Potvin regrets ‘low-life’ remark

Panthers broadcaster slammed Daniel Sedin

Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin is sorry for calling Canucks star Daniel Sedin a “low-life.”

“My choice of words at the conclusion of the Vancouver game on Monday should have been more appropriate,” the Florida Panthers broadcaster said in a statement Wednesday. “In the passion of the moment and under the circumstances of how the game ended, they came out wrong.”

Potvin, who wasn’t shy about throwing the odd, marginal hip check in his playing heyday with the New York Islanders, delivered the verbal broadside at the end of Monday’s 3-2 Canucks overtime win against the Panthers, when Sedin gestured to the Florida bench after scoring the winning goal. It came in response to goading by an unnamed Panthers player, and a brawl nearly ensued as players from both teams gathered by the Panthers’ bench at Rogers Arena.

Potvin, who won four Stanley Cups as the Islanders’ captain, also cracked: “The Sedins are pointing fingers now … normally they only use those fingers to lick the peanut butter off their bread.”

Sedin didn’t identify which player made the comments or what was said. He skated over toward Florida’s bench after celebrating with teammates, and when Derek Dorsett started shoving Panthers backup goaltender Al Montoya, tempers flared and almost every player and even coaches got involved.

There were no suspensions or fines to come out of the melee.

“It’s always great to see a team stick up for one another,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. “We forgot about it right away. It’s not a big deal. There were things said, we won the game, we moved on.” Washington coach Barry

Trotz watched the situation between the unfold on TV and figured it was sparked by opponents wanting to get into the Sedin brothers’ heads.

“In some ways that’s a backhanded compliment, I guess, from other teams that they want those guys off their game,” Trotz said. “They’re terrific players. They think the game at another level. They’ve been productive players for a long, long time. It’s a compliment that teams try to get them off their game.” HIGGINS DEMOTED: Chris Higgins is Uticabound, the Vancouver Canucks announced Wednesday. The 32-year-old veteran winger cleared waivers and has been reassigned to the American Hockey League’s Comets.

Higgins has been injured most of this season and his production has suffered. He had just two goals and three points in 25 games with the Canucks this season and was minus-12. KASSIAN, HODGSON ON MOVE AGAIN: Nashville Predators forward Cody Hodgson is running out of second chances and Zack Kassian is getting another NHL shot, this time in Edmonton.

The former Vancouver Canucks and first-round NHL draft choices, traded for each other on NHL trade deadline day in 2012, were heading in different directions Wednesday. Kassian, who came to the Canucks from the Buffalo Sabres four years ago, got called up to the Oilers from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. And Hodgson, who went to the Sabres in that trade, was reportedly placed on waivers by the Preds.

Hodgson has just three goals and eight points in 39 games, and was a healthy scratch in four of Nashville’s past eight games. For Kassian, his NHL promotion comes a little over two weeks after the Oilers acquired the rugged winger in a trade with Montreal. That deal was made shortly after Kassian was cleared to play after spending more than two months in a substance abuse program.