Timonen will Play
By Eklund From Hockeybuzz.com,
Timonen spoke to reporters and told them he is out of danger, will skate today and likely play game 5. Various Flyers players also are telling me that Timonen will be in the line-up.
Prior to last night's game Timonen asked to speak to his teammates because he felt the team was too uptight. Not sure that he told him that he was going to be back or not for game 5 if they won...In all likelihood the Flyers kept this super quiet so as not to give the Pens an extra motivation to wrap it up.
Link to Article: http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15335
Q&A with MT
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By Alanah from KuklasKorner.com,
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Q. The first two rounds, both the Senators and Rangers kind of complained about the officiating going towards the Penguins, and Stevens did the same thing early in this series. Do you feel kind of a backlash that maybe you’re not getting some of the calls that you would have been getting on the first two series because of that?
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COACH THERRIEN: Well, I don’t know. It’s tough for me to say. The one thing I know, since the Flyers complained after Game 2 that they spent time in the penalty box. And it seems that since then they’re really disciplined. We only had two power plays a game. And that’s all I could say. That, yes, they’re disciplined. We’re having a hard time with our speed to be able to draw a penalty.
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Q. Is that affecting your game plans at all? Or affecting your team that they’re not getting some of the of calls that they have come to expect to get?
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COACH THERRIEN: Well, you know what, we’re not going to change our game plan. We’re going to use our speed. I think speed is important to this game. It’s just we try to sell the game with speed. We try to sell the game with the offense. Even if you have to play really well defensively, and it’s just we try to do it with our club.
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We’re not going to change our game plan. We’ve still got to move. We’ve got to be really quick. Because speed usually brings scoring chances. Speed, usually, it’s tough to contain speed. And there are times that the other team has no choice to get obstruction, to get hooks and hopefully we’ll get some calls eventually. We’re not going to change our game plan, we’re going to use a lot of speed.
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Q. Sort of a follow‑up, I’m wondering if you had a chance to take a look at the Jones hit on Malkin midway through the second period last night, hit from behind, behind the net. Just wondered if you had seen it and what your thoughts were on that?
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COACH THERRIEN: Honestly, I didn’t look at the tapes so far. So I’m going to work on it tonight, and I have to make sure the teams are prepared tomorrow for the practice. So I wouldn’t make any comment, sorry.
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To Read the Rest of the Article: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/interview_with_coach_therrien/
5 Things we've Learned
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By Scott Burnside from ESPN,com,
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Five things we've learned from Thursday:
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1. Philadelphia coach John Stevens has raised the possibility that his two top defensemen, Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen, missing for most of the series, could make a return at some point.
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"Well, we won't know until each day ... but is there a chance? I think there is, either or both," Stevens said after Thursday's Game 4. "The first thing is you have to make sure of is the health of the player here, and we're not going to put anybody at risk. If they're not able to go, we'll keep marching ahead like we are. But if we're able to get one or both back, it would be a huge lift for our team."
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It was thought that Timonen would be lost for the balance of the season with a blood clot in his ankle, while Coburn took a Hal Gill shot to the face early in Game 1 and hasn't felt well enough to play. The return of one, or both, of the skilled rearguards would be a huge boost to a Flyers team that has struggled to move the puck through the neutral zone.
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2. On the Penguins' side of the infirmary, veteran forward Gary Roberts remained out of the lineup for Game 4 with what the Penguins were calling a mild case of pneumonia.
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"He's still sick. He's got pneumonia," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said before Game 4. "It's a mild case, so he's listed day to day. He's not going to play tonight."
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Asked if Roberts was expected back later in the postseason, Therrien was noncommittal. "Yes, yes, hopefully. He's on medication right now, and we'll go from there."
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3. Pittsburgh center Jordan Staal returned to the lineup after spending all day Wednesday jetting to and from his grandfather's funeral in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and scored twice in a losing cause. Landlord and former teammate Mark Recchi helped arrange a charter jet so Staal could be with his grieving family and return for Game 4.
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"He's an unbelievable guy," said Staal, who still lives at the Recchi family compound in Pittsburgh after Recchi was traded to Atlanta. "He helped me out so much throughout my career, such a great friend to me. He and his family have been unbelievable."
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The visit home was difficult. "I don't know if you lost anyone close, but it wasn't easy," Staal said. "My opa was real close to my whole family, especially all his grandchildren. He's an amazing man and I miss him."
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4. Midway through the second period of Game 4, Philadelphia defenseman Randy Jones drilled Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin headfirst into the boards behind the Flyers net. Malkin jumped right up and continued his shift, but we're wondering how a play like that goes unpenalized? This is the same Randy Jones, by the way, that ended Boston star Patrice Bergeron's season early in the campaign with a hit from behind that wasn't all that much different from what we saw Thursday night in Philadelphia.
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5. Both coaches went to a different look with their line combinations Thursday and both were successful. Stevens moved Mike Richards onto a line with Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell, dropping Vaclav Prospal back to a line with R.J. Umberger and Joffrey Lupul. Lupul scored the Flyers' first goal. Therrien, meanwhile, moved Max Talbot onto the wing with Staal and Tyler Kennedy. The line scored both Penguins goals in the third period with each linemate recording two points.
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Article: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=3399509
Video: PHILLY SUCKS!!
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