Torts & Co. get vote of confidence from Cpt. Hank
WINNIPEG — As captain of the Vancouver Canucks, Henrik Sedin does a lot of media work and says a lot of things on a variety of topics.
He is honest and well- respected and hardly ever controversial. In short, a consummate team man.
So here’s what the straight- shooter had to offer when asked if Wednesday’s no- quit effort against the Winnipeg Jets — a 3- 2 come- from- behind shootout win — was an indication the players were still listening to head coach John Tortorella:
“We love playing for these coaches, that’s the bottom line,” said Henrik.
“I mean, they put in a system where we know we can win each and every game. What’s been missing this year, so far, has been us making mistakes and it’s cost us. I think that has been our biggest problem. We have a lot of guys in here who care extremely much about this team.”
Henrik’s endorsement may mean little to Canucks’ ownership and management if they have already decided to make Tortorella the fall guy. GM Mike Gillis, in listing reasons for the team’s second- half swoon, brought up “an incident in January that was hard to describe” during his scrum Wednesday with reporters in Florida. The incident, of course, was Tortorella’s attempt to storm the Calgary Flames’ dressing room on Jan. 18 to confront coach Bob Hartley.
The Canucks were already in the throes of their stupendous slump — one win in nine games prior to Tortsgate — but the apparent feeling from management was the incident only exacerbated matters.
The players, however, insist they haven’t packed it in. Aside from the one horrendous seven- goal thirdperiod on Monday against the lightweight New York Islanders, they have performed reasonably well in their last three outings, two of them wins. They’ll get a chance to make it threeoutof- four tonight when they play the Capitals in Washington.
“I think we know what we have in this locker- room and we’re all proud and competitive guys,” said winger Chris Higgins. “We still feel like we’re in it. We know we have to put together a pretty good record but we want to play. We don’t want to be done. We want to extend the season. We want to give ourselves a chance. If we keep playing with the same effort, I think some good things are going to start to come.”
Assistant GM Laurence Gilman is travelling with the team and, before leaving for the airport Thursday, said he was pleased the players were able to overcome the Islanders debacle, ignore the noise surrounding Tortorella’s future and perform with the appropriate spirit. “Our players have a strong will to win and they clearly believe in themselves,” noted Gilman.
“Obviously, Wednesday’s game was one we needed to win. They showed up and played hard from the outset and we expect we’re going to play every game down the stretch in the same manner. I would use the word ‘ debacle’ to describe what occurred Monday but it’s one game and, in this business, you have to put those kinds of games behind you and show up for the next one. In this case, we got the win and now we move on to Washington.”
They’ll be moving on to Washington, and Florida and Tampa after that, without centre Ryan Kesler, who suffered a knee injury in the Jets’ game when hit by Jim Slater late in the second period. If Kesler’s right knee is sprained and it’s a four- to six- week recovery period, he’ll be lost for the remainder of the regular season — and perhaps his career as a Canuck if he is traded in the off- season.
The only hint that it’s likely a serious injury came from Tortorella postgame. His standard response all season on injuries has been: “I haven’t talked to the trainers yet” or “it’s daytoday” and he said neither. Instead, it was: “He’s out for a while.”
Gilman avoided the topic. “I’m not going to comment on the state of Ryan Kesler’s injury,” he said bluntly. Kesler was spotted Wednesday on a flight to Vancouver wearing a brace on his right knee — but was without crutches.
Gilman also said the Canucks have no plans to summon a replacement from the Utica Comets, who happen to be in Abbotsford this weekend to meet the Heat in a weekend doubleheader.
Zac Dalpe was a healthy scratch against the Jets and can fill a centre spot in the bottom six, while newcomer Shawn Matthias takes Kesler’s spot in the top six.
As well, right- winger Zack Kassian has served his three- game suspension for his hit- from- behind last Thursday against Dallas Stars defenceman Brenden Dillon.