VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Alexander Mogilny's second goal of the game with 5:14 left in regulation Thursday lifted theMultimedia from Wayne Gretzky's Blues debut
Great One's debut has all the elements of a great one
Vancouver Canucks into a 2-2 tie with the
St. Louis Blues, upstaging Wayne Gretzky's debut with his new team.
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| Gretzky, admittedly nervous before the game, looked right at home centering Brett Hull and Shayne Corson. |
"It was fun...you know for me it's been a really emotional two days," Gretzky said. "I don't care who you are, you know you're always nervous. I'm sure in (Michael) Jordan's first game back last year he was nervous. I mean I was nervous; I'm glad I finally scored. It was the first period and now I don't have to hear anybody say 'When are you going to score your first goal?' I wish we would have won after the start we had, but we'll just build from here."
Stephane Matteau worked the puck free from the boards and fed a pass to Gretzky, who was cutting through the red line. Gretzky took the puck in stride, skated in alone on Kirk McLean, and held the puck momentarily before flipping a wrist shot past McLean's right side.
On the tying goal, Cliff Ronning, standing in the left corner, tried to send a cross-ice pass to Mogilny, but the puck was deflected in front. Mogilny grabbed the loose puck in the slot, spun around and put a wrist shot over goaltender Grant Fuhr's right shoulder for his 51st goal of the season.
"We could have won the game, but we're happy with the tie," Mogilny said. "It's nice to get No. 50 in front of the home crowd. They've been making a lot of noise and it's nice to score in front of them. I don't know if I spoiled his (Gretzky's) party. It looked like just another St. Louis-Vancouver game. We got down by two early, and I was lucky enough to get a couple to tie it."
Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, centered a line with Brett Hull and Shayne Corson for the Blues, who are 4-0-2 in their last six road games and 5-1-3 over their last nine overall. Fuhr, who stopped 36 shots, including the only four in overtime, has allowed just 22 goals in his last nine starts.
"We would have liked to have picked up the win, but we'll win a lot of hockey games when we come around," Fuhr said. "He (Gretzky) brings leadership, and his experience I think makes everybody a little bit better. Wayne has the abilty to bring evrybody to another level and that's what you have to have going into the playoffs."
Mogilny joins injured teammate Pavel Bure as the only Canucks to score 50 goals. Mogilny has 10 goals in his last eight contests.
Mogilny's first goal of the game with 6:41 left in the second period got Vancouver within 2-1.
Al MacInnis scored his 13th goal of the season, a power-play tally with 6:20 left in the first period, to stake the Blues to a 1-0 lead. Standing between the points, MacInnis one-timed Dale Hawerchuk's pass through McLean's pads.
