There is just something about a triumphant return that can bring a smile to the face of a sports fan.
Boston Bruins fans were treated to that yesterday at the TD BankNorth Garden where Bruins forward Marc Savard played his 1st game in nearly two months.
Savard has been out since March 7th after suffering a concussion due to a vicious hit by Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke.
He played a little over 15 minutes in his return and scored the game winning goal to give Boston a 5-4 win over Philadelphia and a one games to none lead in their best of seven series.
Savard's goal happened because Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman was able to pinch in and keep the puck from being cleared out of the offensive zone.
With the puck rolling in the offensive circle, Savard came in and fired a shot on net, going over the shoulder of Flyers goalie Brian Boucher for the game winner.
Savard said about his return "It's been a whirlwind for me. Obviously, I went through a lot of tough days, When I got out there, there was a little water in my eyes at first. The crowd treated me great. My teammates were great with me all day. And I just wanted to fit in. ... I guess you can't script it any better.''
Savard's return should provide a big boost to a Bruins offense that has had trouble scoring goals all season. With forward Marco Sturm expected to miss the rest of the playoffs with a lower body injury Savard's comeback could not have come at a better time.
Other NHL Notes:
Vancouver defeated Chicago 5-1 in game one of their best of seven series. The Sedin Line was only responsible for one of the five goals last night. Ryan Kesler's line was on the ice for the 1st two goals and the final two goals for the Canucks came from their 3rd & 4th lines.
I'm interested to see if the Canucks will continue to get scoring from all four lines. They already have the edge in goal with Roberto Luongo in net. If all four lines continue to score then the Canucks become the favorite to win this series.
Montreal & Pittsburgh play Game two of their series this afternoon and both teams have injury issues to deal with.
Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov suffered a lower body injury in the 1st period of game one and is out indefinitely while Penguins forward Jordan Staal suffered a cut to a tendon on his foot. Staal is also out indefinitely but there is a chance he could return later in the playoffs. Game time is 1:00 PM on NBC.
San Jose hosts Detroit later tonight in game two of their best of seven series. I'll be interested to see how Detroit plays after having two days off. For a team that has played a lot of hockey in the last two seasons any rest they can get is important.
For the Sharks, Patrick Marleau is expected to play tonight after missing Game One with an illness. (Rumor has it he was suffering from effects of the plague but that has not been confirmed.) His return should make the Sharks ability to score even more dangerous than they were in Game One. Game time is at 7:00 PM on Versus.
Thanks for reading & enjoy the hockey
No comments:
Post a Comment