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Shanahan OK; Knuble May Have Eye/Facial Injury |
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NEW YORK _ Mike Knuble may have a fractured orbital bone around the right eye, but otherwise, he appears OK the Flyers say.
Brendan Shanahan remains hospitalized overnight at St. Vincent's here in NYC for observation. CT scans of Shanny's neck, back and spine were negative.
X-rays of Knuble were negative but a facial CT scan will be taken Sunday in Philly. His entire right side of face is swollen.
The violent collision between Shanahan and Knuble in the third period was accidental. Both guys looking the other way near the Rangers' defensive zone.
Here's what Knuble remembers:
“I don’t remember too much,” Knuble said of the collision. “I just remember getting myself to sit up. I was just being a little out of whack. I don’t remember getting on the ice, or the shift of what happened.
“I just know there was a collision. I just wanted to get off the ice and out of the game. I didn’t know where I was. My face feels like it is broken a little bit.”
The hitting throughout the Flyers 5-3 victory was ferocious.
I love the hit that Todd Fedoruk threw on Jaromir Jagr. Clean hit, too.
“It makes them think, makes them look over their shoulder when they think they have a little bit more time,” Fedoruk told me tonight. “They won’t make that play if they get hit. It messes with their mind. It takes some skill away from them.
“It was a good, physical, hard hockey game. That is how hockey is supposed to be played. It’s the way the Philadelphia Flyers are supposed to play. We know we have to play hard[-nosed hockey to give us an opportunity to win.
“A guy like Jagr, if I have an opportunity to finish a check on him, I will do it every time. It’s not very often a guy in my position is [on the ice] against a top league in the league. The opportunity was right. You hit a guy like that and it get him thinking and it gets their team upset. It gets them off what they want to do.”
Good to see that Shanahan is not seriously injured. Ironically, Knuble is hurt worse but he is not hospitalized.
Derian Hatcher, a good friend of Shanny's was shaken when the hit occured.
“You think about their wife and their children when you see something like that,” Hatcher said. “You don’t like to see that. You want to play hard but you don’t want to see that. Whether you like a guy or not, when they are laying and not moving, you really start to get concerned.”
As for the game, Hatcher told me, “Best game we’ve played. Right from the get-go we had guys hitting. We want to see guys hitting.”
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For those of you wondering, Berube called out Avery after the game in the tunnel for going after non-fighters, calling him a "gutless puke". Avery responded by calling Berube a "cement head".
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NEW YORK _ Brendan Shanahan appeared to have been knocked unconscious here in the third period after a violent incidental collision with the Flyers' Mike Knuble.
Both men were looking opposite directions with Shanny coming out of his own defensive zone. He was carried off the ice on a medical board with his neck stabilized. He was conscious when he left the ice.
Knuble appeared shaken but nowhere near as bad as Shanahan.
Lotta Rangers getting hurt or roughed up today.
Shanahan, Jaromir Jagr, Marek Malik, Sean Avery, and Henrik Lundqvist, who has left the game with a left shoulder injury off a shot from Geoff Sanderson.
This is easily the most physical of any contest the Flyers have played this season.
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NEW YORK _ The Flyers are showcasing Geoff Sanderson for a trade today as he is centering the top line of Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble.
We've been hearing Sanderson mentioned in deals. He is a movable commodity at the trade deadline. Eklund hears Montreal _ I heard the Canadiens there, as well _ along with Minnesota and Vancouver
Not a bad game here, although the hitting has gone from vicious to acceptable after 40 minutes.
Wondering what touched off Joni Pitkanen's double cross check on Sean Avery in the first period. Okay here it is. We sit behind the glass ice level at Madison Square Garden.
Near the period's end, before a faceoff in the Flyers end, Avery ripped into Pitkanen about his English and called him a "dumb so and so." Pitkanen shot his head up and smiled. After the puck drop, he cross checked Avery viciously to the ice.
As Avery tried to get up, Pitkanen cross checked him high across the back again.
I think Joni understands English just fine. Don't you?
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Tony Voce has always had a bit of a temper.
And it appears to have cost him dearly as a member of the Flyers organization after a fight with a member of the coaching staff.
What surprises me, I imagine, is that the Flyers jettisoned him quickly.
In the past, they have had problem people such as Jesse Boulerice, Francis Belanger, Billy Tibbetts, to name a few. And they they enormous patience with all of them.
Which tells you that Voce's physical altercation with Phantoms coach Kjell Samuelsson must have been pretty bad.
Here's what ran in today's Inquirer:
Phantoms forward Tony Voce was dismissed from the club this week by general manager Paul Holmgren after instigating a fight with coach Kjell Samuelsson following an argument at practice.
"They had a disagreement on the ice over how the practice was going," Holmgren said yesterday. "Most of it was on the ice. Sammy tried to say, 'Hold on and I'll talk to you in my office' and it never got to that point."
Holmgren met with the 26-year-old left wing to discuss the matter and then sent him home. A native of the Far Northeast and a graduate of Archbishop Ryan High, Voce has not been reassigned.
"He won't be back to the Phantoms," Holmgren said, adding that Voce was frustrated at sitting out a number of games. "He was boiling over, but at the end of the day, he had crossed the line with the coach. My belief [comes from] a Fred Shero rule.
"Rule No. 1: The coach is always right. Rule No. 2: When in doubt, refer back to Rule No.1. He messed up. I said, 'I'm sorry, you crossed the line and I want you to go home and I'll call you when I figure out what we're going to do.' "
Voce played three seasons for the Phantoms with 58 goals, 57 assists, for 115 points in 181 career games. This season, he had 8 goals and 13 assists for 21 points in 41 games.
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We're in NYC for this afternoon's Flyers-Rangers game and will be going live in a few hours.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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