Pronger/By S. Bradley
So much of the Bruins’ battle plan for the playoffs is based on at least one of the other few Eastern Conference powers — Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh — suffering an early upset.
In that light, Boston had to like the news that came up from Flyers country.
Veteran defenseman Chris Pronger, out since March 8 with a broken hand, has suffered a setback in his attempt to return for the regular season and now won’t be playing again until the playoffs. Like Bruins head coach Claude Julien trying to downplay the significance of Zdeno Chara’s health issues after Boston’s loss to Toronto Thursday, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren sounded like he was whistling past the graveyard when discussing the comeback plan for his star blueliner.
Via the Courier Post:
“It was a long shot anyway that he could play before the end of the regular season. It’s not like he hasn’t been in a playoff game before. It’s more about making sure he has the strength and mobility he needs.”
It’s all well and good to have confidence Pronger will be right once the postseason starts. And the Flyers have played pretty well without him. But we all know that a month off is a significant amount of time to miss in an NHL season, and returning for the first time when the intensity is turned up to 11 in the playoffs can be a tough task. It’s difficult enough to simulate game speed in practices; it’s impossible to get up to playoff speed without just jumping into the fire.
On the off chance the Flyers start the playoffs without Pronger, they could be cooked — at least in that they might not be able to take care of their first-round opponent with as much ease as they would with him patrolling their back end. A rusty Pronger could also be a hindrance.
Any help the Bruins get from outside forces to smooth their road to the Stanley Cup final is welcome. Pronger’s problems definitely fall into that category.
I believe that we have what it takes to beat every team in the East right now, but only if we are at the top of our game. This has been our problem this year. Don’t consider this bragging, but I do believe that few of our losses this year have had to do with us bringing our best game and the other team just being better.
Most of our wins and most of our losses have had everything to do with our performance and what we brought to the ice that night. That’s not to say that the odd team didn’t beat us in every way (Detroit) or that there were times when we played like garbage but got the win anyway (Edmonton).
All I am saying is that if we are healthy, and we play good consistant hockey, which we have for most of this year, I can see us beating any team. It really is just about getting into the playoff mood before the other team does. Boston needs to show the other team right away that they are not going to win the series. We did a fantastic job of that against Buffalo last year, and Montreal the year before.
I know everyone is focussed on round two not being an upset, but do you know what would be worse than another round two upset? A round one upset. I have learned that in the playoffs, the biggest problem is usually on your team. It is about having confidence, getting and never letting go of the momentum as well as taking advantage of the qualities of your team that analysts have raved about all season long.
We can talk about who the easiest match up who be, or how Philly getting eliminated would help our chances, but if we really believe that we can win the Stanley Cup, none of these minimal factors should matter. To sound as cliche as Claude Julien always does, “we’re are just going to play our game.”
I don’t think the Flyers will have any problems in Round 1 without him. They are very deep on the blue line. Way more deep than the Bs. If the Bs lost Chara, I would turn my focus to my golf game.
Upper body extremity injury. Is it his top hand or his bottom hand? Bobby Clarke always said two handers are better than one.
same doctor who carved up krejci work on pronger as well?
I think if there is any defenseman who can come back after a month off and play well it is likely going to be Pronger. Pronger also has play off experience and stanley cup experience-not sure the play off atmosphere is going to affect him in the way it would some other defensemen. I just wonder if he will be fit enough to log the minutes he logs come play offs.
I think the Flyers will have a hard time putting together a 4 game out of 7 win without him though. That would be like the Bruin’s losing Chara-sure we could win some games, but not sure we could win 4 out of 7 without him.