McKenzie Returns to Lineup

Left wing Jim McKenzie returned to the Duck lineup Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, four games after he broke the left eye socket of Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor in a one-sided fight.

“It’s been a long month,” he joked about his four-game suspension, which actually spanned 10 days. “It felt like a month, anyway.”

McKenzie can live with the suspension, the first of his NHL career. But what angers him is how he was portrayed as a bully in the wake of a violent Oct. 2 game against the Stars.

The league, in announcing McKenzie’s suspension, said McKenzie was guilty of “initiating an altercation,” and “persisting when Sydor was offering no resistance and was defenseless.”

McKenzie said Sydor elbowed him in the mouth moments after defenseman Pascal Trepanier slammed Dallas’ Joe Nieuwendyk headfirst into the glass.

“That’s how it started,” McKenzie said. “I had no idea who it was [who had hit him]. Don’t tell me I just waded into a fight and just wailed on him.

“The unfortunate thing is a lot of people are writing that. They are saying things and writing things that are based on the league’s press release.”

TV replays of the incident focused on Trepanier’s hit on Nieuwendyk, then shifted to McKenzie as he was in the midst of pummeling Sydor.

“I’ve got to see that chart they have for all that stuff,” McKenzie said, taking a swipe at NHL punishment czar Colin Campbell. “Let’s see decapitation? Uh, two games.”

McKenzie was referring to the two-game suspension Campbell gave Tampa Bay’s Andrei Zyuzin, who clubbed McKenzie in the head with his stick while playing for San Jose last season.

*

Trepanier served the fifth and final game of his suspension for his hit on Nieuwendyk and is eligible to play tonight against the Florida Panthers.

Tonight at Florida

4:30 PDT, Channel 9

* Site--National Car Rental Center, Sunrise, Fla.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--Ducks 3-3, Panthers 3-1-1.

* Record vs. Panthers (1998-99)--0-1.

* Update--Florida right wing Pavel Bure suffered a groin injury in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and might not play tonight. Bure is the Panthers’ leading scorer with three goals and six points. Rookie Ivan Novoseltsev replaced Bure in a 3-2 loss Wednesday to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Panther right wing Scott Mellanby, who suffered a concussion when he crashed into the boards Tuesday, will not play tonight. Guy Hebert will start in goal for the Ducks. Backup Dominic Roussel started in Friday’s 3-2 win over Tampa Bay.