Murray wins Ducks coaching debut as Boyle shuts out Canucks

ANAHEIM -- Bob Murray won his debut as Anaheim Ducks coach when Kevin Boyle made 35 saves in his first NHL start for a 1-0 victory against the Vancouver Canucks at Honda Center on Wednesday, ending Anaheim's seven-game losing streak.

Murray, who's in his 11th season as Ducks general manager, took over as coach after firing Randy Carlyle on Sunday.
Jakob Silfverberg had the only goal for Anaheim (22-26-9), which was outscored 37-8 during its losing streak (0-7-0) and had not won at home since Dec. 12, a 6-3 victory against the Dallas Stars.
"I thought the emotion was good," Murray said. "I thought the effort was good. Some of the things we worked on in the last week, cleaning up our own zone a bit, were very good. Our defensive-zone coverage, our layers, the changes we made, I thought those were very good."
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Boyle was recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League on Saturday, when the 26-year-old made his NHL debut in relief of Chad Johnson in a 6-2 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers. Starting goalie John Gibson sustained an upper-body injury Feb. 7 at the Ottawa Senators and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. Johnson was also placed on injured reserve after being struck in the head by a puck during practice Tuesday.
"It's something you dream of growing up a little kid playing street hockey," said Boyle, who is the first Ducks goalie to get a shutout in his first NHL start since Gibson made 18 saves in a 3-0 win against the Canucks on April 7, 2014. "To be able to come out here and get a win the first game, I can't even describe it."
Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves for Vancouver (25-26-7), which has lost two games in a row. Elias Pettersson's four-game point streak ended.
"We couldn't get a puck in the net," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "If you didn't watch what pucks went in the net tonight, you would've been really happy with our game."

Boyle made 15 saves in the first period, including two in the opening minute.
"You've got to give him credit; he played a heck of a game tonight," Vancouver center Bo Horvat said. "Unfortunately, we just didn't get the job done."
Silfverberg scored at 6:30 of the opening period. Markstrom lost his stick after Horvat brushed against him while cutting through the crease to follow the puck behind the net. Devin Shore tried a wraparound after Horvat turned the puck over, but it went off his blade and directly to Silfverberg, who scored on Markstrom's stick side.
It was the first time in the past six games the Ducks scored first.
"I thought it was going to be a little weirder than it was," Silfverberg said of Murray's debut as Anaheim coach. "As soon as the game started, it felt natural. I didn't think too much about it."

They said it

"We played hard. We threw a lot at them. We had opportunities. Their goalie played well. This time of year, everyone is fighting for points and they got the best of us tonight. Tough one." -- Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson
"Everything was positive on the bench. When you struggle as bad as they've struggled, you've got to learn how to trust one another again. That's slowly going to come. We need to build on that." -- Ducks coach Bob Murray

Need to know

The Canucks have been shut out in five of their past 10 games in California. ... Boyle is the first goalie age 26 or older to have a shutout in his first NHL start since Sam St. Laurent (27) of the New Jersey Devils in a 1-0 win against the St. Louis Blues on March 27, 1986. … Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler played his 595th game with the Ducks, passing Ruslan Salei for their all-time lead for defensemen. … Anaheim recalled left wing Max Jones from San Diego on Wednesday and reassigned defenseman Korbinian Holzer.

What's next

Canucks: At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNP, NHL.TV)
Ducks: Host the Boston Bruins on Friday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, PRIME, NESN, NHL.TV)