Tverdovsky’s Knee Bruised

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  Defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky suffered a bruised left knee after crashing into the net while chasing Columbus’ Steve Heinze on a breakaway in the final minute of the first period.

Tverdovsky smacked his knee on the right goal post but continued to play until swelling forced him from the game in the third period. He was examined by a doctor, who believed the knee was only bruised.

“As far as he could tell there was no damage to it,” Tverdovsky said. “It’s swollen pretty bad. I tried to play on it, but I was using only one leg. I couldn’t move the other one at all.”

Tverdovsky hopes he will be fit to play Friday against the Minnesota Wild, the final game on the Ducks’ three-game trip.

“Definitely,” he said. “If we get the swelling down and there’s no damage.”

*

The Ducks gave up four power-play goals, including two by Heinze. They had given up only three power-play goals in their last seven games.

Columbus went four for eight with the man-advantage. The Blue Jackets had only 11 power-play goals in 117 chances going into the game, ranking 29th of 30 teams with a 9.4% success rate.

*

Dave King, Columbus coach, on stopping an eight-game losing streak Wednesday: “We had to stop the bleeding somewhere and we did. The guys did a great job. The power play was awesome. We scored four power-play goals, which is a lot for one game.”