Avalanche tops 'Canes; Tucker is carried off ice

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 24, 2009

DENVER

Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski scored goals in quick succession and the Colorado Avalanche went on to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 last night.

Avalanche teammate Darcy Tucker was checked into the boards by Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu as he tried to play the puck in the Hurricanes' end at 14:34 of the second period.

Tucker was taken off the ice on a backboard.

Tucker's face hit the glass hard and he fell to the ice on his back, unconscious.

He lay motionless for several minutes as Avalanche doctors and trainers attended to him, bringing a hush to both benches and the crowd.

There was no immediate word on the nature of his injury.

Ruutu was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct, and Hejduk scored on the subsequent power play, converting a feed from Paul Stasny to put the Avalanche up 3-2 at 10 minutes of the second period.

Carolina 2 1 1 -- 4

Colorado 2 2 1 -- 5

First Period--1, Carolina, Corvo 1 (Jokinen, Ruutu), 3:16 (pp). 2, Carolina, Ruutu 2 (Wallin, Yelle), 5:49. 3, Colorado, O'Reilly 2 (Wolski, Stewart), 16:16. 4, Colorado, Stastny 2 (Wilson), 16:47.

Second Period--5, Colorado, Hejduk 4 (Stastny, Duchene), 10:00 (pp). 6, Colorado, Wolski 5 (Stewart, O'Reilly), 10:40. 7, Carolina, Cullen 3 (Walker, Brind'Amour), 16:15.

Third Period--8, Colorado, Stastny 3 (Hejduk, Duchene), 6:21 (pp). 9, Carolina, Whitney 4 (LaRose, Staal), 8:40.

Missed Penalty Shot--Whitney, Car, 3:03 third.

Shots on Goal--Carolina 11-12-13--36. Colorado 11-13-12--36. Goalies--Carolina, C.Ward. Colorado, Anderson. A--13,673 (18,007). T--2:28.