Brad May did not figure in the scoring but made his presence felt
early for the Vancouver Canucks, who rallied for a 4-4 tie with the
St. Louis Blues.

Re-acquired from Phoenix at Tuesday's NHL trade deadline, May sent
Keith Tkachuk to the locker room with a wrist injury after leveling
the Blues star left wing in the first period. The hit set the tone
for a physical battle between two of the top five teams in the
Western Conference.

"That's my job and that's what I was acquired for. But the tough
part is, you hurt your friend," said May, who played with Tkachuk on
the Coyotes during the 2000-01 campaign. "It's part of the game, but
that didn't feel so good."

Tkachuk's wrist was swollen, but X-rays were negative, according to
Blues coach Joel Quenneville.

"We were encouraged that there was no fracture, but obviously, there
are issues around wrist injuries," Quenneville said. "It was a late
hit, it was a high hit and he didn't have the puck. And it was a
dangerous hit."

May fought Bryce Salvador and Reed Low before the period was over and
totaled 10 penalty minutes in his first game for Vancouver since the
1999-2000 season.

"He set a physical tone out there," Canucks center Trevor Linden
said. "The grit and physical aspect he brings is something that was
needed for our team."

Pavol Demitra and Eric Boguniecki scored in a 91-second span early in
the second period to give the Blues a 4-2 lead, but defenseman Marek
Malik set up Daniel Sedin's first goal in 16 games and got the
equalizer with 8:04 to go in the period.

After totaling 14 shots through regulation, the Canucks took six in a
free-wheeling overtime that featured several odd-man rushes.

Brendan Morrison also had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, which
moved one point ahead of Detroit into second place in the Western
Conference.

The Canucks played the final two periods without coach Marc Crawford,
who was ejected with 55 seconds to go in the first.

"That was a first for me," Crawford said. "I was encouraged by the
way we kept our composure. It was a playoff-type game. For us, it's
a good measuring stick. The leadership of the group came through."

St. Louis fell two points behind fourth-place Colorado for home-ice
advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

"There were two pretty good teams going at it, two physical teams,"
Blues center Doug Weight said. "It stirred up at the beginning with
the hit on Keith. I'm proud of the team, I thought we responded
well. I felt we had a lot of good chances to win this game."

By the time Tkachuk was injured, the Blues had a 2-1 lead. After Mats
Lindgren opened the scoring for Vancouver, Tkachuk and Cory Stillman
tallied in a 21-second span.

Morrison tied it with 3:56 to go in the first period, but the goals
by Demitra and Boguniecki put St. Louis back in front early in the
second.

Off a turnover by Malik, Demitra wristed a shot from the top of the
slot that hit the right arm of goaltender Peter Skudra and trickled
into the net. Less than two minutes later, Boguniecki put a slap
shot from the right faceoff dot by Skudra for his 18th goal.

Malik began to atone for his miscue just 73 seconds later with an
assist on a goal by Sedin, whose one-timer from the right dot sailed
into the top left corner of the net. Malik tied it at 11:56 when his
shot from the point hit Blues defenseman Al MacInnis and got past
goalie Brent Johnson.

"It's nice to get one back," Malik said. "We made a lot of mistakes
tonight, but we were able to get back in the game and get a point out
of it. I just put the puck on net and Bert (Todd Bertuzzi) was in
front screening. It may have gone off the defenseman's stick."

In the opening minute of overtime, MacInnis broke down the right side
on a 2-on-1, but his pass for defenseman Barret Jackman hopped over
the rookie's stick. Moments later, Skudra stopped MacInnis' blast
from the top of the right circle.

MacInnis had another chance with 1:45 to go, but his slapper from the
right side hit Skudra in the mask. "It was one of the all-time great
games," Quenneville said. "That was one heckuva hockey game. You
play a few games that stick out over the course of the year. That
might be No. 1 in my books in terms of intensity."

Score by Periods:
ST LOUIS 2 2 0 0 --4
VANCOUVER 2 2 0 0 --4

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Vancouver, Mats Lindgren 5 (Unassisted),
3:38.
2, St Louis, Keith Tkachuk 30 (power play) (Al Macinnis, Pavol
Demitra) 6:30.
3, St Louis, Cory Stillman 21 (Petr Cajanek, Eric Boguniecki), 6:51.
4, Vancouver, Brendan Morrison 23 (Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi),
16:04.

Penalties: M Malik, Van (boarding), 5:54;
Bench, Van (unsportsmanlike cond served by T Bertuzzi), 7:43;
M Rucinsky, Stl (high sticking), 10:10;
T Bertuzzi, Van (holding), 11:10;
B Salvador, Stl (major fighting), 12:08;
B May, Van (major fighting), 12:08;
R Low, Stl (major fighting, misconduct), 19:05;
Bench, Van (unsportsmanlike cond served by T Bertuzzi), 19:05;
B May, Van (major fighting), 19:05.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, St Louis, Pavol Demitra 30 (Scott
Mellanby), 3:28.
6, St Louis, Eric Boguniecki 18 (Christian Laflamme, Shjon Podein),
4:59.
7, Vancouver, Daniel Sedin 10 (Marek Malik, Henrik Sedin),6:12.
8, Vancouver, Marek Malik 7 (power play) (Sami Salo, Brendan
Morrison) 11:56.

Penalties: C Laflamme, Stl (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:57;
D Drake, Stl (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:57;
M Cooke, Van (unsportsmanlike cond), 9:57;
T Bertuzzi, Van (roughing), 18:13;
B Jackman, Stl (roughing), 18:13.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: None.

Penalties: M Cooke, Van (elbowing), 2:10.

OVERTIME -- Scoring: None.

Shots on goal:
ST LOUIS 12 8 8 5 --33
VANCOUVER 4 6 4 6 --20

Power-play Conversions: STL - 1 of 5, VAN - 1 of 2.

Goalies: St Louis, Brent Johnson (20 shots, 16 saves; record: 15-11-
5). Vancouver,
Peter Skudra (33 shots, 29 saves; record: 9-5-6).

A: 18,514.

Referees: Dennis Larue, Stephen Walkom.
Linesmen: Mark Pare, Vaughan Rody.

B May G: 0 A: 0 +/-: +1 SOG: 0