Sundin has quiet Canucks debut in win over Oilers

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Mats Sundin had a quiet debut with Vancouver. Thanks to Stever Bernier and his linemates, the Canucks didn’t need much from their new center.

Bernier, Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler combined for three goals and five assists in Vancouver’s 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

“It’s a great boost for your confidence,” said Bernier, who scored twice in 12 seconds and had an assist. “(But) what’s important is the team played well tonight. We didn’t give up a lot of scoring chances and we finished with the two points. Now we have to build on that.”

Sundin, who signed with the Canucks on Dec. 18 and played for the first time in nine months, had 15 minutes of ice time over 24 shifts had no shots on net, one hit and was 9-for-18 on faceoffs.

“Physically, I felt better than I was hoping. It’s good to get that first game out of the way,” the 37-year-old Swedish center said.

“It’s timing, where you come in and shoot, you jam yourself a little bit. And when you’re trying to make a pass (it goes) over a stick,” he added. “It felt exactly like where you are at the start of a season, where you’re trying to get it back, but the only way to get it back is to play games.”

In the only other NHL game Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers 6-3 at Madison Square Garden.

Burrows had a goal and two assists, Pavol Demitra also scored and Kesler added two assists for the Canucks. Jason LaBarbera stopped 23 shots to improve to 2-0 with a 1.92 goals-against average in four games since being acquired from Los Angeles on Dec. 30.

Oilers defenseman Sheldon Souray said Bernier’s two goals were like daggers.

“It was tough to have a couple little breakdowns get you bang, bang like that,” he said. “Before that, I thought it was a well-played 1-1 game. All of a sudden it is 3-1. That definitely changed the momentum.”

Robert Nilsson and Erik Cole scored for the Oilers.

Sundin, the Maple Leafs’ career scoring leader, left Toronto last spring under touchy circumstances after he refused a request by the team at the trade deadline to waive the no-trade clause in his contract.

He skated primarily between wingers Kyle Wellwood and Mason Raymond, and was booed every time he touched the puck. He was twice put on the power play with first-line wingers Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

He said he heard the boos before the game, but not during it.

When asked if he had any idea why he was booed, he replied: “No, and I’m not going to worry about it either.”

He will make his home debut Friday when the Canucks host St. Louis, and play his first game against his old teammates when Vancouver visits Toronto on Feb. 21.

Burrows opened the scoring with 5:53 left in the second, streaking into the slot to one-time Bernier’s pass from behind the net past Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson.

Edmonton responded 1 1/2 minutes later on the power play as Nilsson outmuscled his defender in a goalmouth scramble to knock home a loose puck.

Bernier took Kesler’s pass in the high slot and fired it past Roloson to make it 2-1 with 2:40 to go in the period. Just 12 seconds later, Burrows grabbed the puck in the corner and fed Bernier at the side of the net for his ninth goal of the season.

Cole, standing at the side of the net, redirected Steve Staios’ blue-line slap shot low past LaBarbera with 11 minutes to go. But with Roloson pulled for an extra attacker, Demitra scored with 36 seconds left to seal the victory.

Canadiens 6, Rangers 3

At New York, Andrei Markov and Robert Lang scored power-play goals 2:08 apart to break open a tight game in the third period and lift Montreal.

Lang made it 5-3 with 4:31 remaining during a 4-on-4 and finished his second NHL hat trick with an empty-netter. Montreal, on a 7-1-1 spurt, jumped one point ahead of the Rangers into fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Alex Kovalev and Guillaume Latendresse gave the Canadiens one-goal leads in the first period. Chris Drury tied it for New York in the first, and Ryan Callahan in the second.

Markov then gave the Canadiens the lead for good 2 1/2 minutes into the third. Michal Rozsival pulled the Rangers to 4-3 about four minutes later.

Jaroslav Halak finished with 36 saves for the Canadiens.