Pronger's Eye, Hartnell Down, Jagr's Moves, and Bryz is Found
I hate myself for that headline.
I’m not sure if Chris Pronger’s eye looks better or worse than expected. There’s no massive swollen area engulfing the eye, but there are three separate cut areas flanking a yellowish scar. Not good.
Here’s what he had to say to reporters in between the first and second periods: [video here]
Q: Were you scared, Chris?
“Yeah…usually when your head goes numb, it’s a sign of something wrong. I couldn’t see so I really didn’t know what was going on.”
Q: How is your vision right now?
“Well, I can see you. I see a large shape. Some would say transparent and some would say translucent. I don’t know, you pick. It’s not bad. It’s still a little blurry because of the eye drops and things that I have to take to relieve some of the swelling and pressure.”
Q: How do you feel about wearing a visor and will you wear one the rest of your career?
“We are getting a little ahead of ourselves. I’ve got to get back on the ice first.”
Q: What is your stance on visors?
“You don’t want to know my stance. That’s for another day.”
Then there was just a whole bunch of snark and the normal, now borderline creepy banter with Tim Panaccio.
The obvious takeaway here is his reluctance to wear (or discuss) a visor. Paul Holmgren made it fairly clear earlier this week that he thought Pronger would wear one when he comes back. Sounds like Pronger is going to put up a little bit of a fight. So, thus begins the how many games will Chris Pronger wear a visor for? pool. I guess two.
The Flyers won, 5-1 (how’s that for burying the lede?).
Jaromir Jagr continues to dominate. He scored two more goals last night, giving him five goals and seven points in his last four games. His Dirty Duo™ buddy, Claude Giroux, tied a career-high with his four point night. And where’s Scott Hartnell? Down. Not once (goal):
But twice (crashing into Bryz on Jokinen):
And at the Public House post-game:
This is all something Mike Richards enjoys very much:
Easy, Mike. Don't you have a pop star to Tweet or something?
Harts slide into Bryz cost Ilya a shutout. Bryz: [video here]
Q: You could have had a shutout if [Scott] Hartnell hadn't body-checked you.
"He tried to help. He tried to intercept the pass or what. It was fresh ice, he slipped and accidentally bumped me. It doesn't matter shutout or not, we won the game is most important."
Got to watch out for that fresh ice, Scott.
Finally – thankfully – Bryz found his way out of the woods. Rather quickly, I might add:
Q: Did you just kind of clear your mind a little bit?
"Believe it or not I just spent a couple of days in the steam room. I know I can do all the things….I did it before. Sometimes you need to turn the switch on in your head. It doesn't mean you have to work the next two years to get in shape. You have to build to play. You need to fix your head and turn the switch on and go on."
Q: Are you out of the woods now?
"Yeah, it seems like. I found the way very quick, huh? It was the iPhone compass."
Steve Jobs: game-changer.
Your photo gallery is here. Your full highlights are after the jump.
