Canucks rally to earn draw with Avs
Associated Press
3/4/2004
DENVER (CP-AP) - There were no major brawls and no one went after Steve Moore.
Instead, the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche played 65 minutes of tremendous offensive hockey in their much anticipated rematch Wednesday night, a 5-5 tie that left the Northwest Division standings unchanged.
Mattias Ohlund and Marek Malik scored third-period goals to rally the Canucks, who three times came back from two-goal deficits to secure the point.
``We turned the puck over a couple of times early that cost us,'' said Canucks coach Marc Crawford. ``But I was impressed with the character that our guys showed coming back from two goals down early and two goals down late.''
Brendan Morrison, Brent Sopel and Markus Naslund also scored for the Canucks, who had been waiting for this game since a Feb. 16 contest between the teams, in which Moore left Naslund with a concussion that cost him three games. Vancouver won that game 1-0.
The Canucks complained the hit was dirty, called for revenge and even put a bounty on Moore. But with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman looking on Wednesday, the teams were reasonably well-behaved.
Canucks enforcer Wade Brookbank did drop the gloves with Avs tough guy Peter Worrell and Todd Bertuzzi did attack Colorado agitator Adam Foote, but otherwise the rough stuff was limited to big hits on the boards and pushing and shoving after whistles.
Joe Sakic had three goals and an assist for the Avalanche while Alex Tanguay had two goals and three assists to tie his career high for points in a game.
Naslund also added two assists while Bertuzzi had three helpers for the Canucks, who rebounded from deficits of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3.
Tanguay put Colorado ahead 5-3 early in the third period with his second goal, scoring from left of the net after taking a pass from Sakic.
But Vancouver rallied for two goals in less than two minutes.
Malik scored from the slot at 6:08, and Ohlund took a cross-ice pass from Naslund and scored the tying goal from left of the crease on a power play at 7:50.
``It was a nice play by Markus,'' Ohlund said. ``It wasn't too hard to put that one in. He showed good patience. All I had to do was go down to the net and find an opening.
``We were confident that we had a chance to come back. We made it tough on ourselves by not playing better defensively.''
Colorado outshot Vancouver 6-0 in overtime, but Dan Cloutier, who had 29 saves, made key stops on Steve Konowalchuk and Paul Kariya.
The Canucks remain one point back of the Avs for first in the Northwest.
``We didn't get the two points, but I think it was definitely a step in the right direction,'' said Colorado coach Tony Granato, whose team is 1-5-2-1 in its last nine games. ``In the past couple of weeks we have had trouble scoring goals. Tonight, Joe, (Milan) Hejduk and Tanguay led the way.''
Sakic scored twice to give Colorado a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Canucks rallied to tie it.
Tanguay intercepted a pass in the Colorado zone and dropped a pass to Sakic, who scored from the slot. Sakic got his second goal from the right circle through a screen.
Morrison scored a short-handed goal from just inside the right circle after blocking Teemu Selanne's shot. Sopel tied it with a shot from the slot with 1:20 remaining in the period.
Tanguay and Sakic scored early in the second period to put Colorado ahead 4-2, but Naslund's late goal made it 4-3.
Tanguay took a pass from Travis Brigley and scored from the crease. Sakic got his 14th career hat trick and 28th goal of the season by tipping in a pass from John-Michael Liles on a power play.
With 54 seconds left in the second period, Bertuzzi lost his stick behind the net, but picked it up and passed to Naslund in front. It was Naslund's first goal since Feb. 2.
Notes: Colorado C Peter Forsberg missed his eighth straight game because of a groin injury, but RW Dan Hinote returned after missing 14 games with a concussion. ... The tie ended Vancouver's three-game winning streak.
Cheers,
Aquaman