Vancouver Canucks find spark in Boudreau’s debut with win over LA Kings

It’s a whole new world for Vancouver Canucks fans.

From chants of “Fire Benning!” to “Bruce, there it is!” — to the tune of that early 90s song — a lot changed for the team over a span of 48 hours.

The Canucks not only picked up a win Monday night, they also shutout the LA Kings to mark the beginning of their new era under Bruce Boudreau.

Always hug your goalie but especially after a shut out pic.twitter.com/jq8Y4kPbWG

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) December 7, 2021

Boudreau replaced Travis Green as head coach on Sunday, which also saw Jim Benning be fired as general manager and be replaced for the time being by Stan Smyl.

The final score in Monday’s game was 4-0.

“I just keep telling them, they’re good players. I’ve always thought they were good players. And they’ve got to start believing that they’re good players. When they do that, they’ll be fine,” said Boudreau after the win, giving credit to his team.

“I didn’t hear it,” he said with a chuckle of fans chanting his name. “It would be nice, that’s great stuff. Anything positive. I mean, ‘Bruce’ is so close to ‘boo,’ so I mean you never want to see it at all, actually.”

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Vancouver’s win came two nights after many fans booed the Canucks off the ice following a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. One fed-up fan even tossed their jersey onto the ice to show their frustration.

But on Monday, most of those still inside Rogers Arena at the end of the game stood and cheered. Clearly, it wasn’t just about the game.

It was the first night in four-and-a-half years without Green coaching, and the first in seven-and-a-half years without Benning in charge of the roster.

“Bruce has a lot of positive energy and he wants to get the best out of his players,” captain Bo Horvat said after the morning skate Monday. “He has a few new ideas and ways that he thinks we can improve as a team. I’m excited to get that going here tonight.”

The Canucks are back at home on Wednesday to face the Boston Bruins.