Naslund cuts up Thrashers
Canadian Press
2/26/2003
VANCOUVER (CP) - The Vancouver Canucks are unbeaten in 14 games and the No. 1 line has combined for 26 points in their past two contests.
But captain Markus Naslund, who picked up a personal-high six points in an 8-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday, insists there's still room for improvement.
``No, really, I'm serious,'' said Naslund, leads the league with 41 goals and is tied at 83 points with Mario Lemieux atop the scoring race. ``Early in the games I think we're giving up a few too many chances but with Dan (Cloutier) playing as well as he is, we're getting away with it. We still have stuff we can work on.
``But it's fun anytime you get a night where you score seven or eight goals and it's enjoyable with the streak now.''
Naslund's line, which combined for 12 points in a 7-2 win over Columbus two nights earlier, seemed to score at will against the Thrashers, who were forced to start fourth-string goalie Frederic Cassivi due to a rash of injuries.
Winger Todd Bertuzzi collected his 33rd and 34th goals and also picked up two assists. Centre Brendan Morrison scored two goals and added two assists, giving him 12 points in his last five games.
``We can't explain it,'' Morrison said of his line's recent scoring touch. ``We know it's not going to continue like this but obviously its fun right now. The main thing is the team is still winning and everyone is playing well.''
Trevor Linden had two goals to extend his point streak to seven games and Henrik Sedin closed out the scoring.
The goal total was Vancouver's (38-16-9-0) largest margin of victory this season and put the Canucks one point behind Ottawa and Dallas, who are tied for first place overall with 86 points.
Dan Cloutier made 23 saves for his first shutout since opening day, 10th in his career. Cloutier had to receive treatment following the game after tweaking an injury while making a save off Ilya Kovalchuk in the third period.
``It's something that I've had for a while and been taking care of," said Cloutier. ``Tonight it's no different. Just nicks and pains that I've been fighting for the couple of weeks. I'm just going to see how it feels tomorrow and go from there.''
With injuries to both Byron Dafoe (hernia) and Pasi Nurminen (groin), the Thrashers started Cassivi for the second time this season. He allowed all eight goals on 30 shots.
The Thrashers (20-32-5-4) are 1-5-2 in their last eight.
``It was not Frederic Cassivi's fault at all,'' said Atlanta coach Bob Hartley. ``He got beat by great shots. Those guys (the No. 1 line) are flying and the goals scored were great goals. They make so many great plays and it seems like those three guys compliment themselves so well.
``I felt we deserved much better,'' he added, ``but we're a young hockey club and we got rattled a little bit and they scored some nice and big goals against us.''
Vancouver scored three times before the midway mark of the first period, with the Canucks' No. 1 line first connecting 4:02 into the game when Morrison scored on Naslund's rebound.
Then both Linden and Bertuzzi scored during a two-minute, two-man advantage after Per Svartvadet went off for holding and Uwe Krupp for roughing after the whistle.
Atlanta had a handful of good chances in the first period but were denied by Cloutier, who stopped two in a row from in close by Jeff Odgers and made a great glove save off Dan Heatley.
``(Cloutier) was very good, especially early,'' said Heatley, who had scored five points in his previous five games. ``I had a couple point-blank one-timers that he made good saves on.''
The Thrashers' had a chance to get on the board in the second period when Ed Jovanovski was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for cross-checking Marc Savard. But Atlanta managed just one shot.
The Canucks scored three in a 3:25-span late in the second period.
Morrison made it 4-0 with his second goal of the game at 15:09.
Linden made it 5-0 at 16:57 before Naslund closed out the second period by carrying the puck along the blue-line until he was directly in front of the Atlanta net and beating a screened Cassivi at 18:24.
Bertuzzi and Sedin scored just over a minute apart late in the third.
Despite the room for improvement, Naslund said he hasn't been on a team playing with as much confidence since his days with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
``In Pittsburgh we were on a streak, too, but I was up in the press box so I didn't enjoy it as much,'' said Naslund, who fell one point shy of the club record of seven set by Patrik Sundstrom on Feb. 29, 1984. ``But since I've been with the Canucks, I think this is the best I've seen the team play. We're finding ways to get up for games and taking pride for being prepared.''
Notes: Brent Sopel extended his point streak to seven games with an assist on Linden's first goal....Vancouver recorded its 24th straight sellout and 28th of the season to set a new franchise record.
Cheers,
Aquaman