Blake Draws Suspension for Slashing

Mark Visheau reacted with surprise when roommate Rob Blake was suspended Sunday.

Colin Campbell, the NHL’s enforcer, tuned in to the Kings-Vancouver game and caught Blake in the act of slashing the Canucks’ Harry York in the third period and suspended Blake from Sunday’s game at Anaheim.

“We were shocked and disappointed,” said Visheau, who played winger in Saturday’s game, then took Blake’s defensive shifts after Blake earned a game misconduct with 15:45 to play.

“We’re trying to get going, and get the best defensive player in hockey back and then he’s sitting out.”

The question is for how long.

Campbell will hook up with Dave Taylor, the Kings’ vice president and general manager; Blake and perhaps others today to determine if additional punishment is warranted.

“I haven’t seen the tape, but we’ll talk about what happened,” Taylor said.

What Taylor will see is Blake swinging his stick across York’s right wrist, just above the glove, and York tumbling near the boards, seemingly down for the count.

A Canuck official said Sunday that X-rays were negative and that York had suffered a bruise that would not require him to miss any games.

The mystery--the answer to which, perhaps, will be revealed today--was why that penalty was singled out in a hard-fought, semi-dirty game in which 23 penalties were meted out and several others were not called.

“It was very upsetting,” Coach Larry Robinson said. “. . .It was a dirty game all around. They’re out there trying to hurt people and one of our guys gets suspended. It just doesn’t seem fair.

“We had a couple of instances, one where [Vancouver’s Donald] Brashear ran Glen Murray from behind into the boards, and another one where [the Canucks’ Matt] Cooke ran Ray [Ferraro] from behind into the boards. To me those two were much more serious than a whack in the hands. . . .

“They got two minutes. Our problem is we get up. We should probably lay down on the ice and roll around a little bit. Maybe we could get the extra power play.”

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Winger Eric Lacroix was another victim of the Kings-Vancouver game, suffering a broken collarbone that will keep him sidelined for several weeks.