Oilers Fight Off Canucks 3-1

With rumors swirling about Vancouver's attempts to trade disgruntled star Pavel Bure, the Canucks seemed to forget they had a game to play on Thursday night.

Boris Mironov scored the go-ahead goal in the second period as the Edmonton Oilers continued to dominate the Canucks with a 3-1 victory.

"I can't use that as an excuse and I don't think we should," Vancouver goalie Corey Hirsch said of the Bure trade talks. "What happens with Pavel doesn't really affect us to this point. I think if we use that as an excuse, it's a pretty lame one."

During the second-period intermission, Canucks general manager Brian Burke issued his latest statement on Bure, who has sat out the entire season after declaring he would never play for Vancouver again.

Burke said that if he can't trade Bure by Monday, he'll wait until the March 23 trading deadline to make a deal.

The Canucks could have used Bure's scoring punch against the Oilers, who snapped a three-game winless streak and improved to 4-0 against Vancouver this season.

The Canucks' only goal was set up by captain Mark Messier, whose 1,040th career assist tied him with Marcel Dionne for fifth on the NHL's all-time list. Wayne Gretzky is the all-time assists leader with 1,945.

"I think all the milestones coming up are quite surprising to me," said Messier, who is also one goal away from his 610th, which would tie him with Bobby Hull for seventh on the all-time list. "I never considered myself a great offensive player or a point-producer. I just tried to find ways to win."

Vancouver, which was outshot 29-17, is 1-8-1 in its last 10 games.

Bill Guerin's speed set up Mironov's goal, which put the Olers up 2-1 with 4:18 left in the second period.

Guerin outraced everyone to the puck deep in the Canucks end, turned around and passed to Mironov, who one-timed a hard shot that slipped just inside the crossbar.

Josef Beranek scored for Edmonton in the first period and Dean McAmmond got the final goal with 3:24 left in the game.

After scoring the go-ahead goal, Mironov almost became the goat after getting unsportsmanlike conduct and 10-minute misconduct penalties for arguing a tripping call with 9:10 left in the third period.

"He missed so many cheap shots," Mironov said of the referee. "I said something and he gave me two, two and 10 (minutes)."

Messier set up the first goal of the game, by Markus Naslund 3:07 into the first period. Holding the puck behind the Edmonton net, Messier passed to Naslund as he cut through the middle on a power play. Naslund took a stride and snapped a shot past goalie Bob Essensa.

The Oilers tied it when Beranek went on an end-to-end rush up the left side, streaked past defenseman Bryan McCabe and wristed a 10-footer that beat Hirsch.

Hirsch, making his fifth start in six games, made an acrobatic save on Mironov 11 minutes into the second period. Flat on his back in the crease, Hirsch did a somersault and got his pad on Mironov's backhander from in close.

Essensa also was sharp for the Oilers.

With Edmonton leading 2-1 in the second period, he got a glove on a shot by Alexander Mogilny that had been deflected twice before it got to the net.

The Oilers went 0-for-8 on the power-play.

Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi played his first game after missing 31 with a fractured tibia.

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