Canucks fall to struggling Thrashers
Canadian Press
2/14/2004
VANCOUVER (CP) - The Atlanta Thrashers were tired of losing and the Vancouver Canucks paid the price for that physically and on the scoreboard.
Dany Heatley had a goal and an assist and goaltender Pasi Nurminen stopped 30 shots as the Thrashers ended a six-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Canucks in a hard-hitting game Friday night.
``We got sick of losing,'' said Ronald Petrovicky, who scored as his team also stopped a 10-game winless streak (0-8-2) with only its third win in 22 (3-15-3-1) outings.
``We had a winless streak going and nobody likes that in the dressing room. Guys came out pretty hard tonight. That's what we have to do, play smart and physical hockey.''
Shawn McEachern also had a goal and an assist for the Thrashers, who continually pounded the Canucks along the boards and made sure to finish all their checks. Marc Savard rounded out the scoring while Vyacheslav Kozlov added two assists.
``(It was a) huge win for our whole team,'' said Nurminen, ``We took the body. We don't usually have enough physical play but maybe the last two games we concentrate on that. We've got to hit people and we've got to make their life tough. Maybe that's the one point that turned our game today.''
Daniel Sedin scored his third goal in four games for Vancouver, which has lost two straight. Dan Cloutier made 14 saves before he was ejected with 35 seconds left after hitting Petrovicky in the face with his blocker. Cloutier was given a match penalty, which comes with an automatic review by the NHL.
Cloutier didn't speak to reporters after the game.
``I think we're all embarrassed,'' said Canucks captain Markus Naslund. ``It was a big game for us, especially after losing to Calgary and wanting to bounce back.
``We did it to ourselves. We were undisciplined. We lost our focus. That's probably the biggest difference. We didn't play our game and we let ourselves get frustrated.''
Heatley now has two goals and four points in eight games since returning to the Atlanta lineup after recovering from injuries suffered in a car accident that fatally injured teammate Dan Snyder.
Heatley suffered a broken jaw and torn ligaments after slamming his Ferrari into a wall in an Atlanta suburb Sept. 29. Snyder died a few days later from head injuries.
``I felt very good tonight,'' said Heatley. ``I have the last three or four nights and it's starting to come together. All I can say is it's moving in the right direction and it feels pretty good.''
The Thrashers, outshot 31-19, scored once in eight power-play chances and also picked up a short-handed goal. The Canucks went 0-for-7 on the power play.
Vancouver (31-17-7-3) remains four points behind first-place Colorado, which has two games in hand.
It sure didn't look like Atlanta (27-21-6-2) was going to get a win after the first 20 minutes.
The Canucks outshot the Thrashers 13-1 and played the entire two minutes of one power play in the Atlanta zone but failed to score.
Jarkko Ruutu had a glorious opportunity when he was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down by Ilya Kovalchuk while on a short-handed breakaway.
Ruutu seemed to have Nurminen beat on the penalty shot, but the puck went wide of the net.
Atlanta rallied in the second, scoring twice in the first four minutes. Cloutier stopped a long shot by Kozlov but Petrovicky, stationed right in front of the Vancouver goaltender, fired the rebound in for his 15th goal of the season.
Then Heatley beat Cloutier with a wrist shot to the goaltender's glove side.
Daniel Sedin pulled Vancouver to within 2-1. The Canucks had a chance to tie the game with a 42-second two-man advantage but failed to score.
Minutes later, Savard made it 3-1 after converting on a 2-on-1 short-handed break.
McEachern made it 4-1 at 6:49 of the third period during a two-man advantage.
Things turned ugly in the final minute when Cloutier went after Petrovicky. The punch got everyone on the ice in the action, with a couple of fights breaking out.
Unlike the previous night, when Nurminen dropped the gloves with Edmonton Oilers goalie Ty Conklin, the Thrashers backstopper chose to stay in his own crease.
``(I thought about it) for a second but yesterday our coach said that I'm a better goalie than a fighter,'' said Nurminen, who was still sporting a couple of welts on his face.
Petrovicky said he didn't provoke Cloutier's attack.
``I didn't say anything, he just speared me and then punched me in the head with his blocker,'' said Petrovicky. ``I guess he was a little frustrated.''
Notes: Canucks winger Matt Cooke returned to the lineup after missing more than a month with a knee injury . . . The last time these two teams squared off, last Feb. 25, the Canucks won 8-0 . . . Trevor Linden remains one point shy of becoming the Vancouver Canucks' all-time leading scorer. He is currently tied with Stan Smyl at 673 points.
Cheers,
Aquaman