Key players hurt in Canucks' loss
The Canadian Press
2/28/2003
VANCOUVER (CP) - The Vancouver Canucks lost more than the NHL's longest unbeaten streak this season when the San Jose Sharks held on for a 3-2 victory Thursday night.
Forward Todd Bertuzzi, second on the club with 34 goals, left the game with an eye injury and steady defenceman Mattias Ohlund hobbled off the ice with a sore left knee. Both injuries came in the second period when the Sharks took control of the game.
"The injuries are bigger (than losing the 14-game unbeaten streak)," said Vancouver captain Markus Naslund, who took over the NHL scoring lead with a third-period assist.
"You want to keep your key players in the lineup. I'm just hoping and keeping my fingers crossed . . . they'll be back soon."
Ohlund, injured in a collision along the boards with Matt Bradley, and Artem Chubarov, who did not dress because of an abdominal strain, will not start the club's five-game road trip which begins Saturday in Montreal.
Neither will goalie Dan Cloutier, who aggravated a right knee strain on Tuesday in an 8-0 blowout of the Atlanta Thrashers that improved Vancouver's record during the streak to 10-0-4-0.
Canuck coach Marc Crawford said Bertuzzi will be on the team plane Friday and could play against the Canadiens. Ohlund's injury will be evaluated over the next few days.
"You can't replace (Bertuzzi), there's no doubt about that," Naslund said of his burly linemate who had the left side of his face raked by the goal stick of Evgeni Nabokov when the San Jose netminder tried to clear the puck.
"You can't replace Mattias either. You can substitute him for Bryan (Allen). I think Bryan can do a good job. But obviously you want the best players playing."
Owen Nolan and Patrick Marleau both scored their 22nd goals of the season on second-period power plays to give the Sharks a 3-0 cushion.
An industrious forecheck enabled Vincent Damphousse to open the scoring in the first period against backup netminder Peter Skudra and a listless Canuck club that had bombed its last two opponents by a combined 15-2.
Vancouver managed only 11 shots on Nabokov in the first 40 minutes but almost kept the streak alive with a 14-shot third-period barrage that yielded goals by Marek Malik and Henrik Sedin.
Nabokov had to be alert to foil Trent Klatt on a backhand and the Canucks swarmed the San Jose goal when they lifted Skudra for a sixth attacker with 1:21 remaining.
Nolan, who beat Skudra on a breakaway when he took Damphousse's pass behind Vancouver defenceman Ed Jovanovski, said the Sharks wanted to dictate an early physical tone to the game.
"You have to when a team's playing that well," he said. "They're used to getting their way. We just tried to come out and keep it simple, work hard and be physical early."
The win extended the Sharks' modest victory streak to three games but the veteran-laden club is still mired in 13th place in the NHL's Western Conference.
"It's pretty much do or die . . . we've got to put a string together here," Nolan said of San Jose's playoff hopes. "It's still an uphill battle. We can't dwell on a three-game winning streak."
Nabokov said he didn't know where Bertuzzi was when he tried to clear the puck and only felt him contact his stick.
An early-season holdout, Nabokov also said the Sharks can still make the post-season.
"The hope has never left this room and we're going to fight until the end."
Crawford said the Canucks never recovered from a poor start.
"It was a valiant comeback but we let them for two periods really have their way and you can't do that."
Notes: The game was a season-record 29th sellout for the Canucks. . . . only single tickets remain for their remaining eight home games. . . . Canuck centre Brendan Morrison now is eating solid food after losing four capped teeth when slashed by Brendan Shanahan in Detroit on Feb. 18.
Cheers,
Aquaman