Mogilny, Roberts expected to play
Canadian Press
4/15/2003
TORONTO (CP) - Alexander Mogilny wasn't granting interviews Tuesday but he said with a thumb all that needed to be said.
"How do you feel, Alex?" the Toronto Maple Leafs star was asked as he headed for a dressing room exit following a team meeting. He raised his right forearm from his side and gave the thumbs-up sign. There was a line of stitches across the bottom of his chin where the stick blade of Philadelphia's Jeremy Roenick accidentally clipped him minutes before Tomas Kaberle's second goal of the game at 7:20 of a second overtime gave Toronto a 4-3 victory and a 2-1 edge in the first-round playoff series.
Otherwise, he looked fine.
"Alex is a tough guy," said teammate Tie Domi. "He's himself today so I think he'll be all right.
"If he was acting out of the ordinary, which for him would be acting like a normal person, I'd be worried about him. But he's his usual self."
Gary Roberts looked okay the day after as well. He took a slapshot off the left foot in overtime. X-rays were negative and he, too, expects to be in uniform for Game 4 Wednesday night.
Mogilny had yet to undergo the usual battery of neurological tests, which are mandatory after a bash to the head, but GM-coach Pat Quinn wasn't worried.
"I'm thinking both guys will be available," he said during a scrum outside the dressing room. Most of his players stayed off skates Tuesday.
The Flyers might wish Mogilny would lose his skates. He's burnt them for five goals in the three games.
"Mogilny is an unbelievable player," said right-winger Justin Williams, who was one of a handful of Flyers who skated Tuesday. "He's had a huge impact on this series.
"He's a huge reason why they're up 2-1 right now. We've given him too much space. We really need to limit his ice. If we can limit his ice, we can limit his (scoring) chances."
Mogilny, Kaberle, Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Robert Reichel, Tom Fitzgerald . . . the list of Leafs who stood out in Game 3 goes on and on. A big boost was provided by the return of Tucker, who'd missed Game 2 with a sore knee, and defenceman Glen Wesley, who'd been out three weeks with a damaged foot.
"Our focus is on Game 4 now," said Tucker. "We have to continue to play the same gritty brand of hockey we played (Monday night)."
It appears Tucker's brother-in-law, veteran forward Shayne Corson, won't be continuing anything with the Leafs. Corson, who wasn't used Monday, told GM-coach Pat Quinn after Game 3 that he was through.
"Shayne has resigned from the club," media relations director Pat Park confirmed.
Corson aside, players on both sides feel as if they are in for a tough series.
"Both teams want to win this bad," said Toronto right-winger Mikael Renberg. "If we want to come away as winners, we're going to have to keep playing this way."
With Mogilny leading the way up front, Toronto has managed to score 10 goals against a stingy team that tied New Jersey for fewest goals against during the regular season.
"Hopefully," Flyers left-winger Donald Brashear replied when asked if the Leafs have left their best game of the series behind them. "We didn't play our best game defensively.
"They came pretty hard at us. That's where we have to adjust."
While most critics consider the Leafs to have an edge in goaltending with Ed Belfour in the nets, Brashear and his teammates have no gripes about the play of Roman Cechmanek.
"Roman was unbelievable (Monday night)," he said. "You can't blame the goalie.
"Both goalies were good at different times. We had chances to put them away in the third and Eddie came up with some big saves."
Philadelphia also has scored 10 goals in the series. Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock isn't surprised with that level of output. But he is disconcerted about his team's defensive play.
"We were a much better team defensively during the regular season," he said. "It seems that every little mistake we make is in our net right now.
"We're going to have to eliminate some of those errors. I don't think we can continue to win this series if we're allowing three and four goals (a game). We've got to get our goals against down as low as we can and continue to do the things we're doing offensively."
He promises adjustments but won't drop a clue.
"I can't tell you that," he said. "But we're the team that has to make adjustments.
"They made some. They made some real good ones. Now it's our turn and we have to make some subtle changes to get back the momentum.
"In playoffs, everything is about initiation. Toronto made some adjustments to initiate more and they were full value for making those adjustments. Now we have to do it."
The physical pounding will continue.
"These are two veteran hockey clubs that have built their teams to try to win in the playoffs," said Hitchcock. "Both teams know how much is at stake and they're putting it all out there.
"That's what playoffs are about. I'll feel bad at the end of the series for one of these teams because one good team is going to go out. But right now it's going to be desperation every game and I don't think either team is going to give an inch."
Quinn has the same measuring stick.
"I expect our guys to continue to play hard, have good pursuit of the puck, and try not to give an inch," he said.
Cheers,
Aquaman