Tucker Leaves Ice on Backboard; Avs Win
By Matt Lovato | October 24, 2009
DENVER (AP) -After watching injured teammate Darcy Tucker taken off the ice on a backboard, Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski scored goals in quick succession and the Colorado Avalanche went on to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Friday night.
Tucker was checked into the boards by Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu as he tried to play the puck in the Hurricanes’ end at 14:34 of the second period.
Tucker’s face hit the glass hard and he fell to the ice on his back unconscious. He lay motionless for several minutes as Avalanche doctors and trainers attended to him, bringing a hush to both benches and the crowd.
Medical personnel applied a neck brace before strapping the forward to a backboard. Tucker appeared to regain consciousness as he was moved off the ice.
There was no immediate word on the nature of his injury. The team said Tucker was alert and taken to the hospital for further treatment and evaluation.
Ruutu was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct, and Hejduk scored on the subsequent power play, converting a feed from Paul Stasny to put the Avalanche up 3-2 at 10 minutes of the second period.
Forty seconds later, Wolski scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season, one-timing a shot off a pass behind the net from Chris Stewart.
Carolina, trying for its first win in five road games, pulled within one on Matt Cullen’s goal at 16:15 of the second period and was in position to tie it early in the third period when Ray Whitney was awarded a penalty shot after David Jones interfered with his path to the net from behind. Whitney rushed up to net and let loose a shot from up close that goalie Craig Anderson blocked by getting his stick out front and dropping to his knees.
Anderson had 32 saves on the night while making his 10th consecutive start to open the season, a franchise record. He had his seventh win this month, tying the team record for most wins in October.
The teams traded goals in the third period, with Paul Stastny scoring his second goal of the night with Colorado on a 5-on-3 power play. He beat goalie Cam Ward after getting a pass across the crease from Hejduk. Carolina again came back within when Whitney broke through for a goal at 8:40 of the third.
Carolina took a 2-0 lead on Joe Corvo’s first-goal of the season, a power-play score 3:16 into the game, followed just over two minutes later by Ruutu’s second of the campaign.
Colorado tied it later in the first with a pair of goals scored 31 seconds apart.
Rookie Ryan O’Reilly scored his second goal of the season at 16:16 of the period. Stastny’s first goal of the night came at 16:47, with an assist from Ryan Wilson, who had his first NHL point.
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