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FlyersWIRE: Carcillo suspended
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Carcillo was suspended for Friday's Game 2 (Daily News photo)
Flyers winger Dan Carcillo, who was acquired minutes before the NHL trade deadline a little over a month ago in exchange for Scottie Upshall, was suspended for Friday's Game 2 against Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Carcillo was suspended for allegedly whacking Penguins winger Maxime Talbot in the back of the head with his stick, a la Marty McSorely, with just seconds remaining in Wednesday's Game 1. The Flyers lost that game, 4-1, at Mellon Arena in a lopsided game.
Carcillo was also fined $10,000 by the league.
Carcillo's actions cannot be considered surprising. He has been able to keep his cool for most of his time in Philadelphia but was near the league lead in penalty minutes for the majority of the season.
And upon further review, the move maybe isn't such a bad one.
Carcillo doesn't bring much other than a physical (and sometimes stupid and costly) edge to the game. In the playoffs, that is a facet of the game that is left behind. Rarely will you see a fight in an NHL playoff game -- especially one that is not a blowout. That isn't the nature of playoff hockey.
It should save the Flyers at least a few penalty minutes on Friday.
More than that, it opens up much needed roster space. Carcillo's spot will be filled by rookie Luca Sbisa, who skated in 39 games in the regular season before being re-assigned to Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League. Sbisa played in one game with the Phantoms as a tune-up in between.
Sbisa will be the seventh defenseman for the Flyers on Friday but will be available to helped the banged up defensive corps that includes Randy Jones and Kimmo Timonen, both of whom are battling injuries. He will also presumably step in for Andrew Alberts when necessary. Alberts struggled immensely on Wednesday - at times looking like a turnstile on the ice.
No matter the lineup changes, the Flyers need a completely different effort to avoid falling into a dangerous 2-0 hole heading back to Philadelphia. It was clear that the Flyers lacked the necessary intensity in Game 1.
Notes: Last year, the Flyers lost Game 1 in all three of their playoff series. They came back to win the first two series against Washington and Montreal.
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