Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Orr Has Flu; Staal to Play; Carbonneau Talks Tough

Steve Zipay from Blue Notes has this from the morning skate...

- Colton Orr has a touch of the flu and missed the morning skate. Coach Tom Renney will probably use Jason Strudwick on the fourth line if Orr can't go. Tough break in what looms as a physical game.

- Marc Staal, kayoed by the flu since last Tuesday night, skated and told me he was ready to play; Renney hadn't spoken to him, but thought he looked okay in the optional skate...

Zipay also had this reaction from Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau when told that the Rangers planned on being physical tonight...

Told that Hollweg and Dubinsky were talking about bringing a physical element to the game, Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said: "I don't really care what they say or what they think. They want to come be physical, that's fine with me. Philadelphia has tried that and we just won four games against them. We'll respond to that. I haven't seen those two guys score 50 goals yet in the league, they might want to be physical, and they should be physical."

The Rangers, who have won all three games against Montreal this season, "make us work hard," said Carbonneau. "They made us make mistakes, and that's what we talked about---to have the same emotion we had this weekend (against the Flyers)."

...Hey Guy we never saw you score 50 either. And great you took it to a Flyers team that has half its roster on the IR.

...I'm not a big bulletin board guy, because if you need bulletin board material to get yourself motivated you shouldn't be out there in the first place. But in this case, if I were Renney, I would make sure everyone on the team knows what Carbonneau said.

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