LONGING FOR LUONGO
Vancouver Canucks captain Roberto Luongo spoke to the media for the first time since pulling himself off the ice on the team's road trip last week, and the news isn't good. He said the injury is simply not where he wants it to be and there was no point in continuing to skate any further. The netminder has been sidelined since November 22nd after suffering an injury in the first period during a victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He then appeared to suffer a set back in recovery after experiencing pain just 20 minutes into practice on Wednesday.
''It wasn't feeling like it was supposed to be feeling, so I got off the ice,'' Luongo said on Sunday. ''I didn't want to make it worse and I'm going to stay off the ice until I'm 100 percent.'' Luongo did not travel with the team to Edmonton for Saturday's loss to the Oilers and has been working out since suffering the injury.
Last week, the 29-year-old stressed the importance of making a full recovery before returning to action and today stated that he thought his body was ready to get back in. ''We were taking the steps as they were planned. Up to that point, everything was feeling great,'' he said. ''I don't feel that I rushed it.'' Both Luongo and general manager Mike Gillis have downplayed the severity of the injury and ranges of when the goaltender might be back in the lineup - anywhere from four weeks to after the All-Star break. "No new time frame," Gillis said Sunday. "We're approaching it week-to-week and we're going to be patient and make sure he's completely healthy." Luongo says there is still no timeline for his return. ''Week-to-week? Tough to say,'' Luongo said. ''This is the first time I've dealt with a groin injury. Just when I thought I was ready to get back into it, my groin was telling me something else. I'm a competitor; I want to be in goal every day.''
Luongo is 11-5-2 with a 2.17 GAA and five shutouts this season.
(Credit TSN.ca)
The Canucks have gone 4-5-2 since the Penguins game when Luongo went down. It's not a great record, but considering you're without arguable the best goalie in the world, that is about the best you can hope for. When you have Peyton Manning as your quarterback, you don't invest too much money in to a backup (Jim Sorgi is the backup for the Colts, btw) because if Manning goes down, your season is essentially shot. The difference here is Curtis Sanford and Cory Schneider have been doing just fine in his place. Minnesota's slump and Calgary's inconsistency is also helping Vancouver stay atop the division. If Vancouver wins the Mats Sundin sweepstakes, things will look up even more for this team. Vancouver is playing team hockey and that's the best way to weather the storm of losing your best player.
OTHER HEADLINES
-Buffalo Sabres defenseman Craig Rivet revealed today that he's dealing with an injured shoulder and the team's captain is going to be out least two weeks while he tries to rehab the shoulder. Rivet was originally injured Nov. 29 in Montreal and sat out the next two games. He returned to play in the next three games but said he tweaked the injury in each one. Rivet sat out Friday's loss to Toronto in HSBC Arena and Saturday's win at New Jersey. "It's something that I tried to play with and it was really limiting what I could do on the ice," Rivet said after taking part in practice in a limited role at HSBC Arena. "It's really affecting my game so we took a different game plan. The pain issue, you can get through. But when it starts making it that much more difficult on the ice, you have to take a step back. We're going to try to rehabilitate it." Coach Lindy Ruff said Rivet would be sideline for "two-week blocks." "We'll see where he is after two weeks and if the doctors decide he isn't available it will be another two weeks," Ruff said. "He can't play the way he wants to play. That's his biggest frustration. He can't play a physical game and I understand that. He doesn't think he can be a true asset if he has to play a different style of game."
LAST NIGHT'S RECAP
Colorado Avalanche (15-14-1) over the Detroit Red Wings (20-6-4) 3-2
TOP PERFORMER = Avalanche G Andrew Raycroft - 34 saves
-The Avalanche would jump out to a two goal lead in the 1st period and wouldn't look back. Winger Wojtek Wolski scored 1:07 in to the game and Paul Stastny added a power play goal three minutes later. In the 2nd period, Tomas Holmstrom cut in to the Avalanche lead. In the 3rd period, D Jordan Leopold scored the eventual game winner on a penalty shot. Marian Hossa scored his 16th of the season later in the period, but that would be as close as Detroit would get. Colorado improved to 11-0-0 when leading after two periods and ended a four game losing streak against the Red Wings (three of them were shutouts). Colorado right winger Marek Svatos missed his second game because of a back injury.
San Jose Sharks (25-3-2) over the Los Angeles Kings (13-12-5) 3-2 (SO)
TOP PERFORMER = Sharks LW Ryan Clowe - 1 Goal (Power Play), GW SO Goal
-The Kings jumped out to a 2-0 midway through the 1st period thanks to goals from Matt Greene and Teddy Purcell (both their first of the season). Ryane Clowe scored San Jose's first goal a few minutes later on the power play. In the 2nd period, Patrick Marleau scored his 16th goal of the season shorthanded to knot the game at 2. In the shootout, Dan Boyle and Ryane Clowe would score for San Jose to give the Sharks their 50th point of the season. Brian Boucher made 26 saves in the win while Erik Ersberg and Jason LaBarbera combined for 24 saves (Ersberg was forced out of the game at 6:54 of the second period because of a groin pull after stopping 10 of 11 shots). The Sharks improved to 12-0-1 in their last 13 games. With 52 points, the Sharks passed the 1929-30 Bruins and set an NHL record for the most points through the first 30 games of the season and with its 25th win of the season, they tied those 1929-30 Bruins for the most victories in the first 30 games of the season.
RUMOR MILL
-It's been narrowed down to the Canucks and the Rangers for Mats Sundin, and it looks like his new home will be MATSison Square Garden (sorry, I had to). I don't want to pass judgement yet because there's still more to this story, but if the Rangers deal Scott Gomez to make room for Sundin under the cap, that would be one of the worst moves Glen Sather has ever made, and there's a lengthy list when it comes to that (this isn't the Rangers fan in me talking, it's the hockey fan in me talking). This all being said, maybe Glen Sather will pull a Christmas-time miracle out of his 5-Hole to make Sundin work under the cap.
AROUND THE BOARDS
-The NHL named it's Three Stars Of The Week:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=398215
-When the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings meet on a rink that will stretch from first to third base at Wrigley Field, neither team will have an advantage with the wind in the third period, even if it's a blustery and cold day. That's because they'll switch sides in the middle of the final period, NBC coordinating producer Sam Flood said Monday during a conference call promoting the network's coverage of the Winter Classic. "I know that plan is in place for this game, so if those Wrigley winds are blowing out to right field, they will flip the teams' direction after the halfway point of the third period," he said. Last year when the Winter Classic was played in snowy conditions at Orchard Park, N.Y., the teams did the same. They switched ends in the third period, with a buzzer going off at the 10-minute mark stopping play. (Credit AP)
TONIGHT'S ACTION
Montreal (16-8-5) @ Carolina (13-12-5) - 7PM
Washington (18-10-2) @ NY Islanders (10-18-2) - 7PM
Colorado (15-14-1) @ Philadelphia (16-7-6) - 7PM
New Jersey (16-9-2) @ Toronto (11-12-6) - 7PM
Atlanta (9-16-4) @ Ottawa (11-12-5) - 7:30PM
Phoenix (14-13-3) @ Dallas (11-14-4) - 8:30PM
Calgary (16-11-3) @ St. Louis (12-13-3) - 8:30PM
Chicago (15-6-7) @ Edmonton (14-12-2) - 9:30PM
%NY Rangers (20-11-2) @ Anaheim (17-11-3) - 10PM
% = Game of the Night
^ALL TIMES EASTERN
*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out Monday evenings
~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out Wednesday evenings
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