Thursday, April 23, 2009

Pre-Game News

[UPDATE]
at this morning's practice, Satan skated with Malkin and Fedotenko, but Bylsma said that the lines will more than likely be shuffled around like they were during last game:
"Like our last game, you'll see different looks from our lines on different occasions throughout the game," Bylsma said. "You'll see Miro (with Malkin and Fedotenko) a little bit, but you'll also see different combinations with Evgeni."
PETR SYKORA / MIROSLAV SATAN
Penguins webpage is reporting that Satan will replace Sykora in tonight's lineup against the Flyers for Game #5 (this is a shocker to me -- and it sounds like it was to Sykie too - see quote below!)

"I"m not playing," he said. "I'm surprised. He told me right before practice that I'm not playing."

And Bylsma on his decision to make the Sykora-Satan switch:"It's a decision the coach gets to make. We feel like this will give us a better chance in certain circumstances, to get a different look. Miro is going to get that opportunity tonight to go in there and play some meaningful minutes for us."

KRIS LETANG
Letang suffered an injury late in Game #4 and will be a game-time decision tonight (is anyone else surprised by this too? I didn't realize he was injured); if he's unable to play, Philippe Boucher will take his place.

1 comment:

Aubrey said...

1. I don't see the point of benching Sykora for Satan. Sykora hasn't played up to his potential thus far, but Miro hasn't exactly been setting the league on fire either.

2. Letang is hurt?! When did this happen? Curse you NHL coaches for your vague playoff injury information! NHL.com is not reporting an injury, but that he's a healthy scratch (in this article). This is far more disturbing news than Sykora/Satan. Gonchar has looked a little sluggish to me in this series and I've been counting on Tanger to pick up the slack.
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