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Colorado right wing Teemu Selanne was a healthy scratch in Game 2 of the Avalanche's second-round playoff series against San Jose on Saturday.
Left wing Alex Tanguay, Colorado's second-leading scorer, was back in the lineup after missing two games with a knee injury. So coach Tony Granato benched Selanne, a nine-time All-Star and a former 76-goal scorer who had a terrible regular season.
Selanne left the Sharks last summer to sign with Colorado, hoping to win his first championship while reuniting with former Anaheim teammate Paul Kariya. But Selanne, who has 452 goals in his career, managed just 16 goals and 16 assists in 78 games -- the worst totals of his 12 NHL seasons.
Selanne was relegated to Colorado's fourth line late in the regular season, and he had no goals and two assists in the Avalanche's first six playoff games. Granato deactivated Selanne instead of rookie wing Marek Svatos, tough guy Matthew Barnaby and veteran center Darby Hendrickson.
Toronto forward Joe Nieuwendyk will likely miss Game 2 of the Maple Leafs' second-round playoff series because of an undisclosed injury.
``He's probably not going to play,'' Toronto coach Pat Quinn said Saturday. Quinn declined to specify what the injury was.
Nieuwendyk, who missed a game against Ottawa in the opening round with a back injury, didn't practice on Saturday. Quinn said he played hurt in a 3-1 loss in Game 1 on Thursday night.
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``He shouldn't have been playing,'' Quinn said. ``We could see that his play
wasn't where it needed to be and where it has been. It probably wasn't a good
idea that he played, and eventually he had to pull himself.''
Game 2 is Sunday night in Philadelphia.
Nieuwendyk has a team-high five goals in seven playoff games.
Captain Mats Sundin, meanwhile, might be ready for Game 2. Sundin, who has missed five straight games with a leg injury, looked good in practice on Saturday.
``Certainly, the way it feels right now, I'll be back for this series for sure,'' Sundin said. ``It feels a lot better.''
Sundin will decide whether he can play in Game 2 after Sunday's morning skate.
``It's a huge improvement in the last three or four days,'' he said.
Quinn said they expected Sundin to return during the second round.
``We're close to having him in, but we're not certain when that's going to be,'' Quinn said. ``We were hoping to have him mid-series and that might still be a possibility. He did pretty well this morning.''
Sundin is third on the Maple Leafs' career playoff points list with 69. In 78 postseason contests, Sundin has 32 goals and 37 assists.