The captain goes down

By LANCE HORNBY -- Toronto Sun The first dent in the Maple Leafs' ironman turned out to be a costly one.
After a steady parade of doctors with long faces came out of the team medical room last night, captain Mats Sundin hobbled out with a ski-boot cast on his right foot. The verdict was a small, undisplaced fracture on the instep of his right ankle that will keep him out an estimated four to six weeks.
It ended his consecutive-games streak at 258, second highest among active NHLers, and derailed what was shaping up to be a solid season for Sundin.
"This is tough to believe," said Sundin, who has played in no fewer than 76 games in each of his 10 NHL seasons. "I've been fortunate to have had no bad injuries in my career. Knock on wood, this is a one-timer."
After losing 4-2 last night to the Nashville Predators, the Leafs called up teenage centre Nikolai Antropov from their St. John's farm team.
"We might as well give him a good try here," general manager/coach Pat Quinn said. "We hope never to be dependent on certain people (such as Sundin). He won't be there, but we still have to play the games."
Quinn said Antropov likely will play in Sundin's spot on the No. 1 line.
"He played well with (winger Steve) Thomas during the pre-season," Quinn said.
Quinn, though, was noncommittal about whether the setback might spur the signing of a restricted free agent such as Dmitri Khristich or Robert Reichel, or a trade.
Sundin's injury occurred during the third period of the Leafs' 4-3 loss Saturday to the Ottawa Senators when he blocked a shot. It seemed of little consequence at the time as Sundin remained in the game right to the buzzer.
Sundin recalls coming back through the neutral zone covering Magnus Arvedson, who dropped the puck to either Marian Hossa or Radek Bonk. Sundin hit the brakes but was unable to get out of the way of the ensuing shot.
"Usually, something like that stings and it ends right there," Sundin said. "When I got back that night, I couldn't sleep."
He was on crutches yesterday after missing practice on Sunday, but still hoped for a best-case scenario when x-rays were taken and the Leafs doctors saw him before the game.
"It's an absolutely perfect situation (for a timely recovery)," Dr. Michael Clarfield said. "The ankle itself is not damaged. If it was displaced, you'd be looking at surgery. But you can barely see (the crack). For the first week, we're going to be very careful with it."
That means a few days in the cast and a gradual return to skates. Sundin was in the best shape of his career coming into this season and believes that could speed the healing process.
Sundin said he rode a stationary bike and did some upper body work yesterday without discomfort.
"He is a huge part of our team and we all have to pick up the slack," winger Steve Thomas said. "But I have a lot of faith in our team."
With a hairline fracture stopping Rod Brind'Amour's league-leading ironman streak at 484 this year and Alexei Yashin's holdout stopping him at 292, Sundin trailed only Teppo Numminen's 301 among current streaks before last night.
Based on information supplied by the Elias Sports Bureau, Sundin had the sixth longest consecutive-games streak in Leafs history (not including goaltenders). Defenceman Tim Horton holds the club record of 486, established Feb. 11, 1961 to Feb. 4, 1968. Sid Smith, Garry Monahan and Ron Ellis each played more than 300 games in a row, while Pat Boutette had 282.
Quinn also didn't think Sundin's injury would force the club to adopt a more defensive posture.

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