10.20.2010

Two minutes

It's a light night, so this may be cut down to 90 seconds.

THE GOOD...

Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks

The old man can still bring it. The 40-year-old Finn scored his 609th career goal in a 3-1 loss to Columbus.

Selanne moved past Dino Ciccarelli into sole possession of 16th place all time. Next up - Bobby Hull with 610.

THE BAD...

Rick Rypien, Vancouver Canucks

Putting your hands on a fan? Not really the way you wanna go here, Ricky.

For those who didn't see what happened Tuesday in the Canucks' 6-1 loss to the Minnesota, Rypien was being led off the ice after a second fight with the Wild's Brad Staubitz. A fan was clapping as Rypien walked past - from what could be seen, clapping, not jeering, not being a knucklehead.

Rypien charged into that role with his blades up, grabbing a double-handful of the fan's jersey before order was quickly restored. The NHL on Wednesday suspended Rypien indefinitely pending a hearing.

Canucks general manager Mike Gillis tried defending Rypien.

"This was totally unexpected," he said Wednesday night during the Canucks' game in Chicago. "In our experience with Rick, we never expected anything like this to occur. He's been a solid guy on our team. He's a good teammate, good in the community. It was something completely unexpected.

"Sometimes things happen, and you have to deal with them. You don't anticipate any event like that from a player of Rick's stature. There were events that led up to it, and we're going to support him."

Support him all you like. Look at footage and all you'll see was a Minnesota fan clapping.

At first, I was thinking a three- to five-game suspension. I'm thinking more like 10 now.

Columbus Blue Jackets fans

Way to show up - all 9,802 of you.

The Blue Jackets defeated Anaheim in front of the smallest crowd to see a game at Nationwide Arena.

Columbus is celebrating its 10th season in the NHL, but I'm sure this was a disappontment to the franchise.

"Yeah, it was unfortunate we got embarrassed," team captain Rick Nash said, referring to a lethargic, lopsided 5-2 loss to Chicago on Friday night in the Jackets' home opener. "The only way we're going to win them back is by winning games."

Good seats are available for Friday night's tilt against the Calgary Flames.

...AND THE QUOTABLE

"I was just standing straight up applauding as he was getting kicked out. He was out of control. And then I said, 'Way to be professional,' and he obviously didn't care for that comment and decided to grab me and almost dragged me over the rail. If my brother wasn't grabbing me and the other player wasn't grabbing him, he probably would have dragged me over the edge." - James Engquist, a 28-year-old fan of the Minnesota Wild who had his jersey grabbed by Vancouver's Rick Rypien on Tuesday.

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