After a high flying game one that severely deviated from both teams’ style of play, game two of the Stanley Cup playoffs reverted back to the hard nosed brand of hockey everyone was expecting.
Early story lines revolved around the controversial decision by Flyers coach Peter Laviolette to bench prized rookie James van Riemsdyk in favor of the, well, angrier Danny Carcillo. A healthy scratch for the last three games, Carcillo was activated so he could do what he does best, which is run into stuff at high velocities. And boy did ever. Alas, his most notable victim wasn’t a Blackhawk playmaker but teammate Jeff Carter.
As a botched head hunting expedition midway throught the first period intended for Tomas Kopecky went awry, Carcillo plowed full bore into a helpless Carter for a bone crushing gore of the worst variety. Unfortunately for the Flyers, Carcillo decided that if he couldn’t put down a Blackhawk on the ice as he intended, he might as well pull out his bag of wits and engage in some old fashioned verbal bench to bench sparring with Blackhawk Adam Burish. After Burish cracked that the incident was Carcillo’s “First big hit of the year,” NBC cameras caught Carcillo shooting back a garbled stream of brainless f-bombs that had Flyers fans shaking their heads in disgust. Read the rest of this entry »
