Реклама в Интернет * Все Кулички

Rambler's Top100

22 мая 2002 года. 
Kasparaitis happy with physical play

Matchup of NHL's top heavyweights involves some very heavy hitting

By Jim Benton and Randy Holtz, News Staff Writers

Colorado defenseman Darius Kasparaitis played the kind of physical hockey game he loves during a 4-3 overtime victory against Detroit on Monday night at Joe Louis Arena.

It was one of the most physical games he has played since joining the Avalanche in March.

And the Red Wings noticed.

All the action in the game wasn't over when Chris Drury scored at 2:17 of overtime.

Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios jumped Kasparaitis after Drury scored, and the two tried to rough up each other before officials could usher the players off the ice.

Chelios received a two-minute cross-checking penalty and a 10-minute misconduct and Kasparaitis was assessed an elbowing penalty.

Kasparaitis had a light-hearted explanation for what happened.

"I was celebrating, and I think I bumped into (Jiri) Fisher when I was going toward Chris Drury in the corner when he scored the goal," Kasparaitis said. "I think Chris saw that, and he just came after me. It's emotions. Nothing really happened."

"I was celebrating too much. You still have to respect the other team. They lost, but I have to respect them. I told him, 'I'm sorry. I won't do it again.' He told me, 'OK.' We didn't shake hands, but maybe the next time we'll do that."

Kasparaitis figures the disagreement won't carry over to Game 3 tonight at the Pepsi Center.

"Both teams have great power plays," he said. "I don't think we are going to see any retaliation penalties.

"My job is to play hard. If I have a chance to hit one of the best players on that team, I have to finish my check. I cannot run around and make mistakes. I have to play disciplined and wait for my opportunities."

Igor still iffy -- Detroit veteran forward Igor Larianov, who has missed the Red Wings' past four games because of an unspecified leg injury, skated Tuesday afternoon at the Pepsi Center and generally looked good, but he remains questionable for Game 3.

"We have two days (off) in Denver after (tonight's) game, but this is the playoffs and you can't be holding a guy out now," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "We'll just have to see how he feels. He can't play if he doesn't feel up to it."

Bowman said a return by Larianov would help the Red Wings' power play and allow Detroit to give more rest to veterans such as captain Steve Yzerman. Yzerman has battled various injuries all season and has been less than 100 percent in the playoffs.

Home ice no guarantee -- Bowman doesn't know why home ice has meant little throughout the playoffs this year, but he has researched it enough to know it has been little factor the past several years.

"The home team has won 56 percent of the games in these playoffs, and that's about the same as it's been the last 10 years or so," he said. "It seems to me when I first started coaching, home ice was a bigger factor. Now you can't just count on a win at home.

"I really don't know the reason for that because the crowds are noisier now than ever. They get whipped up with the music and all the other things. But it seems like now it only matters in certain situations. Certainly, it mattered for Colorado in Game 7 (against Los Angeles and San Jose). It's more pronounced in the seventh game. But the rest of the time, it doesn't seem like it's much of a factor."

Illustrating that point is the fact Detroit has gone 4-1 on the road and 5-3 at home in the playoffs this spring. The Avalanche has gone 4-4 in road games after splitting the first two games of this series in Detroit. Colorado, like Detroit, has gone 5-3 at home since the playoffs began.

Pretty assist -- Something that looked ugly at the start turned into a pretty assist for Martin Skoula on Monday night.

With Colorado pressing, Skoula got the puck away from Fisher and tried to direct a shot on net. The puck was heading wide of the net toward the left wing face-off circle, but it hit Peter Forsberg's skate and deflected into the net for the goal that gave Colorado a 2-1 lead at 7:33 of the second period.

"I didn't mean to pass it to the side of the net," Skoula said. "I meant to hit the net. The puck was spinning, and it went five feet past the net. Luckily, it worked out."

Ratings ploy -- In the first two games of the Western Conference finals, the Avalanche and Red Wings have combined for 15 goals.

And these were the top and third-best defensive teams in the league during the regular season.

Again, Kasparaitis had an answer for why there has been so much scoring.

"We're playing for the fans," he said. "We want to make the game interesting. We want to get our ratings higher than the NFL. That's why we are playing hockey like we are now. (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman called us and told us we have to increase our ratings. That's what we are doing."

Two of a kind -- Colorado's Joe Sakic and Detroit's Yzerman, Canadian Olympic teammates, both wear sweater No. 19, both are team captains, both are scorers who play solid defense and both are future Hall of Famers.

So naturally, Sakic often is compared to Yzerman.

"That's fine with me," Sakic said. "If you are going to be compared to something, he's the guy to be compared to."

Страничка Дариуса Каспарайтиса на сайте "Звёзды с Востока"

ПРЕССА

29 июля. «Рэйнджерс» отказались от идеи выкупа контракта Дариуса Каспарайтиса. 

4 декабря. Дариус Каспарайтис: "Мой любимый прием - "мельница" // "Советский Спорт"

23 октября. Хабибулин и Каспарайтис - в "Ак Барсе" - "Спорт-Экспресс"

20 августа. Дариус Каспарайтис: "Кубок Мира выиграет самая дружная команда" - Спорт-Экспресс.

24 декабря. Kaspar Puts On Big Hit - Newsday

4 декабря. Kasparaitis a Jolly Ranger - Newsday

20 августа. Каспарайтису прооперировано правое колено.

11 августа. Каспарайтис - Король силовых приемов - Советский Спорт

20 февраля. Дарюс забыл обиду

19 февраля. Sather Down on Darius

Загрузка...


"ЗВЁЗДЫ С ВОСТОКА" @ c 1997 года