Briere, Grossmann will miss time; Lavy fined
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Briere, Grossmann will miss time; Lavy fined
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
It turns out center Danny Briere and defenseman Nick Grossmann were injured more seriously than the Flyers first believed.
Both will miss games this week but are expected to be ready for the playoffs.
Both were injured in collisions with Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale in the Flyers' 6-4 win on Sunday.
After Sunday's game, the Flyers said Briere was "fine" and that Grossmann was day-to-day with an apparent knee injury.
On Monday, they said Grossmann would miss seven to 10 days, That means he is out for the regular season, which ends Saturday. GM Paul Holmgren said Briere was out indefinitely with an upper-back contusion.
The Flyers play in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Think Vitale will be looking over his shoulder?
Lavy fined. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette was fined $10,000 by the NHL for actions late in Sunday's game in Pittsburgh. He broke a stick and screamed at Penguins coaches.
Penguins assistant Tony Granato was fined $2,500.
Bryz, Simmonds honored. The NHL announced that winger Wayne Simmonds was named the league's player of the week, and goalie Ilya Bryzgalov was selected the player of the month.
Bryzgalov was 10-2-1 with a 1.43 GAA and .947 save percentage in March, and he set a franchise record with a scoreless streak that reached 249:43, the second-longest in the NHL since 1967-68.
Simmonds scored in four straight games, totaling five goals. He has a career-high 27 goals.
He is looking forward to an almost-certain playoff matchup with Pittsburgh in the first round.
"Yeah, definitely. It’s fun hockey; it’s like old-school hockey," he said. "You come to the rink, you battle everyday, you know there’s going to be fights, you know you’re gonna get hit and you know you’re going to have to hit back and that’s the type of hockey that we like to play. So I think that suits our team well.”
Simmonds was in a late brawl after Vitale hit Briere. He fought Penguins enforcer Deryk Engelland despite injuring his eye the previous afternoon.
"It wasn’t ideal for me to fight in that situation, but Danny took a solid hit there and obviously I’m going to go to my player’s defense," he said. "That’s the type of player I am. It doesn’t matter if I have stitches in my eyes, I have to go in there and stand up for my teammate.”
Next: Rangers. The Flyers will host the Rangers Tuesday and try to salavage a win in the season series. New York is 5-0 and has outscored the Flyers, 19-8, including a 10-3 advantage in the third period.
The Rangers will try for their first sweep against the Flyers since 1971-72. Over the last two years, they have won seven straight over the Flyers,
New York's magic number to clinch the East's top seed is one point.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
So basically when Homer is optmistic that both players will return for the playoffs, what he is really saying is both players are done for the entire season and playoffs.
Sam, when is JVR and Mez expected back?— Fabulous
How many injuries can we deal with? This is seriously getting our of hand.— marc123- Very impressive that they could still be where they are in the standings,with all the injuries,let's hope for the best. — mean mean pride,mean mean pride.
- Take out Joe Vitale on Saturday— JBP
- Why would we take out Vitale? He's a goon that has no impact on a game...take out Crosby or Malkin. Skill player for a skill player. — jimbo jones
- they were also the 2 who tooke the cheap shots. malkin on Giroux and crybaby two hand slashing Coburn and Jakub Vorachek — bdonovan1006
- Crosby leaves Saturday's game on a stretcher. — n62
- I think the plan should always be check the opposition's best players as early and as often as possible. Take space away, make them work. To quote Kevin Lowe, get even by beating them on the scoreboard. Spending a second exacting "revenge" on Vitale is a wasted second. (Besides, the check was clean.) — sklandog
Vitale delivered the best clean hit I've seen since Erica got destroyed by Kasparaitis. Don't skate with your head down.- How about the Scott Stevens hit on Lindros? Also, Cindy better be playing with his head-on-a-swivel or he'll be watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs from a bed.
— snad264 - Pittsburgh fans are amazing. They choke out of the playoffs the last two years (eliminated on home ice) and get their butts kicked all over the ice by the Flyers for two years.
Philly is 4-1 vs the flightless birds this year and 4-2 last year. The Flyers have never lost a game at the Consul Energy Center, humiliating the Pens in front of their own fans three times last year and twice this year...And Pens fans are still mouthing off. Incredible. Pittsburgh players are famous for their clean hits:
Brooks Orpik hits Erik Cole from behind breaking his neck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRMz6A6r5fs
Matt Cooke cheapshots Marc Savard, sending him to the hospital: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-I5m4f0ZXA - Schenn better play with head on a swivel or grow eyes in the back of his head.
Baby Brier gets clean hit to his chest and drops like a sack vs cross to the back after whistle blows.
Who is cheap?— MrPittsburgh - And your crybaby doesn't crumble to the ice w a little tap to the back?! Are all Pens fans idiots like you? Answer seems to be yes w what I've read so far from you fair- weather fans. — Cali7
- It was a clean hit, even a good hit, but if that's the best hit you've seen since Kaspar on Lindros, you must have been skipping hockey all these years.
And if you're going to effeminate Lindros' name, it only leaves the question of how we could possibly represent Crosby. Let's be frank: Lindros never dove or whined and always took care of his own business. The idea that he would flop like Crosby, or that Crosby is a one-man wrecking crew like Lindros was is a bit absurd. Come on.— sklandog
