VANCOUVER — The first full day of spring bloomed brilliantly on the West Coast.

The atmospheric river that drenched most of B.C. this week had poured itself out, and although the record-breaking high temperatures of Friday had cooled, it was sunny and 11 degrees in Metro Vancouver on Saturday.

The False Creek seawall near Rogers Arena was packed with people, and both golf courses and the ski hills on the North Shore were busy. You could pick daffodils from your garden or even fire up the lawnmower if ambitious, and the area’s countless thousands of ornamental cherry trees are either already exploding with colour or getting there.

The audacious arrival of spring, as comforting as it is extravagant, almost made the hockey game inside the arena not matter. Almost.

But hockey always matters to some degree in Canada, and so do the Canucks, even during a rebuild as depressing as winter, because there are still 18,000 people paying money to come indoors on a beautiful day in search of some hope and entertainment from the home team.

And through 39 minutes of Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Canucks had generated seven shots on net.

Until Vancouver copiously forced three saves from Jordan Binnington in the final minute of the middle period, the Canucks had produced just three shots on target over the previous 30 minutes — equivalent to half a game.

“For sure, we owe a lot to the fans,” winger Drew O’Connor said. “I mean, we want to do well on home ice. It's important for us. You know, it doesn't........

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