DENVER (AP) – Vancouver Canucks forward Markus Naslund suffered a concussion and will be sidelined at least a week as a result of a hit in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Naslund, injured when hit in the head by Colorado’s Steve Moore on Monday night, was hospitalized overnight for observation and was released Tuesday morning.

Naslund returned to Vancouver and won’t be with the team for its road trip which ends Saturday in Edmonton, team spokesman T.C. Carling said. The team remained in Denver on Tuesday, and was to fly to Minnesota on Wednesday for a game there the following night.

Naslund, the NHL’s leading scorer with 30 goals and 38 assists, was injured in an open-ice collision with Moore in the second period of the game, which Vancouver won 1-0.

Naslund left the ice bleeding from his forehead and did not return. A Canucks official called the hit a cheap shot.

No penalty was called, and the NHL said it would take no action on the hit. However, Vancouver general manager Brian Burke, said: “I think it’s a marginal player going after a superstar with a headhunting hit.”

In post-game remarks Monday, Vancouver coach Marc Crawford criticized referees Dan Marouelli and Rob Martell for not calling a penalty.

“It just mystifies me why this happens in this league,” Crawford said. “They talk about players not having respect for players. What about the officials? Should they not have respect for the leading scorer in the league? When does that come?

“It could have been an obstruction call, it could have been an elbow call. It could have been anything. Instead, they call absolutely nothing.”

Moore said he was merely finishing his check in a game filled with physical play.

“I came out of the zone and the puck looked like it was going to come out of the neutral zone,” the Avalanche rookie said. “I went right to their guy, and I just finished my check. I didn’t even know who it was.

“I’m certainly not looking to hurt him or anything, just a clean body check with a shoulder. The refs didn’t call a penalty and I heard them yelling, ‘It was a clean check.”‘

AP-ES-02-17-04 2000EST