EHM The Blue Line

joehelmer wrote:

Qikdraw wrote:So what happened to Boiucher? I saw the video of him getting injured, but what happened and will he be back?

Here's a clip of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NONwxlTuzIk

Apparently his knee gets underneath the players who fell over him and the leg is in weird angle under the players when Boucher fell on his back, so it could be ligament injury, no report so far on Flyers' website just this clip of him getting injured.

Yeah, that would be pretty damned painful. I hope he'll be ok. I don't want the Flyers to win, but I also don't want to see a bad injury.

What has happened with Salo? Will he be back?

Flyers are really not lucky at all this year with their goalies. Anyway Gagné return as been a big turnover so far in the 2 victories. I'm still surprise the Bruins don't finish the job. Bruins72 or Danny can tell me what's going on? I don't watch those games did the Bruins stop playing or the Flyers are finally woke up.


It seem not just Crosby is frustrated...... Anyway why don't you go introduce yourself in the arrival thread!

Salo's injury is listed as day-to-day. If he doesn't make it, Canucks will have to go with Nycholat, so let's hope he does.

Bruins in Game 5 sure looked a lot like the Devils in Game 5. There may be some big trouble brewing in Beantown.

That B's loss was embarrassing! Seriously. How could they go out there with so little energy and emotion? Even worse, Bobby Orr was in the building. It was the anniversary of "The Goal" and they dedicated a statue of Orr that afternoon outside the Garden. How could they not be fired up?

They maybe just underrated too much the Flyers and overated Orr presence. They seem playing like a team who think victory is in their pockets.

I agree with Bruins72. In the highlights (I was stuck watching the Pens and Habs), the Bruins looked like they were going through the motions and they didn't give Rask any help. My gut feeling is that this series will be going back to Boston for game 7, but if Boucher can't go, can Leighton, who hasn't played a full game in almost 2 months, be asked to save his team from elimination and come through in the clutch?

Switching series, I can't see Vancouver losing tonight. At home, with their great fans and after dismantling the Hawks the way they did in game 5, it looks like it's going back to the Madhouse for a 7th game. Niemi has yet to impress me in this series and for them to win one of the next two, he needs to put on a show. The first goal will be critical in this game and it could be one of those first team to score wins kind of games. I'm looking at a 4-1 Canucks win, Daniel Sedin gets the first goal and Luongo making 30-35 saves. Now, watch that game go into overtime now that I've said that!

Switching series......again. Is it just me or has Fleury looked ordinary against the Canadiens? I think Halak has outplayed him all series long and he's probably the Conn Smythe winner (IF THE VOTING WAS TODAY).

Fleury been ordinary against the Sens too, when the series against MTL started he got a .889%. Now he is at .899% but he got one shutout, if it wasn't from that, he will still be at .889% or something like that. When the Habs score 3-4 goals it's always on 20-25 shots only. It doesn't make great stats.

I am going to say it, because it works...MOntreal appears to be a team of destiny this season. Hmm...I have said that here every year for 2 or 3 years now. Hmm....

B72? Danny? Archi? You guys still alive or are you all stuck on the ledge still?

I haven't jumped yet but I'm doing a lot of talking to myself and angry pacing.

Big game tonight. The atmosphere in that building, and even around town here, is going to be intense.

Poor Salo, now there's just even more reason to call him Sami the Softy

Salo gets injured

Nothing new for him

Another fluke injury for Salo. A deflected slapper hits him in the groin. Dude...you have the worst luck of any NHL player in history. Thank god it appears it was not a ruptured testicle though. BTW--Sami Salo's testicle has a facebook page.

Jypfan92 wrote:Salo gets injured

Nothing new for him

"The Finnish MacInnis" always finds a way to get injured...without looking at the numbers, I seriously doubt he's played 70 games in a season more than twice in the NHL career. Poor guy, so brittle.

From what I understand (and shield your eyes guys if you're faint of heart), he has a (near) ruptured testicle from that shot block in game 5. See: Patrick Thoresen last year, Nicklas Lidstrom last year, etc.

Plus side, as fragile as Salo is, he's taking the morning skate right now. So, we'll see if he plays. If not, there's a strong chance we see Lawrence Nycholat in game 6 who will probably be used sort of how the Habs used Marc-Andre Bergeron in game 6 vs. Pittsburgh. We'll see. In my opinion, I think it would be a stretch for Salo to play tonight, but we shall see.

Salo is taking game day skate. May play tonight.

batdad wrote:Salo is taking game day skate. May play tonight.

Doesn't look like he's wearing a "no contact" jersey either...good sign. Could be a situation where they dress seven defensemen - the just in case guy could be 31 year old "playoff greenhorn" Lawrence Nycholat...

Nycholat would hardly get any ice time even if Salo does not play. If Salo does not dress you can expect Edler, Erhoff, O'Brien and Bieksa all to play 25 minutes or darn near. Erhoff and Edler will likely get 30. Bieksa would get that much if he plays like last game. O'Brien will get 20 or so. The other two would get 10-15 minutes max.

batdad wrote:The other two would get 10-15 minutes max.

Does that include Alberts' time in the penalty box?

Heh. Actually he has been well behaved. One per game since the first 2 ugly games vs LA. Only had 4 PIM since then. 23 in the first 2 games, 4 since.

batdad wrote:Nycholat would hardly get any ice time even if Salo does not play. If Salo does not dress you can expect Edler, Erhoff, O'Brien and Bieksa all to play 25 minutes or darn near. Erhoff and Edler will likely get 30. Bieksa would get that much if he plays like last game. O'Brien will get 20 or so. The other two would get 10-15 minutes max.

For sure, if Nycholat is playing more than 10-12 minutes in a playoff game something has gone horribly wrong. But it's nice to have that security (however flimsy) just in case. My goodness do the Canucks miss Willie Mitchell...look at all those offensive names out there, except Alberts who is a 6/7 guy at best and SOB who is - well - just that.

batdad wrote:Heh. Actually he has been well behaved. One per game since the first 2 ugly games vs LA. Only had 4 PIM since then. 23 in the first 2 games, 4 since.

I noticed that. I just miss how fun it was when the whistle went, and you knew you would see Alberts skating towards the box.

batdad wrote:I am going to say it, because it works...MOntreal appears to be a team of destiny this season. Hmm...I have said that here every year for 2 or 3 years now. Hmm....

Lol did I read correctly? Anyway it really seems the Habs are a team of destiny, all the guys are giving everything they got ( except two guys from Belarus ), Halak is playing the hockey of is career so far, Cammalleri is on fire and he looks so confident.

If they are able to pass PITT tomorrow, why should they stop against Philly or Boston? If they pass, they go to the Cup final, if not, then go golf. Even if they lose tomorrow the Habs will have surprise everybody in the hockey world for sure. Like me.

HEX ON THE HABS> HEX ON THE HABS.

philou21 wrote:

batdad wrote:I am going to say it, because it works...MOntreal appears to be a team of destiny this season. Hmm...I have said that here every year for 2 or 3 years now. Hmm....

Lol did I read correctly? Anyway it really seems the Habs are a team of destiny, all the guys are giving everything they got ( except two guys from Belarus ), Halak is playing the hockey of is career so far, Cammalleri is on fire and he looks so confident.

If they are able to pass PITT tomorrow, why should they stop against Philly or Boston? If they pass, they go to the Cup final, if not, then go golf. Even if they lose tomorrow the Habs will have surprise everybody in the hockey world for sure. Like me.

For the Habs, it's got to feel like 1993 almost...Roy just refused to lose in 1993, he just decided that he wasn't interested in allowing goals...Halak is playing about the same way - well, almost - Roy's performance in 1993 is tough to match...they're just missing the ten overtime wins...

For the Pens, it's got to feel like 1996 (it does feel like 1996, only this team isn't as good)...good offensive team with a goalie that has proven to be a playoff hero but has let up some questionable goals (96 = Barrasso). They get shutdown by a hardcore defensive system that is led by some unsung heroes like Gorges, Gill and Spacek (96 = Robert Svehla, Paul Laus, Jason Woolley), find a rookie defenseman to add some help along the way in P.K. Subban (96 = Ed Jovanovski) and are trying their damndest to get by a goalie playing the best hockey of his life in Jaroslav Halak (96 = John Vanbiesbrouck).

The only difference is that the Panthers trap system in 1996 prevented perhaps one of the best Stanley Cup Finals of the era...the Lemieux/Jagr/Francis/Nedved/Zubov/Barrasso led Penguins against the Sakic/Forsberg/Deadmarsh/C.Lemieux/Ozolinsh/Foote/Roy led Avalanche......instead we got to see the Panthers get dismantled by the far superior Avs from the get-go...there's no such matchup on the line this time around...

As a die-hard Pens fan, here's hoping that we advance