday.

The night was raucous at Rogers Arena, the visitors at time garnering almost as much noise and cheers as the home side.

It got loud late, because the Canadiens scratched back, as they have all October, and pushed the Vancouver Canucks to overtime. But, this time, the Sedins of yore prevented the win from slipping away, as Daniel Sedin popped home a beauty, top shelf, blocker side, the ace shooter that has long been absent cleanly beating Carey Price.

"I think," ventured Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller afterwards, "we've got a team with tremendous upside."

The win propels the Canucks, suddenly, into third place in the Western Conference, and second in the Pacific Division, two points behind Anaheim, best in the west. This is territory the Canucks did not touch a year ago. Montreal, meanwhile, can't be too depressed, as the one point for the overtime loss, salvaging the situation with two goals in the last 10 minutes of the regulation time, propels the Canadiens into first place, all alone, standing atop the National Hockey League.

It was, too, Montreal's third game in four days, out West, so: not bad. And while the team once more fell behind, its best players felt progress is being made.

"We came out with a lot of jump tonight," said Max Pacioretty, who the game tying goal with 2 ½ minutes to go in the third period, sparking a real roar at Rogers Arena.

For the Canucks, whatever debate around the team about the wisdom of investing $18-million over three years in the 34-year-old Miller, it is settled. The money is worth it. Miller got blown up in Dallas last week, as did the Canucks entirely, but on Thursday night, the team managed to slow down the speedy Canadiens, and Miller was the team's ballast.

"My job," said Miller, "is to show there is some calm back there."

The win lifts Miller's October to an impressive 7-1, with a save-percentage of 0.917, slightly better than his career average. His seven wins are the most among NHL goaltenders, tied with Montreal's Price.

"I've known Ryan Miller for a long time," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said on local radio on Thursday morning. "What might have looked like a gamble to the outside, to me it was just trying to find pieces to the puzzle that could help us get to where we want to be, and win hockey games."

The Canucks could lose Alex Burrows for a game or two, a possible suspension for a clearly late hit on Alexei Emelin. Burrows' shoulder connected with Emelin's head. Emelin left the game to be assessed for a concussion but was deemed to be fine and returned. No penalty was called on the play.

The next 1 ½ weeks are an early-season acid test for the Canucks, seven games in 11 days, most of them against good teams – the toughest ones will be on the road against the three California teams.

"It'll tell us a lot about our team," said Benning.

So far, so good.

At the end, it was overtime and a Canucks power play, four-on-three, and time was running out when the Sedins had a chance. The Montreal defence got aggressive, and two skaters keyed on Henrik, who flipped the puck to his brother, rushing towards the net. Daniel caught the puck on his backhand, moved it to his forehand and – showing so much more confidence than he did through the dark winter in the early months of 2014, popped it up and in, wonderful.

"It's been a while since I've scored in overtime," said Daniel, smiling. "It was nice."