Knee Surgery Sidelines Red Wings’ Yzerman

Detroit Red Wing captain Steve Yzerman will be out of the lineup indefinitely after undergoing surgery Monday to remove torn cartilage in his right knee.

“He said it felt strong enough to play, but he had to play with pain,” Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman said.

The Red Wings (2-3), who play St. Louis tonight at home, did not give a timetable on when Yzerman would return from the arthroscopic procedure.

Yzerman was injured in Detroit’s Sept. 28 exhibition victory over Toronto when he fell over teammate Maxim Kuznetzov. He was placed on injured reserve Oct. 3 and activated a week later. He had one assist in the two games he played this season.

The Red Wings do not plan any immediate roster changes.

“He missed several of the last few games so we don’t need to make roster moves,” a team spokesman said.

Teammate Brendan Shanahan said it’s good Yzerman had the surgery now.

“If there was a good time do it, it’s good to get it over with early in the season,” he said. “It’s a huge loss . . . Steve contributes so much offensively and defensively.”

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Henrik Sedin scored his first NHL goal and added an assist as the Canucks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2, at Vancouver.

Sedin sealed the victory by tipping in a shot from the point by Ed Jovanovski with 1:57 left to play.

That goal came only 24 seconds after the Maple Leafs had pulled within one on a goal by Igor Korolev.

Sedin also came up with a nice pass from behind the net to get an assist on twin brother Daniel Sedin’s second goal of the season at 17:56 of the first period.

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In other NHL news: Ottawa Senator goalie Patrick Lalime will be sidelined for up to 10 days with a sprained left knee. . . . Florida Panther forward Pavel Bure expects to play Wednesday against Phoenix after skating through practice without being hindered by a groin injury. . . . Art Coulter, a Hall of Fame defenseman who played for the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, died. He was 92.