Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Posted: 5:31 p.m.
By Tim PanaccioCSNPhilly.com
Oddie is back.
Sean ODonnell, nursing a sprained left knee, skated Wednesday, felt much better, and says hell play Thursday against the Islanders. Which is good considering that Oskars Bartulis has a severe left shoulder injury and is done for a while.
Now youre all wondering: given that general manager Paul Holmgren said on Monday that ODonnell was out 10-14 days, is this is a miraculous recovery or ODonnell pressing himself back into service?
Absent of a call-up, the Flyers have no one else on the back end right now as a No. 7 d-man should anyone else get hurt.
We had an MRI done and it came back good, ODonnell said. It couldnt get worse. Just go ahead and push a bit and it felt good. So, were OK for tomorrow.
ODonnell was injured Sunday in New York against the Rangers.
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As much as Id love to be the guy who comes in early and gets back into the lineup, we were already looking ... to take one game off and be ready for Thursday, ODonnell said.
What happened was, you go down like that, and there is some initial pain and you dont want to put any weight on it and it swells up. As time goes ... you realize its not as serious as you think.
The Flyers got the MRI results late Monday. It wasnt as bad as at first thoughtmeaning torn knee ligaments. ODonnell said he pushed his skating on Tuesday on his own, felt good, and was convinced he was OK.
ODonnell said he was unaware of Holmgrens initial comments about missing up to 14 days, but those comments were made prior to the MRI results.
We werent aware if there was knee damage and what it is, ODonnell said. We were just guessing. They did an educated guess. We got good news with the MRI. This was better than we hoped it was.
It was just a matter of pushing it. We had targeted Thursday. Unfortunately, with Oskars timing, it works out for us.
Bobs puck skills
Its obvious over recent games, particularly Tuesdays against Phoenix, that rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is having issues controlling the puck outside the net and deciding what to do with it.
A number of players said as much Wednesday, including Kimmo Timonen, who did not mince his words with Bobs still-developing skills. He also said while there remains a language barrier that has to be crossed since Bob doesnt fully speak English, theres more to it.
I dont think the problem comes down to talking, its more of him getting the puck and getting settled and then it comes down to talking, Timonen said.
It looks like the last couple games, the puck is really not on his stick. Its somewhere else and then it becomes a big hassle. Like I said, its not easy for him. Hes not used to that North American game. Hes going to get better. They practice it every day.
For me, it comes down to him really getting comfortable going behind the net to stop it. Its actually a big thing. I think its a bigger thing than we give it credit for. So, Boosh Brian Boucher is really good doing it and it makes a huge difference for us.
Boucher has the better puck skills which is why theres a belief that he will be the playoff starter over Bobrovsky, at this point.
We'll address the issue further on Thursday.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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