Montreal @ Colorado - Tonight

GAME: Montreal Canadiens (19-15-6) at Colorado Avalanche (24-17-3).

TIME: Wednesday, 9 p.m. EST.

The Colorado Avalanche can't hope for much more from rookie Marek Svatos.

Yet with starting center Pierre Turgeon now sidelined, the Avalanche will turn to their star rookie to fill in the holes and lead them to a season-high sixth straight win when they host the Montreal Canadiens.

The Avalanche learned Monday that Turgeon - a 500-goal scorer - will be sidelined for at least three weeks with a strained shoulder.

Turgeon, who is fourth on the team in points and third in assists, initially thought he would only miss a couple of games after suffering the injury during the first period of Saturday's 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He becomes the latest Colorado veteran to move to the injury list, joining Steve Konowalchuk (wrist surgery) and Brad May (groin) and putting more pressure on Svatos to perform well.

In Monday's game against the St. Louis Blues, Svatos lived up to any added pressure, recording his second three-goal game in the 6-1 routing.

"It's the best feeling for a forward," Svatos said. "It was one of those nights that, for me, everything went in. I had three shots and three goals."

Svatos has five goals in three games, 25 for the season and four multi-goal games. He had his first hat trick Oct. 10 against the Calgary Flames.

His numbers are comparable with rookie standouts Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ovechkin and Svatos are tied for the goal-scoring lead among rookies, four more than Crosby.

"It is a special crop of rookies this year and I think everybody has a strong case with how well they are playing and the consideration they are getting," Colorado coach Joel Quennville said. "Being aware of Svatos on a regular basis, he is deserving of some attention and consideration based on how consistent he has been.'

Goalie David Aebischer stopped 27 shots for Colorado, which has its longest winning streak since notching six straight wins from Jan. 30-Feb. 11, 2003.

Montreal is looking for its first road win against the Avalanche franchise since Jan. 5, 1994 when they were the Quebec Nordiques. The Canadiens have gone 0-6-3 since then.

Montreal snapped a four-game skid when it scored four goals in the first period of a 4-1 win Saturday over the Ottawa Senators.

Radek Bonk, who spent 10 seasons with Ottawa before a three-way trade sent him to Montreal following the 2003-04 season, ended a scoring drought by scoring his first goal in 44 regular-season games.

"It's always like that, I guess, especially against my former team and in a win, too," Bonk said of the relief involved in his celebration. "The win's more important but obviously I'm happy it went in for me."

Mathieu Dandenault, Saku Koivu and Francis Bouillon also scored for the Canadiens, who chased away Senators goalie Ray Emery after he only faced 11 shots.

STANDINGS: Canadiens - 44 points, 4th place, 17 PB, Northeast Division. Avalanche - 51 points, 4th place, 4 PB, Northwest Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Canadiens - Michael Ryder, 18 goals; Saku Koivu, 21 assists and 31 points; Steve Begin, 89 PIM. Avalanche - Svatos, 25 goals; Alex Tanguay, 33 assists and 51 points; Ian Laperriere, 70 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Canadiens - Power play: 17.6 percent (42 for 239), 15th in NHL (tied). Penalty killing: 81 percent (204 for 252), 20th. Avalanche - Power play: 20.3 percent (55 for 271), 5th. Penalty killing: 85.4 percent (216 for 253), 3rd (tied).

GOALTENDERS: Canadiens - Jose Theodore (14-11-5, 0 SO, 3.22 GAA); Cristobal Huet (2-2-1, 0, 3.15). Avalanche - Aebischer (15-9-0, 2, 3.19); Peter Budaj (6-5-3, 0, 2.80).

2003-04 SERIES: 1-0-0.

LAST MEETING: March 16, 2004; Canadiens, 4-2. At Montreal, Koivu and Mike Ribeiro each scored in the third period to snap a tie. Rob Blake and Chris Gratton scored for the Avalanche.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Canadiens - 7-9-4 on the road; Avalanche - 13-6-3 at home.


— Associated Press

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James Brown - River Rock Casino - Richmond, B.C.

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James Brown Timeline

May 3, 1933
James Brown is born in Barnwell, South Carolina. He is raised in poverty in Augusta, Georgia, 40 miles away.
1953
James Brown joins the Gospel Starlighters, a vocal quartet led by Bobby Byrd, after completing a four-year stint in prison for robbery. The group will change its focus from gospel to R&B and its name to the Famous Flames, as Brown becomes the focal point of the act.

November 1, 1955
The Famous Flames record "Please Please Please" at the studio of WIBB in Macon, Georgia.

January 23, 1956
Producer and talent scout Ralph Bass travels to Macon to sign James Brown to the King/Federal label, beating Leonard Chess (of Chess Records) to the punch.

February 4, 1956
James Brown and the Famous Flames cut "Please Please Please" at King/Federal studios in Cincinnati, backed by the label's crack house band. James Brown's recording debut rises to #5 on the R&B chart.

October 1, 1957
After Little Richard abruptly quits rock and roll for religion, James Brown honors pending tour dates in the South in his place. Several members of Little Richard's backup band, the Upsetters, become Famous Flames.

October 1, 1958
James Brown's first #1 hit, "Try Me," is released. It is the best-selling R&B single of 1958—and the first of 17 chart-topping R&B singles by Brown over the next two decades.

October 24, 1962
The midnight show on this particular evening of James Brown's seven-night stand at the Apollo Theatre in New York City is taped and released as Live at the Apollo.

OCTOBER 28-29, 1964
The concert film The TAMI Show is recorded in Santa Monica, CA, featuring James Brown, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes.

February 1, 1965
James Brown records "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," a revolutionary single that ushers in a whole new era of soul music. Released that summer, it tops the R&B chart for eight weeks and even cracks the pop Top Ten.

July 1, 1971
James Brown signs with Polydor Records, for which he'll record extensively throughout the decade.

September 1, 1972
"Get On the Good Foot" tops the R&B chart for a month and peaks at #18 in the pop Top Forty. A gold-certified million seller, it establishes James Brown as a potent influence on black music in the Seventies—or, as he takes to calling himself, "the Godfather of Soul."

January 5, 1974
The Payback, the most successful of James Brown's Seventies albums—many of which were double-LPs with lengthy, extended tracks—makes its debut on Billboard's album chart. It is the only gold-certified (500,000 copies sold) album of his career.

September 1, 1974
Price stages a music festival in Zaire, Africa, with boxing promoter Don King. The event attracts 120,000 people and offers James Brown, B.B. King, Etta James, Bill Withers, the Spinners and others.

September 1, 1979
James Brown, who has watched his sales figures slip in the disco era, attempts to move in on that market with The Original Disco Man, which only reaches #152 in the album chart.

June 1, 1980
James Brown contributes an unforgettable cameo as a manic preacher in the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd film The Blues Brothers.

September 1, 1984
Bronx rapper Afrika Bambaataa teams up with James Brown to record the anthemic single "Unity."

January 11, 1986
"Living in America," the theme song from Rocky IV, reaches #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, becoming James Brown's biggest pop hit since "I Got You (I Feel Good)" went to #3 in 1965.

January 23, 1986
James Brown is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the first induction dinner, held in New York City.

December 15, 1988
James Brown is sentenced to a six-year prison term after a year's worth of arrests on various assault, drug possession and vehicular charges. He leaves prison on parole on February 27, 1991.

February 25, 1992
James Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards.

February 25, 1993
James Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the fourth annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards. MC Hammer is his presenter.

May 3, 1998
James Brown turns 65 years old.

- funky-stuff.com

'Nucks vs. Leafs, GM Place

GAME: Toronto Maple Leafs (24-15-3) at Vancouver Canucks (23-14-5).

TIME: Tuesday, 10 p.m. EST.

The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be bit hard by the injury bug

Toronto will be without high-scoring defenseman Bryan McCabe when it meets the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place.

McCabe will sit out this game after suffering a groin injury Saturday in Toronto's 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

"I pride myself on not having to miss games but this is something I can't mess around with," said McCabe, who had two assists in the win over Oilers.

He leads all defensemen with 15 goals and 34 assists this season.

"I don't want to make it any worse," McCabe said. "We have a lot of games in a lot of nights over the next three months of the season. Hopefully I'll take a couple days off and I'll be fine."

He will be replaced by Carlo Colaiacovo, who has missed several games with a wrist injury.

McCabe is the latest Maple Leaf player to suffer an injury. Forward Eric Lindros is out with ligament damage in his right wrist. Ed Belfour, Mats Sundin and Tie Domi have all missed games this year.

Toronto still has won seven of its last eight and remain in third place in the Northeast Division, seven points ahead of the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens.

"We've had a number of injuries this year but we seem to find a way to battle through them and still compete hard on a nightly basis," said Darcy Tucker, who also is nursing injured ribs.

The Leafs are 4-0-1 in their last five against the Canucks.

Vancouver, looking for its third straight win for the first time in nearly a month, is coming off a confidence-building 4-3 overtime win Sunday over the Northwest Division-leading Calgary Flames.

Brendan Morrison scored the game-winner with 2:53 to play in overtime, giving Vancouver its first win in five games against Calgary this season.

The Canucks have not won three in a row since notching a four-game run from Dec. 4-15.

"We're not out of the woods," Anson Carter said. "I don't think we'll be out of the woods until we get back on top of the division."

Lack of scoring has been the biggest problem for the Canucks recently. Markus Naslund has one goal in his last five games and Morrison goals was just his second in seven games. Todd Bertuzzi also hasn't scored in eight games.

Naslund thinks the team might have turned a corner.

"It's weird how a win affect you," he said. "We're feeling a lot better about ourselves. Sometimes it's really tough to get out of a slump. You try to do the right things but for some reason it's not going your way. We finally got a couple of wins here and it gives us a fresh outlook."

STANDINGS: Maple Leafs - 51 points, 3rd place, 8 PB, Northeast Division. Canucks - 51 points, 2nd place (tied), 4 PB, Northwest Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Maple Leafs - Tucker, 18 goals; McCabe, 34 assists, 49 points and 56 PIM. Canucks - Naslund, 22 goals and 47 points; Bertuzzi and Henrik Sedin, 27 assists; Bertuzzi, 72 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS (through Jan. 8): Maple Leafs - Power play: 20.2 percent (54 for 268), 5th in NHL. Penalty killing: 81.5 percent (216 for 265), 18th. Canucks - Power play: 19.1 percent (54 for 283), 8th. Penalty killing: 82.2 percent (212 for 258), 14th (tied).

GOALTENDERS: Maple Leafs - Belfour (18-12-2, 0, 3.14); Mikael Tellqvist (6-3-1, 1 SO, 2.43 GAA). Canucks - Alexander Auld (15-10-3, 0, 2.89); Maxime Ouellet (0-1-1, 0, 4.39).

2003-2004 SEASON SERIES: Maple Leafs, 2-0.

LAST MEETING: Nov. 24, 2003; Maple Leafs, 2-1. At Toronto, Sundin and former Maple Leaf Gary Roberts each scored a goal and Belfour turned away 24 shots to beat the Canucks.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Maple Leafs - 9-8-2 on the road; Canucks - 15-3-3 at home.


- Associated Press