With Alexander Mogilny joining Pavel Bure in their lineup and a new arena, the Vancouver Canucks were expecting big things this season.
But now Bure is gone for the season with a knee injury, and the GM Place Arena isn't as friendly as they thought it would be.Sunday night, the Canucks heard derisive chants from the fans while going down to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Coupled with an 8-4 loss Saturday night to Colorado, it completed a lost weekend for the Canucks.
But perhaps their biggest loss happened earlier Saturday when the Canucks learned that Bure, a two-time 60-goal scorer and one of the most exciting players in the NHL, would be gone for the season. Bure suffered a torn ligament in his right knee in Chicago on Thursday and faces surgery.
Brian Savage scored twice as the Canadiens continued their remarkable surge under new coach Mario Tremblay. The Canadiens have a 9-2 record since Tremblay replaced Jacques Demers behind the bench early in the season when Montreal was 0-5.
Pierre Turgeon returned to the Montreal lineup with a short-handed goal and Mark Recchi added a power-play goal to complete a weekend sweep for the Canadiens, who won 4-0 Saturday in Calgary.
Mogilny, acquired from Buffalo in an off-season trade, and Roman Oksiuta scored for the Canucks, who lost their third straight and are 5-7-5 overall. Their record includes a 1-4-3 mark at home.
Devils 3, Flyers 2
In Philadelphia, Randy McKay's tiebreaking goal midway through the third period helped New Jersey complete a sweep of a two-game weekend series with the Flyers.
Scott Niedermayer unloaded a slap shot from the top of the slot that McKay managed to deflect from midair for his second goal of the year at 7:03, snapping a 2-2 tie. New Jersey had used up just five seconds of a power play.
New Jersey, which entered the weekend 1-5-1 in its last seven games, beat the Flyers 4-2 Saturday. Philadelphia is 2-5 in its last seven games, six without center Eric Lindros, who is expected to be sidelined until at least Thursday.
Sabres 6, Lightning 4
Tampa Bay squandered a two-goal lead in the third period for the fourth time this season as visiting Buffalo scored four times in the last 20 minutes.
Derek Plante, Brent Hughes, Dave Hannan and Matthew Barnaby had the third-period goals as the Sabres won for only the second time in seven road games. Plante, Hughes and Hannan scored in a 2:18 span to put the Sabres in front and Barnaby added a late goal.
Oilers 4, Blackhawks 4
In Chicago, Todd Marchant scored on his own rebound with 7:03 left in regulation as Edmonton rallied for a tie.
Joe Murphy had put the Blackhawks ahead 4-3 with 9:05 remaining in the third period with a long slap shot from the top of the left circle on a 3-on-1 break. He beat Joaquin Gage,
who started the second period in relief of ineffective goalie Bill Ranford. Gage stopped 14 of 15 shots for his first NHL point.