NHL: The Canucks were fantastic in Bruce Boudreau’s debut in the win against the Kings

Bruce Boudreaux’s arrival behind the bench appears to have inspired the Vancouver Canucks Monday night in their 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Boudreaux was making his debut as a coach with the Canadian team after the sacking of Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning with the Canucks. Boudreaux led the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild earlier in his career.

His new players gave him a reason to smile for the first time midway through the period. Brock Boeser hit the nail in the head in a powerful play for his fifth goal in the campaign. Moments later, Conor Garland beat Cal Petersen to double his team’s lead.

Juhu Lameko inherited the pocket record after turning early in the third half and did not miss the opportunity to score his first goal in the Canucks jersey. JT Miller put on the exclamation point with a solid stadium reception while another played hard a few minutes later.

Vancouver’s success was not only on the offensive side. Thatcher Demko got his first close of the season thanks to her 31 assists.

The Canucks scored only their ninth win in 26 games this season. With a 20-point harvest, they share last place in the Pacific Division with the Seattle Kraken.