On the eve of the most anticipated first-round series of the NHL playoffs, principals on both sides were dialing back the rhetoric.
With the bad blood between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers this season, with the contretemps between Sidney Crosby and Brayden Schenn, with Joe Vitale knocking Daniel Briere out of the lineup, with coaches perched on the boards and insulting each other’s mother, there was a lot of rhetoric to dial back and the coaches and players brought it back about halfway.
Scott Hartnell, the Flyers forward who uses Sideshow Bob’s stylist, said that he didn’t want to give the Penguins “anything to put up on their bulletin board.” Philadelphia coach Peter Laviollette declined to comment on the ethics of Vitale’s hit on Briere or in fact anything else about recent games between the archrivals.
Crosby said recent history “doesn’t matter” and that any mud-slinging (and there has been a lot) doesn’t affect him “because I don’t need any extra motivation.” Laviolette’s counterpart Dan Bylsma said that he didn’t think that his team’s 4-2 win over the Flyers in Game No. 82 was very significant to the series, even given Philadelphia’s strong showings the last couple of seasons in Pittsburgh.
What was of most interest, as it is when he’s present or even absent, was the state of Sidney Crosby. Crosby suggested that, while physically 100 per cent, his game is off a touch.
It at least got a laugh out of Bylsma. “As a coach who has seen him play a lot I’ve seen one or two things [that show] he’s not where he wants to be or where he normally is,” the coach said. “The person that knows that most is him.” Bylsma went on to suggest that Crosby might be thinking in a few situations when at his best he’d be simply reacting but even with that said, a player scoring at 1.6 points per game is at least useful to have around and arguably still the game’s best player. If he’s not the game’s best right now, the only one in the running for the honour would be his teammate Evgeni Malkin, who enters the playoffs fresh off his 50th goal of the season and on a 17-game point streak, the longest in the league this year.
Likewise, Crosby’s teammate Matt Cooke dismissed any suggestion that Crosby’s game is down for any reason other than timing. “He’s ready to play physically and if he wasn’t he wouldn’t be playing,” Cooke said.
The coaches put up two game-time decisions. Laviolette said Daniel Briere’s availability would be decided at the last minute though at practice he gave every indication that he was good to go if he were anything less than 100 per cent.
Bylsma didn’t mention Marc-Andre Fleury by name but said “goaltending will be a game-time decision and will be for the remainder of the playoffs.” Fleury left last game of the regular season midway through the second period as a precaution but he’s a dead lock to be good to go in Game 1.