Gilbert Brule didn't have the stomach for playing when the flu bug hit him for six days, but the centre dragged himself out of bed on Sunday to rejoin the Edmonton Oilers against the Vancouver Canucks.

edmonton's Gilbert Bruie bowls over Vancouver's michael Grabner on sunday.

Photograph by : Andy Clark, Reuters

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"It wasn't H1N1, just the regular flu. I was achy all over my body ... had some headaches from dehydration and a bad stomach," said Brule, who got sick just before he was to play the same Canucks at Rexall Place last Monday. It was only hours after an army of Vancouver media folks conducted long feel-good interviews with him at the morning skate because he was off to a hot start-- seven points in his first seven games -- and he had played junior for the WHL's Vancouver Giants.

"I had my pre-game nap, woke up and was exhausted. It lasted until Saturday night and I got the green light (Sunday)morning to fly here," said Brule, who was bummed out that he couldn't play Thursday against his old club, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"I really wanted to get back for that one ... but we'll get another chance at them(on Nov. 16)."

He hadn't stpped on a scale to see if he'd lost any weight, but not playing was eating away at him.

MacIntyre goes distance

According to hockeyfights.com,Steve MacIntyre's fight with Calgary Flames tough guy Brian McGrattan lasted over a minute, an eternity for a scrap with little or no wrestling.

McGrattan landed several heavy punches early, knocking the Oilers heavy's helmet askew, before MacIntyre came on later.

It was the first shift for both guys, 3-1/2 minutes into the game. The Oilers coaches would rather MacIntyre have played longer before dropping the gloves, and they're not crazy about fights that don't result from retribution on the ice. But nobody at the Saddledome was hiding their eyes when it started. The linesmen stood back and let them fire away.

"My dad tells me I have to learn to win fights in the first half of them," said MacIntyre. "Or I have to duck a few early punches. He caught me with a couple, for sure.

"He (McGrattan) asked me, Aare you done?' I told him, 'Settle down here, this fight will go as long as I want.' I wasn't going to let him off the hook. But he's a pretty tough guy."

McGrattan later wanted to go with Zack Stortini, who was in Jarome Iginla's grille, but MacIntyre didn't let that happen. Stortini was playing too well, and irritating the Flames.

"I told him, 'I'm your knuckle-berry,'" MacIntyre said with a laugh. He played 51 seconds on the night; McGrattan logged 64 seconds.

Calgary leads the NHL with 13 fighting majors. The Oilers were second going into Sunday's game, with 10.

Scare for Jacques

Oilers winger J.F. Jacques got a scare in the first period in Calgary when Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf's fell and his skate blade cut into Jacques' right wrist. The cut was about four inches long.

"Got six stitches. Luckily, it didn't cut anything," said Jacques.

The medical staff was concerned that he could have his tendon slashed, which would have been a major problem.

Wellwood breaks toe

Vancouver centre Kyle Wellwood, who almost tied the Oilers with a rink-long dash in the last half-dozen seconds last Monday in Edmonton, didn't play in the rematch Sunday. He broke the big toe on his right foot on Saturday when Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Komisarek nailed him with a shot off his boot cap in the third period of the Canucks' 3-1 win.