Sport-scan daily brief

Schroeder, a centre, suffered a hairline fracture in his foot stepping in front of an Edmonton Oiler shot in a Sept. 21 preseason game. There’s no word on when he might be back.

Burrows, a winger, was hurt Thursday in the regular season opener versus the San Jose Sharks, seemingly while diving to knock down a shot with San Jose on a two-man power play in the second period. He finished the game, playing 11 minutes, 18 seconds, but he didn’t skate Friday at practice and there were reports Saturday that he was spotted wearing a walking cast on his right foot.

Tortorella wouldn’t elaborate on the injury, only saying that Burrows would miss a “couple of weeks.”

“I don’t think we need to give out that information,” said Tortorella. “So that’s where we’re going to leave it for right now.”

When Burrows was the one noted absence on Friday, Tortorella called it a “body maintenance day,” and said that he thought he’d be ready to go Saturday, although he also admitted he needed to speak with team medical staff. Suspended winger Zack Kassian skated with Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Burrows’ usual top-line spot, on Friday, and it’s safe to suggest that Tortorella would have used someone eligible to play in that spot if he was certain that Burrows would be sidelined.

Vancouver’s morning skate Saturday was an optional, so there were no hints then about their line-up against Edmonton.

Tortorella would say that Vancouver hadn’t called up another forward for the game against the Oilers in Saturday’s home opener, meaning that they would dress seven defencemen instead.

He wouldn’t divulge who would line up with the Sedins. David Booth skated there some in the third period against San Jose and Jannik Hansen has been used there in the past.

“We’re used to switching around the lines,” said Hansen. “We’ve been doing that for a long time here.”

It’s hard to guess what move the Canucks might make on the roster. Centre Zach Hamill was recalled from AHL’s Utica Comets when Kassian and fellow winger Dale Weise were suspended after that Sept. 21 Oiler game. Hamill was shipped back a few days later.

Kassian is suspended for three more games after Saturday night.

Burrows’ biggest loss could be on the penalty kill. Among returning forwards, he was second in ice time with the man short last season, at 2:01 per game. Only Hansen, at 2:10, was greater.

Some of that could go to the Sedins, who are getting a chance to penalty kill under Tortorella after not being used in that capacity by former bench boss Alain Vigneault.

Burrows in the line-up has been a constant during his time in Vancouver. Over the previous seven seasons, he’s missed a mere 14 games.

“He brings a lot of energy and can do a lot of good things on the ice,” said defenceman Jason Garrison. “He brings a lot of different aspects. But we’ve got guys who want to play his role. Hopefully they can step up and do it.”

Weise added: “He’s kind of been the straw that stirs the drink for us up front. He helps the twins. He PKs. He’s a huge leader for us.”

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 10.06.2013

719886 Vancouver Canucks

Canucks preview: Down goes Burrows, Down goes Burrows

October 5, 2013. 11:45 am

Posted by:

Jason Botchford

It’s the home opener for John Tortorella’s re-imagined Vancouver Canucks.

After looking overmatched in 4-1 loss to San Jose, the Canucks are out to show that was more about how stacked the Sharks, rather than their own inadequacies.

The Canuucks were nothing if not entertaining versus San Jose, sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Without question, they are still struggling with Tortorella’s new systems and demands to be aggressive, especially when they are under stress.

“We’re confident we can learn this style and excel at it,” Kevin Bieksa said.

“If it’s difficult (learning it) or not, that’s what we’re faced with.

“You can’t think it will be perfected in the first week of the season. It’s going to take some time. We showed some good strides.

“We were happy with the way we played at times. Other times, we’d like to play differently.

“We understand where we want to be, but I think at different times in the game, you’re tired, you’re at the end of a shift, maybe you took a puck off your foot an you’re hurt. When you’re not thinking clearly, you revert to old habits.

“That’s going to take some time to get it where it’s second nature.”

The Canucks main story: Down goes Burrows.

The Canucks will be trying to win this one without Alex Burrows who blocked a shot with his leg during a Sharks two-man advantage Thursday.

Burrows could be out a couple of weeks.

Along with Jordan Schroeder, that’s two Canucks lost to blocking a shots.

That’s just one game in to the Tortorella era.

The lineup: Without a callup and with Zack Kassian suspended, the Canucks likely will play a defenceman on their fourth line.

It probably makes sense to bump David Booth up with the Sedins, and Dale Weise to the third line.

The Oilers main story: After a preseason game in which Zack Kassian’s stick broke Sam Gagner’s jaw and Dale Weise hit Taylor Hall with his elbow, the Oilers vowed retribution.

The Oilers quickly claimed super heavyweight Steve MacIntyre, seemingly in preparation games like this.

Ben Eager then essentially threatened the Canucks skilled players.

But Eager was put on waivers and MacIntyre was injured.

Edmonton head coach Dallas Eakins has been saying the page was turned when the league handled it. Weise and Kassian were suspended and Eakins said that negated any desire for retribution.

We’ll see.

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 10.06.2013

719887 Vancouver Canucks

Alex Burrows will be sidelined for a “couple of weeks,” with shot-block injury, according to Tortorella

October 5, 2013. 11:07

Posted by:

Steve Ewen

Alex Burrows’ “body maintenance day,” is turning into a week or two apparently.

Burrows, who seemed Friday to be getting practice off to rest up, is “going to be out for a couple of weeks,” Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella admitted Saturday. Burrows suffered a shot-block injury against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Vancouver plays their home opener against the Edmonton Oilers tonight. Tortorella wouldn’t say who was coming into the line-up. With Zack Kassian suspended, Tortorella doesn’t have an extra forward to play, so he’ll use seven defencemen.

He admitted that Burrows was hurt blocking a shot on 5-on-3 penalty kill against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, but he wasn’t keen on elaborating. Global TV’s Squire Barnes reported Friday that Burrows had been spotted at the rink in a walking cast.

Much has been made about Tortorella expecting the Canucks to block more shots this season, and centre Jordan Schroeder is already out with a hairline fracture in his foot from such a play.

“I know you are probably going to ask about 15 questions about shot blocking,” Tortorella said. “Alex Burrows made the right play and if he doesn’t make that play, he’d probably never play a 5-on-3 again here. So don’t turn it into that. It was the right play to be made, and injuries happen in a lot of different ways, so we’ll continue to try to play defense – not just shot block.”

Vancouver Province: LOADED: 10.06.2013

719888 Vancouver Canucks

Sedins help Canucks rebound with convincing win over Oilers

DAVID EBNER

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Sunday, Oct. 06 2013, 12:53 AM EDT

Last updated Sunday, Oct. 06 2013, 1:11 AM EDT

For a moment, it looked ugly for the home side. Edmonton Oilers defenceman Jeff Petry, early on Saturday night, drove into the Vancouver Canucks end, powered past Alex Edler, and whipped a puck at Roberto Luongo. The shot, seemingly harmless, zipped right through the goaltender’s five hole: 1-0 visitors, not even two minutes in.

The veteran Canucks, facing a potential piling-on from the upstart Oilers, quickly reassembled themselves, piling back themselves, wresting the nascent momentum and holding it tight on the way to a rout. A short-handed goal minutes later, by Brad Richardson on a breakaway, sparked the push and by the end of the first period the Canucks were up 3-1 and had 22 shots – as many in 20 minutes as the Canucks managed all game during their season-opening loss in San Jose.

Saturday was an evening where everything that went wrong for the Vancouver Canucks last year went right – and, likewise, everything that went wrong for the Edmonton Oilers last year went, again, wrong. The final tally was 6-2 Canucks, evening up the team’s record at 1-1 as Vancouver jets to Calgary for a Sunday tilt, while the Oilers are, again, in a familiar position, struggling, 0-2 and last place in their division.

"We just stayed on them," said Luongo after the game. "It was pretty to watch."

The Canucks did what they did not do against the Sharks – stealing back momentum when they had lost it, and never letting go, and it showed on the forecheck, banging for pucks, and the same along the boards up and down the ice. At night’s end the team had tallied 74 pucks at the net (44 shots on goal), a peppering that was hardly ever seen last season when Vancouver was among the teams that struggled to get pucks on the net, at even-strength and on the power play. Remedying that impotency has been a primary focus in the past three weeks -- and Saturday, at least for one night, it clicked.

“Winning and losing in this league comes on surges,” said coach John Tortorella before the game, “how to keep the surges on your side and when they’re not on your side how to get them back.”

For Edmonton, the start of the season – even if it’s just two games in – has to be disheartening. They do not in any way appear ready for prime time.

"We can't be losing one game after the other," said Oilers defenceman Ladislav Smid. "We all have to wake up."

The team on Tuesday night blew a 4-2 lead at home against the Winnipeg Jets and the three days off didn’t seem to give the team any sort of jet-fuel boost, as players such as Taylor Hall seemed to float around the ice without much of an impact. Hall was minus-four and in the second period his sloppy boarding penalty led to a Vancouver goal. In another example, Nail Yakupov – who didn’t deliver himself or anyone a birthday present, as the second-year forward turns 20 on Sunday – managed one shot. The team as a whole could only generate about half the shots the Canucks recorded.

“This is the time of year you want to get a jump,” said Edmonton winger Mike Brown before the game.

Most obviously concerning for a team that has missed the playoffs seven consecutive years is the situation in net. Devan Dubnyk gave up five goals on 28 shots against Winnipeg and against Vancouver was driven from the net, yanked about midway through the game, giving up another five goals on 31 shots – and did not look good at any point.

Late in the first, with the game tied at one, he yielded a bad one, as Vancouver defenceman Dan Hamhuis, barely in the offensive zone, clapped a slapper, which was slightly deflected, but Dubnyk had a good long look at it and the puck beat him blocker side anyway.

Eighteen seconds later, he didn’t have much chance. A Canucks tic-tac-toe produced another fast goal as the team pushed relentlessly, Henrik Sedin feeding his brother Daniel in front, who immediately popped it back to Jannik Hansen, whose one-timer easily beat Dubnyk.

For the Sedins, it was a sterling night, a throwback to the recent years in which they were dominant. The two ended the night with five points – one goals and four assists, and their power-play marker about seven minutes into the second was particularly beautiful, old-school Sedinery. A puck popped out to Henrik in the faceoff circle, off a rebound, and he sent a no-look backhand pass to his brother in the other circle and the one-timer, Dubnyk with little hope, lit the red light.

Luongo, meanwhile, was a non-story Saturday in his official return to Rogers Arena. The first goal came on the first shot but he was thereafter steady in the face of not-much pressure. He had a bit of luck, too, such as early in the third when Edmonton defenceman Justin Schultz beat him high on the blocker side but the puck clipped the post.

The Oilers, coached by rookie skip Dallas Eakins, will have a lot to think about and, at least, they can take some solace that on Monday, when they take on New Jersey back in Edmonton, they’ll have Ryan Nugent-Hopkins back from injury. He skated on Saturday before the Canucks and seems poised for his return.

Saturday night ended, for Edmonton, in potent imagery. Near the conclusion of a power play late in the game, the Oilers had pulled their goalie, and Vancouver’s Jason Garrison popped a puck down the ice, off the boards. It slowly slid towards the empty net. Schultz rushed back after it but could not reach it, the puck sliding in, the red light going on, again, and Schultz sliding into the net too, looking helpless, defeated.

Globe And Mail LOADED: 10.06.2013

719889 Vancouver Canucks

Tortorella defends strategy after Burrows becomes second Canuck lost to shot-blocking injury

DAVID EBNER

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Saturday, Oct. 05 2013, 2:42 PM EDT

Last updated Saturday, Oct. 05 2013, 4:35 PM EDT

Alex Burrows will be out for a couple weeks, after he was injured blocking a shot on opening night, the second Vancouver Canucks forward to be lost to such an ailment in the past month.

It is not even the second game of the year and Vancouver, for various reasons, is already dealing with significant holes in their lineup. Burrows, alongside the suspended Zack Kassian, marks the second top-six forward to be lost.

Burrows dove to block a slap shot on Thursday night in San Jose when the Sharks, in the second period, were on a five-on-three. He limped off the ice and on Friday there was the suggestion he could play for the Canucks Saturday in the home opener against the Edmonton Oilers but on Saturday morning coach John Tortorella announced the winger was out.

In the preseason, centre Jordan Schroeder was also injured blocking a shot, a hairline fracture in his foot. Burrows’s exact injury was not disclosed but he was seen at Rogers Arena in a plastic walking boot on his right foot.

To see two players go down blocking shots, as Tortorella aims to install such a regime in Vancouver when it was mostly absent in recent years, obviously stokes the question of whether the injuries were unnecessary. However, Tortorella insisted such a view is a red herring and that Burrows’s move on the five-on-three was an essential part of killing two-man disadvantages.

“You’re probably going to ask about 15 questions about shot blocking,” said Tortorella Saturday morning. “Alex Burrows made the right play and if he doesn’t make that play, we probably never kill another five-on-three here. Don’t turn it into that. It was the right play to be made. Injuries happen in a lot of different ways. So we’ll continue to try to play defence – not just shot blocking, play defence – the way you’re supposed to.”

The team will dress only 11 forwards, as the Canucks chose not to recall a player from the minors. Seven defenceman will dress. The injury will probably push Tortorella to relay at least somewhat more on his fourth line, which barely played during Thursday’s loss, some three minutes.

Saturday morning’s game-day skate was optional and Tortorella declined to say who would play with the Sedin twins, in Burrows’s absence. Winger David Booth, who played several shifts with the Sedins in the third period on Thursday, is an option.

Both the Canucks and Oilers enter Saturday night at 0-1, with pressure to avoid starting the year with two losses. Tortorella was asked if there would be some bad blood between the teams, after Kassian broke the jaw of Edmonton’s Sam Gagner in the pre-season with a wild high stick. Tortorella insisted the focus was on the game.

“The other stuff, I’m not even going to get involved with,” he said. “We’re going to try to play the right way and try to win.”

Globe And Mail LOADED: 10.06.2013