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Avs beat Kings; Smyth, Svatos hurt

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 1, 2008 at 9:45 p.m.

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Colorado Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore stops a shot off the stick of Los Angeles Kings winger Scott Thornton, left, as Kings winger Jeff Giuliano comes in to cover in the second period Saturday night.

Photo by David Zalubowski, Associated Press

Colorado Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore stops a shot off the stick of Los Angeles Kings winger Scott Thornton, left, as Kings winger Jeff Giuliano comes in to cover in the second period Saturday night.

Colorado Avalanche left winger Ryan Smyth is attended to by head trainer Matt Sokolowski after Smyth was hurt when hit by a player form the Los Angeles Kings late in the second period of Saturday's game

Photo by Associated Press

Colorado Avalanche left winger Ryan Smyth is attended to by head trainer Matt Sokolowski after Smyth was hurt when hit by a player form the Los Angeles Kings late in the second period of Saturday's game

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The Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 Saturday night at the Pepsi Center, but might have lost valuable forwards Ryan Smyth and Marek Svatos to significant injuries.

Smyth, who scored two goals, was immobilized and taken off the ice on a stretcher with 28.5 seconds left in the second period after a hit from Kings rookie defenseman Jack Johnson.

The encouraging news is that Smyth was able to walk out of the arena on the way to the hospital for observation.

“I saw him walking around, so that’s great,” Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote said. “When you see a guy come off and walk around like that, it’s nice to see.”

Svatos, who leads the Avalanche with 26 goals, suffered a left knee injury and didn’t return after a check in the corner by the Kings’ Jon Klemm at 10:33 of the second period.

Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville is obviously concerned about the injuries but said neither was the result of a dirty hit.

“His head hit the turnbuckle,” Quenneville said of Smyth.

Smyth was carrying the puck across the Kings blue line near the left-wing boards when Johnson drove him into the glass with his shoulder. Smyth’s head hit the glass and his helmet sailed off. He landed on his back, and the back of his head slammed on the ice.

“It wasn’t a dirty hit,” Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. “(Smyth) hit the corner of the glass and that’s a dangerous spot. It’s just unfortunate where it was.

“It’s going to be tough if you lose these guys, but we’ve been dealing with injuries all year. You’ve got to fight through it. You’ve got to persevere.”

Play continued as Smyth lay motionless and defenseman Ruslan Salei, who set up Smyth’s first goal at 4:56 of the second period, fired a shot from the left point that found the top right corner of Kings goalie Dan Cloutier’s net for a 3-1 Avalanche lead.

“It’s just unfortunate that (Smyth) hit the turnbuckle,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone out there. Obviously I feel bad. I just hope he’s OK and can get back to his (Stanley) Cup run.”

The injuries overshadowed the home debuts of Salei and Foote, who were acquired Tuesday from Florida and Columbus, respectively.

Salei, who set up Sakic’s tying goal in the final seconds of regulation Wednesday in Vancouver, played 19:52, delivered four hits and was a plus-3.

“It’s a new page for me, a new team,” Salei said. “You can say it’s like a new beginning for me. It’s like a different page.”

Foote logged 21:35 of ice time and picked up an assist in his third game since the trade and was given a standing ovation during a television timeout in the first period when highlights of his previous stint with the Avalanche were shown on the video boards.

Foote responded by rising from the bench to wave his stick.

“It was great, great by the fans,” Foote said. “It felt good and it’s great to be back.”

Sakic, playing at home for the first time since Nov. 28, scored from the right circle at 5:31 of the third period to give the Avalanche a 4-1 lead. Sakic missed 38 games after suffering a groin injury and undergoing hernia surgery.

Andrew Brunette finished off the Kings with an empty-net goal with 49.2 seconds left in the game.

The Kings took a 1-0 lead at 3:37 of the second period on a power-play goal by Mike Cammalleri and the Avalanche answered with three goals in a span of 5:37.

Smyth deflected Salei’s shot behind Cloutier at 4:56 to tie the game and put the Avalanche ahead at 6:46 when his shot hit defenseman Rob Blake’s left skate and caromed into the net.

Early in the third period, the Avalanche’s Ian Laperriere tried to fight Johnson, but Blake quickly came between them. Laperriere and Blake are friends and were teammates in Los Angeles and in Colorado.

All three players were assessed penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, even though Blake actually was playing the part of peacemaker.

Many in the sellout crowd of 18,007 had chanted “We want Parker,” referring to Avalanche enforcer Scott Parker.

“ ‘Blakie’ is such a great leader, a great veteran,” Laperriere said. “He knew exactly where I was coming from. It doesn’t matter if (the check) was clean or it’s not clean. It’s a big hit on one of our big players and he got injured and somebody had to do something and I felt like it was me. ‘Blakie’ felt he had to defend his young future, I guess. He told me, ‘I won’t let you fight him.’ ”

Blake, who scored at 9:13 of the third period, said he understood where Laperriere was coming from.

“I think we need to step in in situations like that,” Blake said. “ ‘Lappy’ and I are good friends, and I know he was doing his job. I just said that I didn’t want him to fight Jack. He’s a young guy and he’s learning this league. I didn’t think he did anything terribly wrong. The result was just unfortunate.”

FORSBERG ON HOLD: Peter Forsberg took part in an optional skate with a handful of teammates Saturday morning and said he would need to get in some full practice time before playing in a game.

Forsberg will skate again Sunday following the Avalanche’s annual charity brunch.

The Avalanche, which plays Tuesday against Vancouver, doesn’t practice until Monday.

“I don't know when I'm going to play,” Forsberg said. “We want to take our time and make sure I'm ready to go. I don't want to come back too early. I think I need a couple good practices before I can go out and play. This is not a beer league; it's the toughest league you can play in.

“You can't jump in and think you can go out and dominate. I need a few practices. I'm not going to come back until I'm ready to come back. How long it's going to take, we don't know yet.”

ETC.: Avalanche defenseman Jordan Leopold set a career high for assists with three and tied his career high for points with three. After playing just six minutes Wednesday in Vancouver, Leopold logged 13:47 in ice time against the Kings and was a plus-3 … The Avalanche went 0-for-2 on power plays and is in a 3-for-44 slump in a 10-game span … Left wing Wojtek Wolski was scratched for the second game in a row and third time in the past five games … Center Jaroslav Hlinka was scratched for the sixth consecutive game ... The Avalanche had gone 0-3-1 in its previous four home games and 1-5-1 in the previous seven at home.

Comments

  • March 2, 2008

    7:35 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    coloradoWINGSFAN writes:

    What goes around comes around. Rob Blake had to restrain Lapperriere the Goon from going after one of The Kings top players in retaliation. Too bad for Smyth, I admire him, but now the 'lanche get to taste some of their own medicine. Here's their chance to miss the playoffs.

  • March 2, 2008

    7:48 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Common_Sense writes:

    Wingsfan, your team wouldn't have 90 points if they played in this division because their a bunch of lillies and they will be exposed come playoff time. Do us a favor and move back to Detroit with the rest of the chickenchokers. Suckinger.

  • March 2, 2008

    9:39 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    farsidefan writes:

    The check on Smith was legal, just very bad place for it to happen. Quenneville was not upset on the bench and later said it was a clean hit. The check was similiar to the one Claude laid on Draper, except no blood.
    I see where the Wings brought back McC the Goon.
    Take your sanctimonious BS and go home to the great skiing,fishing, hiking,clean air and crime free Detroit WINGSFAN.

  • March 2, 2008

    10 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    truefan writes:

    By “goon” do you mean Ian Laperriere (please note the correct spelling) who was born in 1974, played in 910 NHL games with 111 goals and 183 assists making $1million plus, or by “goon” do you mean Aaron Downey who was born in 1974, played in 225 NHL games with 7 goals and 7 assists making league minimum – whom I’m sure you had no problem taking a run at Laperriere after his clean hit on Lidstrom. (Do you even know who Aaron Downey is?)

    How many games, exactly, have you seen in Joe Lewis arena wingsfan? More importantly, how many times have you ridden the bandwagon? Let me guess, you love the Giants and have been a Red Sox fan your entire life…

  • March 2, 2008

    10:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    bluesman writes:

    To the ignorant Wingsfan: Laperriere's hit on Lidstrom was a direct face-to-face check. A clean hit in any hockey person's mind. The only argument that can be made about that hit being at worst borderline is that Laperriere's elbow might have been a little high. It looked like it caught Lidstrom in the neck area but not in the face. If Lidstrom is not supposed to be hit at all for any reason (he's an elite player--Wings fans and players most popular response)then they should put a dress on him and ship him off to a Disney Christmas on Ice show. This is the NHL. Now compare that hit to Johnson's hit on Smyth: Johnson hit Smyth 80% from behind and 20% from the side. Johnson knew where he was on the ice---this was not his first game of organized hockey. I do not buy into the theory that this was a clean hit. He knew where he was and rammed Smyth into the area at the end of the bench. It should have been a 5 minute boarding penalty and ejection. It was an irresponsible hit at best and a cheap shot with an injury the only likely result at worst. (and I regard this as the latter). I am surprised at the Avs players and coaches reactions calling this a clean play. IF Johnson had been skating perpendicular to Smyth--let's say directly along the blue line and the collision carried Smyth into the corner of the boards\glass--I could buy into the clean hit theory. BUT--JOHNSON HIT HIM MOSTLY FROM BEHIND along the bench area. He had to know that the only result would be Smyth being sent into that no man's land at the edge of the bench. Also the hit on Svatos was a cross check FROM BEHIND running Svatos into the boards. How coach Q can call that hit clean is beyond me.
    The NHL channel last night called it a cheap hit that should result in a suspension. This is an unbiased reaction from a national broadcaster. IF the Avs continue to let players on the other team run their players into the boards recklessly from BEHIND, causing injuries, without retaliation--you can kiss the playoffs goodbye. At some point you have to stand up for the safety and well being of your own players. I'm not talking about the grossly cheap way Bertuzzi went about it--but messages need to be sent. Laperriere tried and Blake (as he should have) got in the way. Jones tried to cleanly go after Johnson with hard and legal checks later in the game and gained my respect, BUT more needed to be done and said.

  • March 2, 2008

    10:26 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    bluesman writes:

    I was trying to come up with an analogy to another sport for the Johnson-Smyth hit and best I could come up with was a baseball analogy. (but this admittedly is not a totally perfect analogy).
    Let's say a guy hits a ground ball to the shortstop and it is going to be a close play at first. He puts his head down and runs hard down the line and his spikes come down on the firstbaseman's foot on the inside of the bag and spikes the first baseman causing an injury. Then the batter\runner says: "Geez--I knew it was going to be a close play and I had my head down and was just running as hard as I could and unfortunately I spiked the guy. I didn't mean to hurt him." Well---the batter\runner had to know where he was on the field. He had played baseball his whole life and had to know where he was at and that in that instance you run to the outside of first base and leave the inside of the base to the firstbaseman so there is not an injury. Just like Johnson HAD to know where he and Smyth were on the ice. They were not in the open ice, they were not in the corner---Smyth was skating along the boards by the players bench and Johnson hit him from behind in that area. It was grossly irresponsible with an injury the only likely outcome. He should be suspended.

  • March 2, 2008

    11:35 a.m.

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    fr8 writes:

    You must have missed Frolov getting slammed into the same turnbuckle in the first period. I believe it was Ian that made that hit.

    You also probably don't remember Smyth taking a cheap poke at Labarbera after he had covered the puck. The resulting injury kept Labarbera out of the line up for most of December.

    It was a good hit. The players are moving so fast that a fraction of a second later he wouldn't have hit the turnbuckle. Good hit - bad location and it was clear that Johnson was upset by the result and didn't want to see Smyth hurt.

  • March 2, 2008

    12:28 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    52hockey writes:

    Marc Crawford sure is on the opposing bench when bad things happen to our players, isn't he?

  • March 2, 2008

    1:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    bluesman writes:

    Nice try fr8. Actually 1 out of 3 comments has some good merit to it. The fact that Johnson was genuinely remorseful speaks well for him. I also give Johnson major props for wanting to go with Laperriere and trying to get his shield off before Blake stepped in. Very admirable. (Especially compared to clowns like Kirk Maltby who will run somebody from behind into the glass or viciously slash somebody and then make a mad dash for the sanctity of his own bench and never back up his cheap shot actions---Johnson showed he is not that kind of man and good for him.)
    However fr8; trying to compare the Laperriere hit on Frolov with the Johnson\Smyth hit is ridiculous. I was at the game and I just went and rewatched the hit on tape and there are major differences. 1.Frolov was not moving at anything near full out speed like Smyth was. 2. Laperriere approached Frolov from a perpendicular path along the blue line--not from behind like Johnson. 3. Because of this, Frolov saw the hit coming all the way.
    His head was turned towards Laperriere for the Laperriere's last 3 strides. Give Laperriere credit--he does not run people from behind. Once again my big problem with Johnson's hit---IT WAS FROM BEHIND.

    As for the Smyth\Labarbera situation--I fuzzily remember it--but would have to see a tape to pass judgment. After you ridiculously comparing the two hits in last night's game--I cannot take your word for what happened. Smyth has been a class act for his entire career in the NHL--I have a hard time believing he would intentionally injure another player OR do anyting in an irresponsibe manner that would injure another player. His history suggests otherwise.
    Now that you have brought up the Smyth\Labarbera incident and knowing Marc Crawford's low life past--an eyebrow has been raised about this incident that I wasn't thinking about earlier.

  • March 3, 2008

    12:09 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    trekers writes:

    Don't go there 52hockey,bluesman & nospmisjo! Crawford & his years here were the best for the AVs; that's the Cup times, ask Hartley. Some of us still miss him & it hasn't had the same feel since he was encouraged & allowed to leave. Would like to have his brain behind our bench now.

  • March 3, 2008

    4:51 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    52hockey writes:

    Well trekers - maybe you should talk to Steve Moore about your high thoughts on Marc Crawford. I'm sure he'd love to hear them.

  • March 3, 2008

    8:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    COPPERFAN writes:

    Well Nordique Fans, sorry to see the former mullet go down, but hey, them's the breaks.
    Looks like Smytty is about to deliver as many cups to you as he did to us up here in the South Artic...zero.
    Better luck with your Swede.