ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Pavel Bure continued his recent hot streak with a pair of goals, including a short-handed tally, and Mike Sillinger added a goal and two assists Monday night as the Vancouver Canucks won their third straight game, 5-1 over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Bure, who has five goals in his last three games, snapped a 1-1 tie with his 15th of the season, 6:17 into second period. He took a long clearing pass from Sillinger and beat the defense. Breaking in on goaltender Guy Hebert, he wristed the puck into the top right corner of the net for the go-ahead tally. Bure has a five-game point-scoring streak with five goals and four assists over that span.
"My knee is 100 percent, the most important thing for me right is to stay healthy," said Bure, who missed most of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. "When you're out for one year you don't want to jump in there and take chances. You definitely feel better when you're winning and you're scoring."
Sillinger extended the lead to 3-1 with his eighth goal, an unassisted short-handed tally, at 17:12. Anaheim defenseman Dmitri Mironov committed a turnover in his own end and attempted to drag down Sillinger. But Sillinger got off a weak backhanded shot that eluded Hebert and bounced in off the left goalpost.
Sillinger's three points were a season high and followed his two-goal performance against Toronto on Saturday. Before that game, he had been held scoreless in his previous seven.
"I try to come in and give it 110 percent every night," Sillinger said. "I'm not a play-making center and I'm not a goal-scoring center. I've established myself as a good, solid, two-way center, a guy who can be responsible on both ends of the rink. It's not really my job to get goals or score points, I guess when you go through a drought like that you feel some pressure but it's not really a concern at all."
"Mike Sillinger is a classic example of somebody that is really stepping it up," Vancouver coach Tom Renney said. "I think too often at times we judge players by looking at the score sheets. But when it comes to Mike Sillinger you can always rely on his heart."
Sillinger was also motivated to play against the team that traded him late last season.
"I guess it's kind of a little extra incentive when you play against a team that doesn't want you," Sillinger said. "I'm happy to be with the Canucks. The coaching staff has shown a lot of confidence in my play."
Kirk McLean posted his third straight win and improved to 8-6 on the season by stopping 30 shots.
"I think it has to be that Kirk McLean handles the puck very well," Renney said. "I don't think Anaheim was able to get the rebounds and chances that they had hoped for."
Teemu Selanne's 22nd goal, 40 seconds into the game, gave Anaheim its only lead of the contest. The Ducks then failed to convert any of their six power-play opportunities.
"We got the lead and then we stopped playing," a frustrated Selanne said. "We didn't work hard enough. I don't know why but we didn't seem to want to win the game. We were not hungry enough out there. We were watching and watching and waiting and waiting and then boom, it's 4-1. With how we played, it's embarrassing. To be in your own building and play like that, I can't believe it. Even when you lose and you're working hard it's OK, but we weren't working hard enough. I think everybody should look in the mirror and fell real embarrassed."
Scott Walker's first goal in more than a year knotted the game with 4:18 to play in the first period. Walker broke down the left side and took a weak shot that deflected off the face of sliding Ducks defender Bobby Dollas. Walker gathered in the puck and beat Hebert just inside the left goalpost.
Dollas was forced to leave the game and needed 11 stitches just under his eye.
Leading 3-1 entering the final period, Vancouver sealed the victory with a pair of tallies. Bure and Esa Tikkanen broke in alone on Hebert and executed a perfect short-handed give-and-go with Bure cashing in 1:52 into the period.
Dave Babych then capped the scoring with his third goal, with 3:55 to play as the Canucks reached the .500 mark at 19-19-2 and extended their lead in the all-time series to 12-5-2.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Mike Sillinger
2. Pavel Bure
3. Dave Babych
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