VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - Vancouver Canucks center Brendan Morrison will miss the remainder of the National Hockey League season with a right knee ligament injury, hindering his club's chances to reach the playoffs.

Morrison suffered the injury Wednesday in the second period of a 6-3 loss to Colorado which left the Canucks eighth in the Western Conference, only two points ahead of Nashville for the final playoff slot with five games to play.

The 32-year-old Canadian scored nine goals and added 16 assists in 39 games this season and had played in 542 consecutive games, the NHL's longest active streak, before a wrist injury sidelined him in early December.

His run, the 11th-longest in NHL history, began with eight games for New Jersey before a trade to Vancouver in March of 2000 and ended December 11. He underwent surgery and returned to Vancouver's lineup on March 10.

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