Fans can't hurt Heatley

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San Jose Sharks' Dany Heatley is checked in front of Edmonton Oilers' Jeff Deslauriers by Ethan Moreau in first period action of the Edmonton Oilers vs the San Jose Sharks at Rexall place in Edmonton.

Photograph by : Edmonton Journal

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When the subject of "much ado about nothing" is mentioned, is there anything more feeble about the reception Dany Heatley was expected to receive last night from Edmonton fans on his first visit to the city since refusing to accept a trade there? Does anybody really think one of the NHL's highest-paid players cares? "There's nothing I can do about it," Heatley said. "I'm just going to go out there and play. You just deal with it. It's not the first time, it's not going to be the last time."

Wings continue scoring slump

Is there any end in sight to the problems the Detroit Red Wings have been having this season? On some nights, the goaltending has been poor. Furthermore, there has to be concern within the organization now that the offence has gone south. The Wings' 2-0 loss to the visiting Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday was their fourth consecutive loss at home. The Wings had 40 shots and 20 scoring chances. Over the last five games, the Wings have had 177 shots and all they have to show for it is five goals.

Ducks GM high on Carlyle

Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray, on being asked if coach Randy Carlyle's job is in jeopardy: "There's going to be a lot of players shipped out before the coach is. We have a damn good coach and he's proven he can coach in this league. It's about time some of these people prove that they're good hockey players."

Drury uncertain about head blow

The New York Rangers' Chris Drury is back in the lineup after suffering a concussion following a blindside blow to the head from Calgary's Curtis Glencross. On the other hand, Drury admits he didn't know who hit him at the time he was struck three weeks ago. "I thought I ran into my own guy because I knew I didn't have the puck or wasn't really near the puck," Drury explained. "It wasn't until I was talking to the guys and saw it on tape that I knew." Glencross was suspended three games for the attack.

Hurricanes set losing record

Here's one reason the Carolina Hurricanes, a team everyone expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup, are going into the weekend with the fewest points in the NHL. Their 3-2 loss in Anaheim on Wednesday was a franchise-record 12th. It also left the Hurricanes as the only team in the league that hasn't won on the road. They had dropped their first 11 away from home to start the 1981-82 season, when they were still the Hartford Whalers.

Quinn questions his players' IQ

Edmonton Oilers coach Pat Quinn hasn't lost his gift of the gab. After a onesided 5-2 loss to Chicago, he said: "We got beat in all the fundamentals of the game. We got outworked, outwilled and later on we got outskilled. We lay a game plan out and the players go where they want. They abandon it. Breakouts? The players think they're too skilled to get in the right spots. There is some intelligence needed in this game ... you need some IQ. We have some skill, but skill hasn't done squat for us yet."

Savard's return energizes Bruins

Marc Savard had zero goals and zero assists during 16:30 of ice time on his return to the Boston Bruins after missing 15 games with a broken foot. Still, he had an immediate effect. The Bruins' 4-2 victory in St. Louis was the first time they've won three in a row this season. (They won a fourth before yesterday's 2-1 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils.)

Panthers coach plays it cool

Florida Panthers coach Pete DeBoer has the right idea now that his team has climbed back into the race after finding itself in last place 10 games into the season. "I think the key to an NHL season is riding the tide of the highs and lows," he said. "In the first 10 games of the season I wasn't ready to jump off a bridge, and now I'm not ready to plan any parades."

Legwand does it the hard way

Nashville's veteran centre David Legwand became a first-time father at 5:30 p.m. last Saturday when his wife gave birth to a boy. The moment he was assured that all was well at the hospital, Legwand hopped into a taxi, arrived at the rink in time for warmups 45 minutes later and then scored a shorthanded goal and an assist during regulation - and the game-winning shootout goal in a 4-3 victory over Columbus. How's this for a feel-good story? All of which was a happy surprise to Preds coach Barry Trotz. "I talked to David about an hour-and-a-half before warmup and he said his baby was on the way," Trotz said. "I texted him back and said: 'That's fantastic. I'll see you on Monday. We'll get the win tonight without you.' He texted back about an hour later and said: 'The baby is here and my wife says I better get to the game.' " Legwand also scored the overtime goal on Wednesday that provided the Predators with a seventh consecutive victory, clearly the "quietest" streak in the NHL.

Kovalchuk fight hurts Atlanta

How often do you see this? The Atlanta Thrashers will go as far as Ilya Kovalchuk will take them this season. But in a recent game against Pittsburgh, he wasn't around for the last 13:08 of the third period when the Thrashers rallied for two goals after falling behind by three. The reason: he fought with the Pens' Matt Cooke. Result: Kovalchuk got two minutes for instigating, two minutes for instigating with a visor, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.

And finally ...

Anyone who saw Milan Lucic hobbling off the ice late in Boston's 2-1 victory over the Wild on Wednesday can't be surprised over yesterday's announcement he'll miss roughly a month with a high ankle sprain. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said he expected worse, but losing a player of Lucic's quality for any amount of time hurts his team badly. In terms of importance to the team, he's right up there with Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard.