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Sunday » November 23 » 2008
Naslund's night of frustration
Falling behind early and 'bad mistakes' rankle
Ben Kuzma
The Province
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Markus Naslund (left) puts the arm on the Canucks' Alex Burrows on Wednesday night at New York's Madison Square Garden. Burrows' assignment was to try to get Naslund off his game.
NEW YORK -- Markus Naslund had enough to worry about Wednesday without having a burr in his side.
In facing his former teammates for the first time after playing 884 games for the Canucks -- and then signing a two-year, $8-million US deal on July 3 -- the former Vancouver captain was held to one assist as the New York Rangers fell 6-3 at Madison Square Garden.
Naslund was also in the crosshairs of the agitating Alex Burrows, who scored twice and got under Naslund's skin, too.
As he was falling to the ice after checking the Rangers winger in the opening period, Burrows got a little shot to the head from Naslund.
"He's just always a little rat," joked Naslund.
"He's whining. But he played well and he looks like he's taken another step. He looks more confident with the puck."
Burrows has always been confident with his gift of gab and occasional jab, even though he said he didn't do any jawing with Naslund.
"I didn't say anything," he pleaded.
"I have too much respect for him. He gave me a little one [punch] because I know that Nazzy doesn't like to play when he's angry. That's not his game.
"That's my job out there and [to] make sure he's off his game. If I do that, we have a better chance to win."
A frustrated Naslund didn't have a shot through two periods, but threaded a neat cross-ice feed to Ryan Callahan in the third to close the gap to 5-3.
Naslund logged 22:44, had three shots and even delivered three hits.
"It was not as bad as I expected," Naslund said of facing his old club.
"It was tough the way we came out and I wanted to win the game -- there's no doubt about that. For us to be down that quickly with bad mistakes is frustrating. It has caught up to us and we haven't played well early."
The Rangers held a closed-door meeting to address their slow starts, but they're still 8-3-2 when the opposition scores first because of their high-powered offence.
"We have to wake up as a team and play more with more urgency early," added Naslund, who is second in Ranger scoring with 15 points (6-9). "We've been down just about every game and found a way to come back. But down 5-1, it's too tough."
It was vintage Naslund on the Callahan goal. From the left boards, he fired a laser cross-ice pass that seemed to catch Luongo a little off guard.
"I saw the other guy open there on the top, so I was expecting him [Naslund] to give it there," said Luongo. "I was kind of caught by surprise that he fed it right through me to the crease. I still got a piece of it, but not enough."
Aside from trying to get to Naslund, Burrows saw a lot of jump in his former teammate. "I thought he hung on to the puck and made some plays and was working real hard," said Burrows. "He wanted to make a difference, but we played pretty solid against him and we were in his face all night."
Naslund got a call from former linemate Brendan Morrison to prepare to face his former club. Morrison has done that this season with the Anaheim Ducks. Naslund also seemed surprised when informed by the media that the Canucks are considering retiring his jersey.
"It's the greatest honour you can get," said Naslund. "It nice to hear, but we'll see what happens."
bkuzma@theprovince.com
© The Vancouver Province 2008
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