...And The Injury List Grows

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Jun 5, 09:43 AM | Hype this story!

It was rather clear to anyone watching the Stanley Cup Finals that several players — most notably Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora — just didn’t seem right.

So here is what we know at this point:

  • Max Talbot broke his foot early on in the playoffs and returned just days later.
  • Ryan Malone broke his nose twice in the series. The first was the result of a big hit, the second was a result of a puck to the face.
  • Sergei Gonchar has some sort of back injury suffered in the second period of Game Five. It was reported that the offensive defenseman was in his street clothes and had his bag packed before returning to the bench for the third overtime Monday night.
  • “(Sidney Crosby) injured his groin earlier in the Stanley Cup final and he injured his ribs earlier in the playoffs but he could deal with that until the hit by (Brad) Stuart slowed him down in this game.” — from TSN.ca.

And now what has been speculated:

  • “Malkin was widely criticized for his lack of production during most of the final two rounds, but is believed to have suffered a significant injury, possibly to his shoulder, when he absorbed a crushing check from Philadelphia center Mike Richards during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.” — From this morning’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  • Pierre McGuire said numerous times — once on NBC and several times on XM Radio — that Sykora has a significant upper body injury that will be disclosed after the playoffs end. Speculation is that his back is bothering him, which would be a relapse of a late-season injury that forced him to miss some time. There also is some talk that he has a broken finger, which would indicate his inability to accurately shoot the puck — except in triple overtime games.

As the hours and days pass, I’m quite certain all of this will be cleared up, and new injuries will be added to the list.

Clearly, none of this should or will be used as an excuse for the team’s failure to win the Stanley Cup, but it might serve to answer some questions lingering about several players.

Stay with Faceoff Factor, as we will bring any/all injury updates as they are made public.

Comments

  1. Pens1967

    Jun 5, 10:05 AM

    During the telecast, I guess it was a shot of the players warming up, you could see the little finger of Sykora’s left hand, I believe, was completely bandaged, and maybe a splint, with tape going over his palm and back of his hand and then over the base of this thumb. I’d say that hand was pretty banged up.

  2. Dabich

    Jun 5, 10:14 AM

    These guys battled thru and with their injuries and played with heart. I’d love to know just what extent these injuries are. Time tells all…

  3. Ben Schmidt

    Jun 5, 10:45 AM

    I am convinced Sykora has a significant arm injury. For the last few days, whenever they’ve gotten player interviews, all of the players have been wearing t-shirts – except Sykora who shows up to all of the interviews in a practice jacket. I am almost completely certain that he’s been hiding an injury.

    I’m also pretty sure Malkin is, too. He used to bounce up off the ice pretty quickly after getting hit. During the Final, he was wincing and getting up slowly. That’s not just fatigue.

    The sad thing is, we may never know for certain. We only found out about Crosby’s broken foot last year because he turned down the Canadian World Championship Team. There’s no equivalent situation this year to turn up such things, and the players don’t want to look like they’re making excuses for themselves.

  4. Pens1967

    Jun 5, 11:30 AM

    I’m sure Sykora was hurt on that cheap shot from Downie from behind. When he skated off the ice he was holding him arm/shoulder. The fact that he was so angry after it happened made me think he’d been hurt pretty badly.

  5. Pens1967

    Jun 5, 11:40 AM

    An LGP poster cites a very reliable source that Malkin played with broken ribs. If this is officially confirmed, then there are a few folks who’ll feel silly they questioned this kid’s effort and will.

  6. Dabich

    Jun 5, 12:51 PM

    Pens, you’re right and they should feel silly. Someone of Geno’s caliber doesn’t play like crap for extended periods unless something is wrong.
    I know guys sometimes get in a slump..but this was different. As someone said, he looked literally wiped out so often, and that’s uncharacteristic of him.

  7. Pens1967

    Jun 5, 07:36 PM

    1250 ESPN played a post-game interview with Sykora a little before 7PM during which he was asked flat out if he was injured. He replied: “everybody’s banged up.” Then the reporter asked something like “so you don’t have anything real messed up?”. Sykora replied: “I don’t want to talk about it.”

    I guess it will come out tomorrow when the team meets with the press for the last time.

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