In Vancouver, the Canucks woes continued on Saturday night a 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Stuart Skinner made 27 saves in the Edmonton win.
“It was important for him,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “He’s had a lot going on in his world, but he was able to focus and come up with a big win for us.”
Connor McDavid scored his 40th goal of the campaign in his 48th games.
“I’ve seen a lot of his highlights, and he skated like the wind and scored some beautiful goals,” McDavid said of Bure. “So to be in the same breath as him, you’re obviously doing something good.”
The Oilers improved to 27-18-3.
“Whether it’s on the score sheet or playing physical, or blocking a shot or being solid defensively, I think we’re getting contributions up and down the lineup,” McDavid said. “And then a little maturity. We found ourselves in some tight games and are finding a way to close them out, and that’s a big part of winning.”
The Canucks fell behind 2-0 in the first period and were down 3-0 in the second before scoring twice on goals from Andrei Kuzmenko in the second period, and J.T. Miller in the third to trim the deficit to one goal.
Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau stayed on the bench after the match and acknowledged the fans chanting “Brice, there it is.”.
“I just wanted to savour looking at the stands because who knows if I’m ever going to get this chance again,” Boudreau said.
“I don’t think I lost the room, just lost games. I just had 15 [players] come up to me, we’re all crying together, which is silly for us men to do sometimes. But I think they would have went through a wall for me, and as a coach, that’s all you can ask for, quite frankly.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit for an empty-net goal to seal the win at 4-2.
McDavid and Zach Hyman scored in the first period for a 2-0 lad.
“No surprise,” Hyman said of McDavid. “I think everybody knows what he’s capable of. He’s a pass-first guy, but he’s shooting more and he’s scoring more, and I think it’s a credit to him for working on it. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Leon Draisaitl scored in the middle frame for a 3-0 advantage.
Spencer Martin made 25 saves in the loss.
“We’re proud of the way we stuck with it and fought until the very end,” Vancouver captain Bo Horvat said. “We all really care about Bruce in here. He cares about every single guy in this room and whatever the fate may be, we’re always going to respect him as a person and as a coach.
“He’s done nothing but great things for us, so much respect for him. And he’s always going to be one of my favorites.”
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