Another bad news hit the Vancouver Canucks: the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks shed tears as four of his star players made a final decision to terminate their huge contracts.
Bruce Boudreau, the coach of the Vancouver Canucks, applauded the fans while standing on the bench on Saturday night and attempting to savor the occasion.
The Vancouver Canucks had just suffered their third straight loss, falling to the Edmonton Oilers 4-2, but the sound of Bruce, there it is! to the tune of Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There it is)” was still resonating throughout Rogers Arena.
The experienced NHL bench coach, Boudreau, is expected to be dismissed in the next few days, and he played Saturday’s game like it was his last.
With tears in his eyes, he told reporters after the game, “You never know if it’s the end.” As a result, “I had to stay out there and look at the crowd and just try to say, ‘OK, try remembering this moment type of thing,'” even though I had been in it for almost 50 years, or most of my life.
Veteran defenseman Luke Schenn described the “wild” scene as one in which players weren’t sure whether to head down the tunnel or stay on the ice and tap their sticks for their coach.
“Guys were sitting around here in the dressing room, kind of almost speechless,” he remarked. “After a loss, players are frequently upset with their performance for whatever reason. But the game wasn’t the point of this. More important was the emotion for Bruce.
The Canucks (18-25-3) rallied for two goals in the third period to tie the score after trailing 3-0 midway through the second period on Saturday.
Rather, the dominant Oilers (27-18-3) won for the sixth time in a row.
Canucks captain Bo Horvat stated, “We wanted to play for Boudreau all the way to the end.” We would have wanted to win one for him since he led every game as though it were his last. However, it was evidently insufficient there.
The performance showcased Edmonton’s studs, with Zach Hyman scoring a goal and dishing out three assists, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring into an empty net and dishing out two assists. Leon Draisaitl added a goal and an assist, while Connor McDavid completed the scoring.
According to McDavid, depth has been essential to the team’s recent success.
Everyone is contributing to the cause. I believe we’re receiving contributions from players all around the lineup, whether it’s by playing hard, blocking shots, or providing a strong defensive showing,” he remarked.
“After that, a tiny maturity. We’ve had some close games, and winning is mostly dependent on our ability to close them out.”
The Canucks responded through Andrei Kuzmenko and J.T. Miller, dropping them to 1-9-0 in their previous ten games. Quinn Hughes listed two assistants.
For Edmonton, Stuart Skinner made 27 saves, while Spencer Martin of Vancouver stopped 25 of 28 shots.
Although Skinner was barraged with shots by the Canucks early in the game, the Oilers took the lead at 1:26.
At the offensive blue line, Hyman passed the puck to McDavid, who broke free from Vancouver’s Tyler Myers and scored his league-leading fortyth goal of the year by shooting through Martin’s five-hole.
Hyman now has 56 points for the season, a new career record, after scoring four points on the evening. The 30-year-old winger scored 54 points in the previous season, which was his debut with the Oilers.
It’s always a little challenging at first, no matter what team you join, Hyman said.
“I thought I had a really terrific year the year before, and I felt great throughout the playoffs. And this year, I wanted to kind of bring it into it. Naturally, I feel at ease here.
Particular Teams
On Saturday, Edmonton was 1 for 1 with the man advantage, while Vancouver was 0 for 2.
The Canucks had the worst penalty kill in the NHL (66.4%), while the Oilers had the best power play in the league (30.6%) going into the game.
ABSENT STREAKING
On Saturday, three Oilers extended their winning runs of points. McDavid has eight goals and eight assists in his last ten games, while Draisaitl has scored for six straight games (six goals and five assists). In the last five games, Hyman has had eight assists and four goals.
Kuzmenko of Vancouver is also having a great game; in four games, he has two goals and three assists.
