Twenty Great Games is a PITB feature that will run through the month of December, examining the 20 greatest single-game Canuck performances of the last 15 years. Today: Markus Naslund has a career night versus the Atlanta Thrashers.
February 25, 2003 - VANCOUVER
These days, when people think of Markus Naslund, they think primarily of his lethal wrist shot.
That's fair. Naslund's wrister was as deadly a weapon as any Vancouver Canuck had ever had, up there with Pavel Bure's speed, Todd Bertuzzi's physicality, and Henrik Sedin's brother. But the former Canuck captain was more than just a sniper. He was a great playmaker as well, something that came through loud and clear during a one-goal, five-assist performance versus the Atlanta Thrashers.
Six points in one night. A staggering six points. No Canuck has done it since. Heck, earlier this year, Henrik Sedin had the first five-point game of his career. It took him 14 NHL seasons.
The scoring outburst, which followed a four-point night in a 7-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, vaulted Naslund into a tie for first place in NHL scoring with Mario Lemieux.
It drove his good friend Peter Forsberg nuts. Forsberg, who was also in the running for an Art Ross trophy (and would wind up winning it), tried to play off Naslund's surge, explaining that no one in Ornskoldsvik grew up wanting to win the accolade. "I don't think people really dream about winning the scoring title," he shrugged. "I grew up in a town with a Swedish elite level team and that was my dream, to play for that team, and the NHL was kind of out of my reach."
Of course, now that three men from that same Swedish city (Daniel and Henrik Sedin being the others) have taken home the hardware, one imagines the kids there cover it a little more. And let's not kid ourselves: Forsberg wanted it too. "It is tough to see [Naslund] score six points when we are trying to chase him in the standings," Forsberg told the National Post's Joe O'Corner. "But that's the way it is. And we're friends, and I got to say I'm happy for him because he had a tough couple of years in Pittsburgh."
Forsberg was right. Nothing came easily to Naslund in Pittsburgh. In Vancouver, however, well, some things did. Including this six-point game.
The Thrashers were a disaster. They were 1-5-2-0 in the eight games before Vancouver. No team allowed more goals than they did that season, and they were even more vulnerable than usual on this night, as injuries to their first-, second-, and third-string goaltenders forced backup backup backup Frederic Cassivi into action. He surrendered every goal in an 8-0 shellacking.
"It was not Frederic Cassivi's fault," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said. "He got beat by great shots. These guys are flying right now and the goals they scored were great goals."
That's a fair assessment. The Canucks were a juggernaut. The win over Atlanta pushed the club's unbeaten streak to 14 games. And the video above should give an indication of how unstoppable Naslund and co. (but particularly Naslund) were at this time. Here's an actual quote from Naslund following this game, when fans and media were gushing about his team: "No, really, I'm serious. We still have stuff we can work on.''
Trevor Linden tried to downplay comparisons to the 1994 team. "I don't compare things to '94," he said. "That's so long ago a lot of these guys weren't even playing junior hockey." That would, as we all know, be the last time anyone ever tried to compare a Canucks team to 1994.
A six-point game is probably enough to impress you, but here are two facts about the game that make it even more notable: First, this was no ticky-tack six-pointer, built on simply being on the ice while other players created goals. Four of Naslund's five assists were primary assists. Second, Naslund accomplished this feat in a season-low 13:56, as coach Marc Crawford did his best to keep his captain away from the Thrashers' frustrated headhunters -- guys like Brad Tapper and Jeff Cowan.
"I think that's the reason why Crow didn't play us that much," Naslund explained. "When you're up three or four goals, that's when stupid things happen. [But] you can't skate around and worry about injuries. I feel fresh."
Clearly. Naslund never looked better, and his excellence on the ice pushed the rest of his team to keep up with him.
"That's why he's our leader and that's why we keep playing like this," said Todd Bertuzzi, "because we've got a leader to follow."
