Kariya May Return Against Islanders

Paul Kariya has improved and is being listed as questionable for the Ducks’ game Wednesday at the Pond of Anaheim against the New York Islanders. The game comes one week after he suffered a concussion because of an elbow thrown by Toronto’s Mathieu Schneider, who earned a three-game suspension.

Kariya already has missed two games because of the injury, but planned to skate on his own today because the rest of the team has a scheduled day off.

Kariya, a 50-goal scorer last season, has appeared in only seven of 20 games this season, sitting out the first 11 while he recovered from a lingering abdominal injury.

The Ducks are 1-10-2 in games Kariya hasn’t played and 3-3-1 with him in the lineup.

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The Blues’ Brett Hull needs seven goals to reach 500 for his career. When he does, he and Bobby Hull, who scored 610, will become the first father and son in NHL history to each score 500 goals.

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Rookie defenseman Nikolai Tsulygin returned to the lineup after a three-game absence, replacing Ruslan Salei.