Canucks host Oilers at GM Place
Sports Ticker
12/21/2002
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Edmonton Oilers look to avoid extending their losing streak to a season-high four games when they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in a battle of Northwest Division rivals.
Mike York scored his 11th goal of the season with just 1.2 seconds left Thursday, when the Oilers suffered a 2-1 defeat at Colorado and slipped to 0-2-0-1 since December 14.
York will try to increase his six-game points streak (seven goals, one assist).
The Oilers have dropped three in a row for the second time during the 2002-03 campaign. They went 0-3-0 from October 15-19.
Edmonton and Vancouver will clash for the second time during their three-game, 13-day series.
On December 14, Markus Naslund recorded his first career four-goal game as the Canucks used an awesome power play to win a physical matchup, 6-3. Vancouver went 4-for-9 with the man advantage.
The Canucks have lost only once in their last five games (3-1-1).
Trevor Letowski finished off a brilliant individual effort by Mats Lindgren and scored the go-ahead goal with 6:03 remaining Thursday, when Vancouver rallied for a 3-1 victory over Nashville.
Naslund, the NHL's leading goal-scorer with 21, has points in 12 of his last 15 games (11 goals, nine assists).
Dan Cloutier isn't expected to be in the lineup for Saturday night's game due to a knee injury.
Peter Skudra is to take Cloutier's place in the net against the Oilers, the first time this year he's made back-to-back starts. The Canucks called up Tyler Moss from the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose.
Canucks coach Marc Crawford was vague about with Cloutier's ailment. ``He's got some soreness,'' said Crawford. ``He's too sore to play. We haven't put Dan on the injured list. That should say enough. We're just being cautious.''
Cloutier, who was named the NHL's player of the month for November, has appeared in 28 of Vancouver's 33 games.
Cloutier, who leads the NHL with 17 wins, faced some shots during the Canucks morning skate but didn't make any attempts to drop to the ice. He last played in Vancouver's 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Cloutier, who has a 17-8-3 record and 2.34 goals-against average, joins a growing list of injured Canucks.
Cheers,
Aquaman