Keeping Bure Quiet Key to Duck Victory

Mighty Duck Coach Ron Wilson was too busy ripping Vancouver Canuck bumper stickers off his car to formulate a brilliant plan for Friday night’s game.

No big deal. If Wilson didn’t know what to expect, he and the Ducks were in serious trouble.

Getting the word out wasn’t difficult, either. Wilson, a Vancouver assistant for three seasons, had former Canuck forward Garry Valk around in case any of the Ducks needed reminding.

The bottom line was this: Slow Pavel Bure and the Ducks had a chance to win.

So, they picked up Bure beyond the red line, forced him wide, toward the boards and away from the center of the ice where he could inflict the most damage.

It worked without a hitch and the Ducks shut out Vancouver, 3-0, at Anaheim Arena.

Bure, who had 35 points in his last 25 games and 17 goals in 18 games, was held to one harmless shot on goal. There were no heart-stopping rushes from Bure. No blistering slap shots at Duck goalie Guy Hebert. Hardly a peep, in fact.

“When Pavel was out there, I wanted Garry with him because he’s so familiar with him,” said Wilson, whose car was plastered Friday with bumper stickers by members of the Vancouver coaching staff.

Wilson did have enough time to put together a Bure highlight film in order to remind the rest of the Ducks of the right wing’s scoring ability.

“We had to pay special attention to his one-on-one moves,” Wilson said.

In the end, the Ducks took Bure out of the picture. It was often difficult to notice Bure when he was on the ice. His one and only shot came in the second period.

By then, the Ducks led, 2-0, and had crawled into a defensive shell.

They added a third-period goal by Valk’s linemate, Bob Corkum, with less than 4 minutes left in the game and held Vancouver to three final-period shots on goal.

And all the while, they kept a watchful eye on Bure, knowing he could break free at any time.

“He’s definitely their biggest offensive spark,” said Valk, who assisted on Corkum’s goal. “He’s the guy they go to in clutch situations.”

Indeed. When Bure isn’t effective, the Canucks struggle. They went 3-5 when Bure was sidelined for eight games with a groin injury from Oct. 27 to Nov. 13.

Just days before suffering the injury, Bure recorded his 100th NHL goal in only his 154th game, becoming the sixth-fastest player in league history to score 100. He trailed Mike Bossy (129), Teemu Selanne (130), Maurice Richard (134), Joe Nieuwendyk (144) and Wayne Gretzky (145).

In three previous games against the Ducks, Bure had made his usual impact, scoring two goals and firing off 14 shots on goal.

“We were not going to give him the puck with open ice,” Valk said. “We had to keep him to the outside of the ice. We were able to slow him down by doing that.”

Wilson sensed Vancouver’s frustration with the Ducks’ defensive style late in the game.

“It was like they said, ‘Why don’t you guys stop and let us play hockey for five minutes,’ ” Wilson said.

It didn’t take a genius to know that would have been a bad move for the Ducks.