News from October 2002

''He's had occasional swelling on it,'' Panthers general manager Rick Dudley said. ``We've decided to send him back to see the doctor that operated on it. Nobody thinks it's anything serious. But he's had occasional swelling, so we want to make sure it's all right.''

Bure has been icing down his knee after most practices. He has played only one of the Panthers first five preseason games.

''Has he performed well? Yeah,'' Dudley said. ``But we've got the season starting. We don't want to go into the season and find out there is something wrong with him. We don't anticipate that.''

It also wasn't anticipated that left wing Kristian Huselius, the Panthers' only other proven 20-goal scorer, had suffered a Grade 3 knee sprain when he went down the first day of training camp. Before Huselius' MRI, the judgment was Grade 1 -- an injury that would have put him out for a week, maybe. Huselius is expected to miss the opener.

This is looking like a flashback to a year ago.

Bure had two knee surgeries in 2001-02. Like now, his right knee was bothering him throughout training camp. Still, he started the season and played the first five games. He skipped practice the day before the sixth game, at Vancouver, and was limping that night.

Still, Bure was allowed to play. It was his last game until January. The knee's meniscus tore completely, forcing him to undergo surgery. He missed the next 37 games. He tore cartilage in the same knee March 17 and missed the final 14 games of the season.

''Everybody's seen him, and there's no indication of anything major, that's for sure,'' Dudley said. ``If there was, we'd be concerned. The worse that it would be is he might need a cleanup.''

That would mean arthroscopic surgery, similar to what brother Pavel Bure underwent last week. Pavel, a Ranger, is expected to miss two weeks.

The Panthers came up wanting for effort in a 4-1 loss to Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday night and coach Keenan pointed the finger prominently at Bure and a handful of others afterward.

The Wild took control of the game with two goals in the first 7 minutes, 49 seconds and never were threatened.

"We reverted back to being a 60-point team," Keenan said. "We didn't have much effort from anyone on the hockey club, particularly early on.

"Valeri again didn't want to do what the coaches asked of him. He didn't want to conform to the way we wanted the team to play."

Keenan was most perturbed that Bure failed to clear the puck out of the defensive zone on the Panthers' first penalty-killing opportunity. Florida killed the penalty, but only after spending the majority of two minutes in its own zone.

"I chipped it out and it didn't go to the other end," Bure said.

Told of Keenan's remarks, he said, "If he feels that way, I don't know what to say."

Keenan benched Bure for much of the rest of the period; he finished with just four shifts totaling 2:34. Keenan did the same with Denis Shvidki, whom Keenan said was out of position three times when teammates passed to him in the first period and "wasn't ready to pick it up." Shvidki played just 1:52 in the period.

It was just 27 seconds after the Panthers killed off that first penalty, a high-sticking call against Igor Ulanov, that the Wild opened the scoring when Bill Muckalt swept in the rebound of a Jason Marshall shot.

Florida had a chance to tie when the Wild's Lubomir Sekeras was sent off for hooking at 7:39. But 10 seconds later, a careless cross-ice pass by Dmitry Yushkevich was picked off by Antti Laaksonen, who went in on a breakaway and scored shorthanded on Roberto Luongo.

"I can't think of one hockey player who played well," Keenan said.

"They don't know how to prepare as professionals, and that's one reason why this franchise hasn't done well in the last five years. People like Bure, Yushkevich, (Sandis) Ozolinsh and (Stephane) Matteau didn't prepare themselves to play. If they're not ready, you can't expect the others to be."

While short on overall talent, the Wild again proved themselves to be a hard-working group that buys into coach Jacques Lemaire's system.

"They play very good defensive hockey," said Viktor Kozlov, who played just two shifts in the third period because of a rib injury, the extent of which wasn't immediately known. "They're a trap team that limits chances, and we didn't score on the chances we had."

While things never got as bad as last season, when Florida lost 6-0 to the Wild, Minnesota grabbed momentum early.

"We eased our way into it; we were back on our heels," center Ryan Johnson said. "When a team stands you up at the red line the way they did, you've got to chip it in two or three times and go from there.

"They're pretty skilled and they're going to bury their chances."

The Wild created enough Florida mistakes to muster four breakaways, though Roberto Luongo stopped the other three.

Niklas Hagman put away a Stephen Weiss pass for the only Florida goal with 6:44 left in the second period. That marked the first goal the Panthers had scored in three games in Minnesota, ending a drought of 158 minutes, 16 seconds.

Brad Bombardir had made it 3-0 on a power-play 2:14 into that period. Muckalt finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with three seconds to play.

The sixth overall pick in this year's draft, Upshall beat goaltender Mike Richter with a snap shot from inside the left faceoff dot, converting on a partial breakaway. It wa

s the first point in three NHL games for the 19-year-old Upshall.

"Great feeling to score in this building in front of all those people," he said.

"You dream about it, even though you know it'll come. I'm just glad it helps us get a point."

Tomas Vokoun shut down the punchless Rangers the rest of the way as the Predators ended an 0-0-1-2 road trip. They opened it with overtime losses to the New York Islanders and New Jersey.

Nashville could have walked away from Madison Square Garden with another win, but David Legwand failed to find a vacant net from the low slot, grazing the goalpost with 68 seconds left in overtime.

Legwand beat the Rangers at the Garden with the NHL's first-ever overtime penalty shot goal in December 2000. That started a three-game winning streak in the series that became a four-game unbeaten run Saturday.

"They are a frustrating team to play against and you really have to maintain your discipline," Rangers first-year coach Brian Trottier said. "You don't want to get impatient with them."

Pavel Bure scored on a penalty shot for the inconsistent Rangers, who managed just 16 shots and were booed throughout the final stages of overtime. They picked up their second straight tie and moved to 2-2-2 on the season.

"We understand it's frustrating, but we want to play well at home," captain Mark Messier said. "We know the fans are with us, they've been with this team forever. It's not a problem."

"In fairness to the fans, I think they woukd love to see more generated," Trottier added. "Our guys want to play and maintain our discipline."

Things looked good early for the Rangers, who opened the scoring at 4:25 of the first period when Bure beat Vokoun on a penalty shot, deking right before sliding the puck inside the left goalpost.

"The puck was rolling and I wasn't sure what I was going to do until I got going," Bure said.

"He's obviously a great player and he made a great move," Vokoun said.

It was the 11th career penalty shot for Bure - including his failed attempt against Richter in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals - and second at Madison Square Garden. He has scored on six of them.

The Rangers were awarded the shot when Predators defenseman Bill Houlder closed his hand on the puck in the crease. Bure discussed with Eric Lindros who should take the shot before skating to center ice.

Defenseman Kimmo Timonen tied it on the power play 3:49 into the second period. He picked up a bad clear by Rem Murray and put a slap shot past Richter from the top of the right faceoff circle.

New York took back the lead just 68 seconds later when defenseman Dale Purinton beat Vokoun with a snap shot from the left point along the boards. It was his first goal in 88 NHL games.

"It took only three years, but it's a great feeling," Purinton said. "I scored 50 on Richter in practice, but it's nice to get one during the season. It always feels good to contribute when you're a defensive defenseman."

Matthew Barnaby chased down the puck and gave it to Purinton.

"I'm going to give it to my mom because she is my biggest fan," Purinton said. "She criticizes and critiques my game more than anyone."

Upshall tied it again nearly 10 minutes later, using his speed to skate away from a Rangers defenseman and a wicked shot to beat Richter.

Richter made a diving stop with 2:50 left in regulation and stopped Clarke Wilm's blast with the right side of his facemask with 2:35 to play in overtime.

In the final 70 seconds, Legwand ended up alone in the low slot following a scramble, but the puck glanced the post with Richter squirming back into position.

"The shot just rolled off my stick and I think hit the side of the post," Legwand said. "He made a great play just to get there. I'm not sure if it hit him."