31.   Our defensemen were awful.

32.   Out of uniform for the Devils for the first time this season was defenseman Scott Stevens, their veteran captain.

33.   Out of uniform Friday night were defensemen STAN NECKAR and RICH BRENNAN.

34.   Scratched were defensemen Doug Lidster and Eric Cairns and forward Ryan VandenBussche.

35.   Sent down were defensemen Petr Buzek, Richard Jackman and Brad Lukowich, center Greg Leeb and winger Mel Angelstad.

36.   So were defensemen Calle Johansson, Stephane Quintal, Terry Carkner and Bobby Dollos.

37.   The best defensemen left are Eric Weinrich and Mathieu Schneider.

38.   The Canucks received some bad news when top scoring defenseman Adrian Aucoin was lost for five weeks with a sliced tendon on the middle finger of his right hand.

39.   The defenseman was off the hook, transformed into a living version of the puck-bashing blue liner found in table-hockey games.

40.   The defensemen are better and the goalies are better.