NHL won't ban Burrows

Extra work: Boston goalie Tim Thomas makes a save during an optional practice on Thursday. The Bruins will play the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals on Friday. AP PHOTO

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Vancouver Canucks don't understand the big fuss about a little bite. Neither did the NHL.

Vancouver forward Alex Burrows avoided a suspension in the Stanley Cup finals on Thursday when the NHL decided it couldn't prove he bit the finger of Boston's Patrice Bergeron during the Canucks' series-opening 1-0 victory.

"That's how French guys say hello to one another," the Canucks' Alexandre Bolduc joked. "You want to show respect, you put your fingers in someone's mouth."

Both Burrows and Bergeron are French Canadians.

Daniel and Henrik Sedin also laughed about such a silly incident involving their linemate in what's shaping up as a gritty, goalie-dominated series heading into Game 2 on Saturday. Roberto Luongo shut out the Bruins with 36 saves, and Boston's Tim Thomas matched him until Raffi Torres scored with 18.5 seconds to play.

"We need him out there," Daniel Sedin said of Burrows. "He plays in every situation. Big part of this team. Obviously, we're happy to have him inside the rink."

Both teams realize they've got bigger issues than the after-the-whistle shenanigans that happen constantly in the NHL, but particularly under playoff intensity.

"I'm over it," Bergeron said on Thursday after the Bruins' light practice. "I'm looking forward to the next game. We've got to get back in the series. Like I said last night, it's the league's decision, and I've got to let them make it. . . . I don't want to whine about that stuff. I don't care."

Burrows wasn't made available to reporters after the Canucks' practice Thursday.

After the game, Bergeron said Burrows had bitten him while they scuffled following the first-period buzzer, even showing his bandaged right index finger and saying he planned to take antibiotics.

In the television replay, Bergeron's gloved right index finger did appear to go into Burrows' mouth. Bergeron claimed Burrows then bit down on him, but Burrows denied it.

Bergeron scoffed at the notion he had deliberately put his finger in Burrows' mouth. Both players had their gloves in the other's face at different points of the scuffle.

"It's too bad that something like that has to happen in the Stanley Cup finals," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "I think there's better ways of resolving issues than getting to that."

Perhaps it's only fitting for the incident to be the main focus after a finals game coached by Julien and Alain Vigneault of the Canucks, who were both better known for fighting than scoring during their own playing careers.

Winnipeg Manitoba AP

The owners of Winnipeg's new NHL team say they have sold more than 4,000 season tickets in just over a day.

The as-yet unnamed team hopes to sell 13,000 season tickets before the meeting of the NHL's board of governors on June 21, when the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers and the club's relocation is expected to be approved.

As of Thursday afternoon, 4,170 season tickets have been sold, according to the team's website. Currently, only season ticket holders for the AHL Manitoba Moose have the opportunity to buy between four and eight seats. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday.

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