Flyers’ Roenick Gets Two-Game Suspension

Philadelphia Flyer forward Jeremy Roenick was suspended for two games by the NHL on Wednesday for his hit on Dallas Stars’ center Mike Modano.

Roenick checked Modano hard in the first period, knocking him out of Tuesday night’s game. Modano had scored in the first minute.

Modano fell to the ice, and remained there for several minutes, before being helped to the dressing room. He complained of headaches, but the Stars ruled out a concussion and said he could be ready for tonight’s game at Detroit.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” said Roenick, who sat out Wednesday’s game in Atlanta. “But I’m more disappointed that the whole thing happened. I knew something had to come down when somebody gets injured.”

Roenick said he was anticipating Modano to make a move on the boards, but instead the Dallas player pivoted the other way, creating a full collision.

*

Mario Lemieux leads the NHL in scoring and in fan voting for the All-Star Game. The Pittsburgh Penguin forward, who has 55 points, received 109,075 votes as of Wednesday. New York Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch is second in the Eastern Conference with 95,328. Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom is the leading vote-getter in the West with 95,366.