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Mum's the word If Tucker's hurting, he's not crying out loud
Posted: Monday May 01, 2000 09:54 PM
By Mike Zeisberger, SLAM! Sports Darcy Tucker's silence spoke volumes. The feisty forward, normally one of the most talkative players in the Maple Leafs dressing room, refused to discuss an apparent cheap shot he absorbed from the New Jersey Devils' Bobby Holik in the third period of a 1-0 Toronto loss in Game 2. However, Tucker clearly was feeling the after-effects of Holik's hit from behind. As usual, the Leafs were keeping their lips sealed concerning their injury situation. But it was evident that Tucker's right arm was dangling at his side as he left Maple Leaf Gardens after Toronto's midday workout. If Tucker has his way, it will take more than a Holik cross-check to keep him out of the lineup for Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference semi-final at the Continental Airlines Arena. Asked if he was certain he could play, Tucker replied "Yup." Holik wasn't penalized for the hit But you can bet the Leafs aren't about to forgive or forget the chippy Devils forward. Last season, Holik was fined and suspended for two games when his slash left Leafs forward Igor Korolev with a broken finger. Korolev, who still can't fully bend the finger, is considering surgery during the off-season. Does that make Holik a red-and-black target for the remainder of the series? 'NOT WORRIED' "I'm not worried," Holik said. "They've done what they want to do to get the referees to listen to them." Holik, who practised with the rest of his Devils teammates at the Continental Airlines Arena yesterday afternoon, drew a blank when asked about the incident involving Tucker. "There's a lot of stuff going on out there," Holik said. "I remember a lot of hits but not that one. I don't know how many hits there have been out there. "He finished the game, didn't he?" Indeed, Tucker did return to action. But Tucker didn't come out to meet the media afterward, choosing to take treatment instead. Neither Tucker nor goaltender Curtis Joseph practised yesterday for the Leafs, a team that is suffering from a variety of physical bumps and bruised egos after being significantly outplayed in the first two games of this series, which is tied 1-1. At practice, highly touted U.S. college prospect Jeff Farkas took Tucker's spot on the wing alongside Dmitri Khristich and Wendel Clark, leading to speculation that Farkas might make his Maple Leafs debut tonight. "I wouldn't read too much into it," Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn said. PERTURBED Mentioning potential injuries to Quinn at playoff time often causes his blood to boil, and yesterday was no exception. Quinn seemed perturbed when the first question posed to him at his daily news conference concerned the absence of Tucker and Joseph from the team's on-ice drills. "What do I know about where they are?" Quinn said. "What is this, 20 questions? Is this what is supposed to be investigative questions? "Not everybody needs to be here." Joseph certainly could use the rest. The all-star puck stopper has turned aside 64 of New Jersey's 66 shots thus far in the series and is the main reason the Leafs earned a split in the first two games at the Air Canada Centre instead of trailing 2-0. "Every now and then I take [a practice off]," Joseph said. "We skate [the morning of a game] anyway." The Maple Leafs were undefeated at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., this season. They battled the home-town Devils to a 3-3 draw on Nov. 6 and won 3-1 on Feb. 25.
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